long beach and more holiday break

the kids are in bed and Jeremy is up working at the church, so I figured I would upload my pictures and post...again!  But just about other things in life.

Christmas/new years break was so so nice and restful.  Jeremy was home a lot, because there just wasn't very much work between the weather and the holidays.  The kids and I spent a lot of time just playing at home, because we didn't have anything else going on.  Here is Shea in his new construction dress up set from Christmas.

New years eve we went up to the church and played games.  Well, at least, I started to...we put Shea down around 8PM and then they started this ridiculou settlers game with teams.  So  Jeremy and I were on a team and an ocean away.  12 people were playing.  Yeah.  I dropped out at 11 because I couldn't get hailey to stay asleep and went home.  Jeremy got home after the game was over at 2:30.  I don't mind playing settlers, but I do NOT do 6 hour games.  no thaaank you.  I am so glad I went home, but felt bad for my husband who got roped into playing.

The next day, we packed and headed out to long beach!  We stopped in Silverdale at the new Panera (we have missed Panera so much since moving here).  Shea loves lounging in the big chairs eating a bagel and looking out the window at cars.  And I love their hazelnut coffee.  yum.

The kids did great in the car.  Hailey is an awesoem traveler because she is just so content unless she is hungry.  We only had to stop twice, and once was just to deposit a check in a bank, ha.  Shea did pretty well too, but we broke out the portable dvd player we got for Christmas and he watched a show once he got a little bit antsy to get out of the car (and we were in the middle of nowhere).

We had our own one bedroom unit.  It was so nice to be able to see family, but then get away to rest as a family on our own too.  We did a lot of hanging out in our Pajamas, and I made a point of not doing anything with my hair. aaah yes.  This is vacation.

It was cold, btu BEAUTIFUL out the first day.  Shea and his cousins played on the playground, we took a walk into town, and the guys played a little football.  The beach was beautiful - although windy.  There is something so peaceful abotu looking out your window and seeing those waves crashing beneath a blue sky.  Love the coast.

Hailey went for her first swim in the pool!  She totally loved it!  I was holding her by her arms while she was on her back, and she just floated and kicked. Shea still won't put his head back in the water.  He is more like Jeremy when it comes to water, I think.  Hailey is my water baby though.  I did kind of freak her out though...bad mommy move.  I looked away for a moment while I was bragging about her "swimming" and didn't notice that her head submerged underwater!  I quickly pulled her out and she was screaming and wouldn't go back on her back for a little while.  Luckily she did it again after a little bit.  I was worried I had traumatized her and she would be scared of the water, but I guess it was a good thing I didn't freak out too much about it.

This was on a cold day out in the town.  We stopped by a local bakery to get some coffee and then hung out in the arcade for a while.

Shea had SO much fun riding on all the random bikes and car games, pretending to play.  Who needs to actually pay for a game? haha.  We all played some bowling and skeeball (sp?) together.

Happy red-eye baby in her swimsuit!

Driving home.  We celebrated Jeremy's birthday while we were down there.  I gave him the scarf he is wearing.  He also got a new book and some really nice discs for disc golfing from his mom.

Anyway, we were gone for 4 days and it was a perfect amount of time.  We got a lot of rest, ate a lot of food, I was brave enough to get into a swimsuit, and were happy to be heading home.  We spent a LOT of time with Jeremy's family this Christmas and we have been happy to get home and have some seperation.  We love 'em, but when you are around his brothers for very long, you get a little tired of them.

Hailey is being a crazy baby and scooting all over the place too!  Not an official crawl yet, but she gets around!

I just ate a ziploc baggy of trader joe's pirate booty knock-off and am drinking some white and green fusion tea (still my favorite since Amber introduced it to me YEARS ago).  I just got a book from the library yesterday called "7 - a mutiny against excess" by Jen Hatmaker.  It's about her experience fasting from 7 different things, one a month, for 7 months.  She is a funny writer from the south, but even though her writing is lighthearted, she definitely gets you thinking.  My husband is home now, so i'm going to go cuddle and read my book.  Goodnight!