Time to Ourselves

Usually, when we go to San Felipe, we bring cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends---and the people we bring with us are almost as wonderful as the trip itself. But this year was different: The Adams moved to South Carolina, family members were traveling in England and Costa Rica, and others were unable to take time off work. But I made the decision that we were going to Mexico anyway! So, it was just Kyle, me, our kids, and Nani, and it was every bit of everything we needed as a family.

Our WONDERFUL Nani, taking the kids to find shells. We love her so very much!

Elle has an alter-ego called Sparkles. Sparkles is a unicorn. She's pink all over. Even her mane is pink-- just ask Elle. Elle spent the week in San Felipe as Sparkles, galloping her little heart out, around the great, circular room, catching wolves. "Neigh! Neigh! Oh, no! There's another naughty wolf! I'm gonna catch you! Not so fast! Oh, no! He's getting away! I can do it!" And she'd rear up on her hind legs, and run, galloping, faster and faster. And then, she'd corner one, and use a magical rope to tie it up, sound effects and all, before spotting another one. She entertained herself endlessly.

Henry was in paradise. He had all the sand shovels and buckets his tender heart could dream of, and he dug in the sand from the moment the sun appeared across the water, until I forced him to come inside to eat or get his diaper changed. I must confess that he was permanently filthy. In his down-time, Henry followed Nani's dog Iggy, petting her gingerly and hugging her softly, saying in the cheeriest little boy voice, "Hi, Ii-eee!" 

Juliette absolutely loves birds. At our beach house, flocks of pelicans fly at eye-level across the sky. I captured this moment, but it happened countless times during our trip. Juliette would see the birds and run outside to watch them, twirling and clapping her hands, and calling, "Tweet! Tweet!" 

On a side note, it took her three days to touch the sand.

London's favorite thing was finding crabs and sea snails in the tide pools, just like me as a little girl! I would spend hours in the tide pools, catching everything from crabs to sea cucumbers to octopus. I love that London has reached the age where she sees beauty in the world around her!

Easter morning. The Easter Bunny brought the girls unicorn tails and horns, which they LOVED!

And then there's me and Kyle. Of course we loved making memories with our kids in the best place on earth, but our favorite part of the trip was the evenings, when all the kids had fallen fast asleep to the sound of the ocean, and we had time to ourselves! We played intense tournaments of Bananagrams, rocked on the back porch swing, and took romantic walks on the beach. It felt like a second honeymoon!

Peanut somehow managed to end up in our bed every night...

Our last morning there, while Kyle was busy packing up the car, I brought the kids down to the water, one last time. London grabbed a shovel and immediately wrote in the sand, "I love my family."

And so do I :)