Summer Vacation 2010 -- part 1 of ?

I have talked about out bestest friends - Brian and Jenna - before. We met in law school and have since spent vacations together every other year. The first was right after Bob and I were married -- no kids for us and their 2 with grandma back home. The vacation included late mornings sleeping in, glorious uninterrupted afternoons lying in the sun, quiet dinners out at fine restaurants, and late evenings spent laughing and playing games.

2 years later, we hung out at a mountain retreat with their 3 children and our sweet Robbie.






The next 2 years brought us to the beach with their 3 and our princess Eveley.





A few weeks after returning from that vacation, both Jenna and I discovered we were pregnant!

Fast forward 2 more years, and here we are in Florida with 6 kiddies: their four - Lauren, Cade, Cooper, and Bennett - and Eveley and Caleb.

Vacations together are always fun but have definitely morphed over the years. This time, we rented a big house in a wonderful resort. We had our own pool, and the resort had an awesome waterpark. Our mornings began before sunrise, the kids had "underwear morning swims" each day, our afternoons couldn't begin until the little ones awoke from their naps, dinners were early and usually consisted of bringing home take-out, and we were slowly losing consciousness around 9:30.

The boys preferred playing in the outside shower.

Very different days! But awesome fun nonetheless.

The total trip was 12 hours, so we spent the first night in Savannah, GA before driving the rest of the way down into Florida. The kids did remarkably well in the car.

Bennett Robert and Caleb Robert (both named after our sweet Robbie) were the newest additions from our last vacation.

We spent most every day at the waterpark.

For obvious reasons, Bob and I were a little worried about the pools and waterpark. Caleb and Eveley have not had much swimming exposure. But I took a friend's advice and bought "Puddle Jumpers" for Eveley. We brought Caleb some floaties and a boat. It didn't take much time at all for Eveley to turn into a fish. She loved the pool and the water slides. And on the last day of our vacation, Eveley jumped off the diving board by herself.

It took Caleb a little longer to enjoy everything. He liked the fountains and going down the slide with mama and daddy. And towards the end, he especially liked the lazy river. But truthfully, he enjoyed the mulch and sand much more.

Despite the various ages, the kids played so well together.

Eveley loved having an older girl around and can't stop talking about Lauren. But she has as much fun with the boys too. They were sweet to eachother and also had fun wrestling. We are having bets on what the future holds for these crazy kids!!