Highlights

No, I'm not getting highlights in my hair. Maybe I should, but not today. These are highlights from our fabulous trip to Texas. That's right...I said fabulous. 3rd time's a charm, right? (to review...1st time was with cruise from hell, 2nd time I was preggers and intolerant to the heat).

Weather was gorgeous, children were unbelievably good, we were spoiled ROTTEN by the in-laws. Here are some other highlights...

***Andrew was ON as the entertainer of the week. He paraded happily around meeting all kinds of new people. And he eagerly discussed his football teams, weather maps, counting, and any other trick that he could pull out of his hat. It was such a pleasure to be able to share that part of him...as opposed to the sullen tantruming part (which we saw a little bit of, but not as much as you would expect).

***Andrew got to meet some significant others. He was seriously crushing on Chad's girlfriend, Monica. She is very pretty, with long silky hair (you know Andrew's obsession with hair), and she is very attentive to pre-schoolers. All that equals love at first sight for Andrew. The only problem? Monica admitted to living all by herself...a concept that is practically inconceivable to a 3 year old. Andrew was very concerned, and spent much of the time trying to solve this "problem" for her. It led to many awkward conversations about marriage and moving back in with her parents. But probably not as awkward as one point in the restaurant when Andrew pointed out Monica's breasts and told her she could have a baby and feed it. Nice. Andrew also initiated Sara's boyfriend Colum. Initiated him to "Andrew-rules" soccer. Poor guy had to sit on the floor and be pelted with soccer balls as Andrew's goalie. And heaven forbid he actually block a shot. Yikes! Thank heavens we had a nerf-like ball, or else Colum would have been headed to the ER.

***Potty training is interesting at the beach. The first day we were there, every time his swim trunks got wet, Andrew would think he had wet his pants. He'd waddle around like a duck and insist on walking all the way back up to the bathrooms. He got over this eventually...but he's back to wetting his diapers at night.

***Andrew had us in stitches...as usual. We went searching for ghost crabs...which Andrew insisted on calling "goose" crabs. He would say, "Raise your hand if..." for some ridiculous things. As an example, Grandma was trying to get him to go to the beach at night to look for goose crabs. Andrew didn't want to go, so I told him that Grandma was scared and needed him to keep her company. Andrew said, "Raise your hand if you are brave." Grandma was the only one who raised her hand. Andrew said happily, "Great! You can go by yourself, then!"

***Lily was UNBELIEVABLE. INCREDIBLE. ASTONISHING. She slept like a champ, went to restaurants way past her bedtime every night...just a flexible fun little girl. She was smiley and slept well and happy and slept well and easily entertained and slept well and just about as good as you could dream a child to be. She also said her first consonant "Ba ba ba", which she is now repeating every 10 minutes or so. (I know she was supposed to meet this milestone months ago...but we're still thrilled with it!). Oh, and she HATED the ocean. Put her feet in and she would shake her fists and scream. But she loved the beach. She even napped on the beach. Did I mention that she slept well? She was cute as a button in her little sundresses. Love her love her love her.

So those are the highlights. I'm missing things, I know. But most of all we had fun hanging out with all the family. My heart just melts watching Uncle Chad and Aunt Sara ooze love all over their niece and nephew. Kind of makes me wish we all lived in the same town. Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful trip!