First day back from vacation = SNOW DAY!!!

Tuck built these tracks by himself - crafty I thought!

  
 A good day for lots of different activities...

 Parading through the house with sunglasses on

Not sure where this came from but my little Brooklyn was a movie star today.  Maybe she knew about the Oscars last night or something but she found Tuck's sunglasses and wore them for two hours straight.  At one point she pulled them up on top of her head for a few minutes and before I knew it, they were back on.  It really was very funny!

I love that she loves the tool bench too and I know Daddy would be quite proud of the fact that she wears safety glasses too....

She is quite the ham!  I'm just so happy that she's starting to feel better and just the fact that she wanted to play today was huge.  She was very huggy of course, but did spend a few hours walking around and trying to play with the big boys.  She's very aware of what Tuck's doing and will often try to join in.  Sometimes he okay with it, others not but he is very gentle with his sister!  At one point today we were all down in the basement so I could do laundry and Tuck was racing around on his tricycle.  Brooklyn jumped on the fire truck and tried to ride with him, although she hasn't figured out how to steer yet.  She did however enjoy knocking over boxes and boxes from the stockpile!

 Snowshoeing

(or rainshoeing today)  While Brooklyn was sleeping, Tuck, Derek and I geared up to get a little fresh air.  I set to work shoveling the cement-like snow off the driveway while Tucky and Derek tried out snowshoes in the front yard.  The banks were great and they made a nice little path over and around them.

Tuck did well once he realized that he had to walk a little wider and not step on his feet or he'd fall.  He fell his share of times but was not exactly trying them out on even terrain!  They climbed up the banks, walked around the tops and launched off.  Yep, launched!  Tuck watched Derek and then he slid closer to the edge and jumped!  It was hilarious because he landed in a huge pile of snow and got all twisted up.  He actually enjoyed it enough to do it again.

It was basically raining out at this point but they wanted to stay out for awhile.  After snowshoes came off, they got out shovels and dug a big hole in the front yard.  I could only see the top of Tucky's head when he was standing up in it.  They actually played a trick on me and Tuck jumped out of it and yelled "Boo" as I came out to peek at him.  My little trickster!

 Painting projects

We got out the paints today and Derek helped Tuck put together and paint his wooden train that he got for his birthday.  They had a ball glueing it together and then Tuck picked out the paint colors. Derek tried to have Tuck paint in a somewhat orderly fashion and the first coat looked pretty good...then Tuck wanted to change the colors to red, black and then a tad of orange.  It looks pretty awesome now but I could see Derek just let go because as we know, Tucky likes to do things his own way...plus he's 3!  They had a ball and I've got to say, Tuck is very neat with his paints, very little mess and he washes his hands right away afterwards...

one of many trails of things I find in our house....Tman

Last day in Florida sun and the long trip home

When I looked out the window and saw a foggy, wet morning, I thought it would be easier for all of us to leave Florida and head back into the snowy Maine winter.  Shortly after that thought, the clouds cleared away a beautiful, bright blue sky with no clouds to be seen.  Tucky and I went back down to the beach shortly after breakfast to play in the sand with his trains, while Jay put Brooklyn down for a nap.  She's still fighting a nasty cold so wasn't into doing a whole lot.

Tuck loves the beach!  He ran right down, plopped himself in the sand and was totally content.  I don't even know if he knew I was with him or cared, he was just happy playing by himself.  I started to look for some fun shells and took lots of pictures of him playing.  I really enjoy watching him play, he's got quite the imagination.

 We played out there for a long time and then Poppi came down to join us.  He and Tuck built these nice castles for his trains to pass through.  They had an impressive little village going.  It was super hot out so after about an hour and a half, I went in to switch with Jay so he could play.  Brooklyn kept on sleeping for quite awhile after I came in.  Eventually Tuck and Daddy came in, grabbed a drink and then Tuck was itching to go to the pool.  He's just loving the Florida lifestyle I think!

 Jay took both kids out to the pool and I tried to help Mimi finish packing and cleaning up. We did get a chance to all go out to the pool for a nice swim before we had to think about lunch and leaving.

 We had already packed up Tuck's floaties so he couldn't use them and was kind of bummed so I asked him if he wanted to try swimming on his own.  We talked about holding our breath and really moving our arms and legs to help swim.  He went right down the steps and tried to swim to me about 4 feet away.  He didn't make it very far and went under but his little arms and legs were moving like crazy.  I picked him up and he said, "Okay, ready again Mommy!"  That didn't stop him so he tried for the next twenty minutes straight.  He'd go under water, lean forward and start swimming like crazy.  He couldn't really stay on the surface but he was swimming under water and moving forward.  He even tried floating and kicking on his back.  I though that going underwater would scare him and he wouldn't want to do it but he spent a lot of time trying to swim between Mimi, Poppi and I.  We finally made him sit on the stairs and rest because he wouldn't take a break!  Yeah Tucky, nice swimming!

After a quick lunch, it was time to get in the Suburban and drive to Orlando to catch our flight back to Portland.  We'll miss Florida but it'll be nice to be home too!

We had a 5:30pm nonstop flight so we arrived around 3:30pm to make sure we'd have time to get through security with kids and all.  It was actually a breeze and we even had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat.  At 5, we walked to our gate and saw that it was delayed 30 minutes, so we walked around a little.  Then we again walked back to our gate and saw that the flight had been delayed until 8:15pm, over two hours later!!!

I went to the gate to ask and they said that the plane was getting repaired at Newark and they couldn't really tell us when we'd be taking off....argh.  At this point, Brooklyn was ready to sleep and we needed to entertain Tuck so.... Jay walked around and rocked Brooklyn while I set Tuck up with his trains videos on the dvd player.  He was happy and Brooke fell asleep shortly after.  Poor little girl still had a fever and was miserable but was luckily able to sleep.

Finally after one more short delay, we boarded around 9pm.  Both the kids handled it all so well, somehow, and we just happy to be on the plane and heading home.  Brooklyn fell asleep almost as we took off and Jay entertained Tucky with books and the TV on the Jet Blue seat backs.  I held Brooklyn in my arms for the whole almost 3 hour flight and she slept so well!  We were hoping Tuckyman would sleep but he resisted until almost 11:15pm and crashed.  Unfortunately this was about 45 minutes before we landed but they both slept through the landing and unloading processes.  Aunt Meacy was kind enough to come pick us up at the airport in our truck so we could head straight home after dropping her off, and only having to put the kids in carseats once.  We were so appreciative!  So finally, around 1:15am we arrived home, put the kids to bed and crashed.  I am still amazed at how well the kids handled all that chaos, no screaming, just very easy going!  We were so proud of them!

7:30am breakfast down on the beach!

 Another beautiful morning!  It was especially nice because both kids slept in!  I had a cup of coffee with Mimi down on the beach steps while watching the sunrise while everyone still slept!  That's one of my favorite things, coffee on the beach.

There was a light breeze and the sun hadn't totally broken through the clouds so it was a perfect morning to get the kids out early.  I decided to get some English muffins, strawberries, juice and coffee ready to bring down to the beach to have a little breakfast picnic.

 It was already pretty warm out so we decided to stay and play out a little longer.  Tuck had brought down his bubbles to the beach so I made bubbles that he and Brooklyn could chase.  They were having so much fun and I think Tucky must have run at least a mile after these silly bubbles! 

chasing bubbles

 The sun kept peeking out and finally the front moved away and the bright sun popped out.  It instantly got really warm, borderline hot!  We stayed for a little while longer and then decided to go in and get on bathing suits and sunscreen.  Tuck didn't want to go in at all, he planned on staying out all day he told us.  We did manage to get him in and then he wanted to get out and get digging on the beach.  I brought him out and we grabbed the digger, pails, chairs, etc.  We made some awesome sand castles that he could drive his trains through and we even made a tunnel.

Eventually Mimi, Poppi and their friends came down to enjoy the sun as well!  Tuck and I got out the soccer ball and kicked around for awhile as Mimi made us some delicious Mimosas.  Tuck loved his glass of fresh orange juice too!  Brooklyn was inside napping so I went in to switch with Daddy so he could come back out.  She napped for most of the morning, close to 3 hours, but she needed it!  Her fever was breaking but he cough and runny nose were just annoying for her.  The fresh air helps down here but being in AC doesn't I think.  Anyway, they stayed out until noon-ish, absolutely gorgeous morning!

 Tuck wanted to go right back out and swim but we convinced him to eat a little lunch first.  He ate and then grabbed his goggles and wanted to go outside.  So we packed up and Jay and I brought the kids down.  I wasn't sure if Brooklyn would want to get in at all but she did, then decided she didn't really want to swim.  Jay and I took turns playing with her while Tuck swam all around.  Mimi and Poppi also came out swimming with him.  The water was around 86 degrees!

swimming with trains in hand

 Tuck had washed his trains off from the beach and brought them into the pool.  The engine floated but the boxcars sank, which he thought was funny.  He swam all over the pool holding onto his trains, makes swimming harder I'd think but it didn't stop him.  He's really so easy...as long as he's got his trains...

 We tried naps again this afternoon to no avail so around 3:30, we packed up and headed into town.  We made a quick stop at an orange grove again and bought some tasty oranges and grapefruits to bring home.  Then after a quick errand we went to TGIFriday's near the mall.  The kids were tired but hungry so we tried to have a fairly early dinner.

Tuck was starting to act up because he was so tired so I brought him outside for a little talk.  I'm about halfway into my discussion about holding it together when he says, "Look Mommy, Thomas is in there!"  I was telling him that Thomas wasn't at the mall and that he needed to be nice...then I turned to look and sure enough, Thomas the train ride-on was in the front door.  Oh Brother.  So after trying to finish our talk without a whole lot of success, we walked back towards the restaurant by way of the mall entrance, a few feet away.  We looked at Thomas and he thought that was neat, then he said, "Look at the big train!"  Sure enough, there was this huge model train driving throughout the mall...I'm still not sure how he spotted it across the food court but we had to go take a look.

At this point he was too excited to eat although we made him.  He talked about the trains non-stop through dinner as well.  So on our way out, we walked by Thomas and straight to the rideable train where Poppi bought him a ticket.  He and Daddy rode all around the mall while Mimi, Poppi, Brooklyn and I chased after them.  He had a smile the size of Florida across his face, especially when the conductor blew the whistle.  That made his day for sure!

 On our way out, Tuck wanted to sit in the Thomas ride-on by the entrance so we let him.  There were a few other kids there as well, slightly older, who ended up playing games with him for a minute, it was cute.  Brooklyn got a chance to jump in the car with him and started steering, she learned from big brother.  Neither wanted to leave but they were tired and crashed pretty much as soon as we got home!

Best day yet - amazingly hot, sunny day - beachin' it!

 We started out with another lovely morning walk along the beach, not a bad way to start off any day!  Tuck was really interested in playing on the beach so he, Poppi and I played down there from about 8:30am on!


Unfortunately Brooklyn woke up around 2am with a slight fever and wasn't feeling that well.  She started a runny nose yesterday and was in full blown cold mode today.  She was up at 5am and after Mimi got her some Tylenol, she went down for an early nap. 

 Tuck dug for a long time and then since it was so hot out, he decided it was time to try out the water.  Poppi held his hand and they slowly walked towards the beach.  I carried him out into the waves just a little bit and then told him how much fun it was to have the waves pull the sand away from your feet.  He thought that was great and then slowly started becoming more and more brave.  A few waves caught us off guard and we all got wet, but it was all smiles!  He actually kept going back in, as long as he was holding onto someone's hand.  Yehaa!

 Despite not feeling 100%, Brooklyn took a great nap and was ready to get some more fresh air.  Tuck also napped today, finally, and really felt a lot better.  He was crashing around lunchtime and we caught a rare glimpse of pleasant, smiling little boy... he was just so tired.  He's been up early, running all over the beach and playing at 115 mph the whole week so I was so happy for him and us all, when he crashed after lunch!

 How rarely can I get both kids sitting next to each other and actually looking the same direction.  The light was beautiful and Brooklyn was feeling good enough to sit in the sand.  Both kids really love the sand!

Tuck was sharing his shovel with Brooklie so I snapped about a hundred pictures of the two of them while making Jay doing something silly behind me.  It must have been quite funny for anyone looking out the windows at us!  We stayed out for awhile because it was so beautiful and warm, plus I let Tuck bring out a few of his older trains after naptime and he was quite happy about that.  Anything to do with trains makes him happy.

You can see the bright light of the DISCOVERY shuttle launch - last one ever!

 At 4:30pm, we all walked outside to sit on the beach steps to watch the shuttle take off.  Apparently this is the last shuttle launch ever for the Discovery shuttle.  Everyone and their brothers came out of the woodwork to watch this launch and it was really neat to have so many people out on the beach.  One lady had he iphone and was giving play by play.  We thought we had missed it but sure enough, this bright orange light came into view 2 times.  If you look closely in the picture you can see it!  There was cheering, lots of pictures and then one lady said, "Alright now we can go inside and actually watch it."  That was funny!

Mom's friends were over and after a really great steak, chicken and veggie kabob dinner, the kids crashed, and apparently I did too...with Tuck.  Yep, missed the card game and all!