Summer Vacation # 1 - Cashiers, NC

Off we head today to Cashiers, NC for our first summer vacation. David's Aunt owns a house up there so the girls and I are headed there for 5 days. I have never been in the summer time, but I hear it is really nice. There is a lake to go boating, trails to hike, and a pool at the country club to swim. It will be nice to have a break from the 100 degree heat down here in Florida. I think the high is in the low 80s.

I wasn't thrilled about the idea of driving 8 hours with a 2 month old, just because it takes forever to get there when you have to stop and breastfeed every 3 hours. So I came up with a genius idea to fly! :) Blakely and I are flying to Asheville this afternoon and Dave's cousin Mary Beth is going to pick us up. Delainey is riding up in the car with Gammoe and Paige & Collier (D's cousins). Gammoe is staying up there for almost 3 weeks so next Wednesday I will fly home with both the girls...that is going to be a treat!

I am really looking forward to the trip and letting all of the McLaughlin family members meet Blakely for the first time. Wish us luck on B's first flight and my first solo flight home with 2 kids! I'll be back next week to post tons of pictures, but in the meantime you can look at my instagram where I'll be posting stuff throughout the trip. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Blakely's 1st Boating Adventure & My Spa Day

Saturday, Dave wanted to try out his new Father's Day tube, so off we went for a boating adventure. I decided to try and bring Blakely on the boat for the 1st time. We put up the bimini top, strapped her into a life jacket and it was smooth sailing. She slept majority of the time, woke up to eat (we were anchored so I took off her life jacket), and went back to sleep. There's something about the sound of the motor and the wind blowing that just knocks a baby out. Delainey tried out the new tube with me and did pretty good. She didn't like the bumps when we went over another boats wake but otherwise she did pretty good. She is more interested in swimming around in the water the whole time. Dave busted out the skis and slalomed and Paige & Dave tubed as well. The weather was perfect and it was a lovely little day on the water. 

After our boating day, I left the kids with Marcia and went off to enjoy a spa day with Jessica & Erica which was part of my mother's day gift. We had a deal for a 1 hour massage, 1 hour facial, and 1 hour in the hydrotherapy tub/steam room. It was very relaxing, but my favorite part was drinking wine with the girls in the steam room and just chit chatting. I love my friends and life is much more fun doing things with them! Most people at the spa were couples and here we sat the 3 of us just laughing that we didn't think twice to do it with our spouses. LOL I snapped a quick pic while I was waiting for my mask to dry during my facial. haha 

Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day with a normal day of church, lunch, and family dinner at Marcia's. I am so lucky to have the best father in the world and I love watching him play with my girls. It reminds me so much of my Bumpa & I know they love Pops as much as I loved Bumpa. I also couldn't ask for a better father for my kids. David works so hard to provide for us and when he is home, Delainey is obsessed with him and won't let him out of her sight. He is such a loving Daddy and we are lucky to have him! I hope all the Dads had a great Father's day!

Delainey's 1st Ballet Class

Delainey has been asking to do ballet for a good year now. She loves putting on her princess dresses and dancing around the house. I personally think at age 3 it's a bit ridiculous to take a ballet class year round and pay insane amounts of money on recitals when they really don't do that much stuff. So when I heard about a 6 week summer class that didn't require a registration fee or any commitment I thought it would be a good opportunity to let Delainey try it out. She has been wearing her ballet shoes all week and was so cooperative when I told her it was time to do her ballet hair. I just love her little sock bun!! She looks so old in her little outfit. 

 Of course, ballet is more fun with your best friend!  Aren't they so precious! These 2 cuties ran right in and had a ball dancing around. At one point they had wands and tiaras and pretended to be princesses. That was D's favorite part. I can't wait to see what all she's going to learn over the next few weeks.

In other news, Blakely turned 12 weeks old this weekend. She has started to like the pool more these last few times. I think it is because the pool is starting to warm up. She is growing up so fast. She is still my laid back chill lady! She loves laying on her playmate looking at all the sights and sounds.

Last Week's Festivities

I am finally getting a chance to sit on the couch and relax after a crazy busy week last week. I love doing things, but I forget how nice it is to just sit and hang out every now and then. Last Tuesday night, some family friends, the Turbedsky's, came into town from North Carolina. Matt, the father, and I have known each other since birth and grew up together. Now we both have kids that love playing together. They have 2 boys, Caden(7) & Grayson(5) and Delainey is obsessed with them! I think she actually has a crush on Caden. LOL Anyways on Wednesday, we swam in the pool with them all day and then did Mexican dinner, on Thursday we did the beach and then back to the pool for the afternoon, on Friday they went to Seaworld so we did a little shopping at the mall then went out on the boat with Dave & Emily, and on Saturday we played in the pool until they left around 2 pm. She literally would swim from 10 am to 8 pm most days! Her swimming is so awesome after chasing around the boys all week. 

 D loved swimming in the river on Friday. After we swam for a bit, we took the boat over to Whitey's on the water for dinner, but it was cut short due to a storm coming in. Thankfully we beat it and got off the water before it hit us.

 Saturday afternoon, everyone came over to Terri's house for a graduation celebration for my cousin Melissa. She has finished her residency in Emergency Medicine and is officially a Doctor. We had a great time playing volleyball in the pool, yard games, and hanging out with my Uncle Gary (Cap is his name for the kids) & Steph who we really only see a few times a year, mainly in the keys.

The Doctor with her Dr. cake! 

Delainey's chore chart fun

Since school is no longer in and we aren't rushed to get out of the house, we decided it was time to embark on the world of chores. Lala gave us a lovely wooden Melissa & Doug chore chart for Delainey's birthday so starting chores was easy! We do 3 chores in the morning and 3 at night. I also added a smiley face for less than 3 timeouts during the day. The first week she was so excited to do her chores. Then they lost their luster and it is a little more work to get them done. She is still doing them, but as an incentive if she has less than 5 empty spaces at the end of the week, she gets a field trip to do something fun. Last Friday we had our first reward field trip and we went to this festival called Kids Fest. 

We started the morning with Krispy Kreme doughnuts since it was National Donut day and then headed to the festival to do different activities and play on the bounce houses. 

We explored different types of vehicles, met clifford and curious george and did unlimited rides on the 2 bounce slides (one was a wet slide so we just got our clothes wet). We ended the fun with a shaved ice and then headed home for some rest. 

On another note, Blakely is growing up too fast! She is already 10 weeks old :( Not such a baby anymore. Delainey has been wanting to hold B more lately and I was able to snap a few good pics! Blakely was so precious sleeping with her hands folded. 

Girls getaway to Alicia's Beach Condo

This past Tuesday we headed down to Alicia's beach condo just north of Palm Coast to have a little getaway for the girls. It was Delainey's 1st sleepover with a friend! We arrived around noon and did a little swimming at the pool before the weather got bad and we were quarantined to the condo. The girls watched a movie, ate dinner, played with some toys, and had a late night dance party. They were bathed and in bed by 8 that night bc they were so exhausted playing with each other. Alicia and I enjoyed some grown up chit chat and were off to bed a few hours later. (You can see baby Sadie poking out in the 1st picture!) Less than 2 months till Blakely has a best friend to play with too! 

 The next morning Delainey, Blakely, and myself went down to the beach to look for shells and take a walk. The beach has lots of rocks on it so there really isn't a beach unless it was low tide. The tide was coming in so it was a short trip at the beach.

We came back and ate breakfast and then hit the pool for the remainder of the day. It was a gorgeous day! The girls made some friends (mostly because they wanted to play with their toys) and even got some "jet ski rides" from the Dad at the pool. LOL We came back up to the condo for lunch and then we headed home. Delainey was so exhausted she was out within 10 minutes of being in the car. 

It was a nice little girls getaway and we are so blessed to have such great friends. (Alicia and I have been friends since we were 11 years old, Collins & Delainey are 9 months apart, and Blakely & Sadie are going to be 6 months apart) What more could you ask for! Definitely some lifelong friends :)