Florida Trip: Day 2, Cousin Time!

Thursday morning, March 2nd, the kids both slept in until 8:30 after our day of traveling/no naps/late night. I slept in until they woke up because I was exhausted from not getting enough sleep the night before and then sleeping terribly that night! I took off to run while Ty made the kids breakfast. The moment my grandparents heard us they were out of their room to greet us. They had been awake and waiting to hear us before they came out which I thought was very sweet! Carter really enjoyed getting to spend some time with his grandma and grandpa in the morning. I decided rather than run my 8 miles for the day all in the morning, I'd break it into two shorter runs so we could get to Paul and Amanda's house earlier. During my run I got to check out a wildlife preserve and kept a close eye on the water's edge because I was afraid of seeing alligators, but thankfully there were none! When I got back from my run we spent some time sitting on the balcony looking out at the river before heading to Paul and Amanda's house. My grandparents' condo is in an awesome location. The back of the condo building is right up against the Banana River so they have a beautiful view of the river from their balcony/patio area. If you walk a couple blocks to the east, you are on the beach facing the ocean! Carter couldn't stop talking about going to the beach and couldn't wait to go. He was also super excited to see his cousin since Wyatt was asleep the whole time he was there the night before.

The view from my grandparents' balcony.

When we got to Paul and Amanda's house we ate lunch and picked some stuff up at the grocery store with Paul while we waited on Amanda and Wyatt to return home for the day. Since stepping on the airplane Carter had been talking about how he was supposed to give Wyatt a kiss on the cheek for Gma. The moment Carter saw Wyatt, he ran over to give him a kiss. Then all he could talk about was holding him. I set him up on the couch with a Boppy and Wyatt in his lap. He absolutely loved getting Wyatt to smile and laugh by making faces at him and showing him toys. I was amazed by how long Carter held Wyatt. I thought he'd be over it after about 5 minutes, but he kept him until it was time for Wyatt to eat. It was so cute to watch him love on his sweet, little cousin! I got Ty and Paul to sit on the couch with the boys for some pictures and they all enjoyed oohing and ahhing over Wyatt's smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

Elise was again fighting a nap and I was worried we were going to have another difficult day. Finally I decided to just rock her in Paul and Amanda's room where it was dark and she fell asleep in my lap. I haven't rocked her to sleep in forever and I loved every bit of it. I rocked her for a while after she fell asleep just to make sure she was out and then transferred her to their bed. We planned to go to the park when she woke up, but she ended up taking a 4 hour nap so it was dinner time when she woke up! While she was sleeping we played outside for a long time. Carter loved climbing the trees and running around in the yard. I had him lay down to rest for a while when Elise first went down but he couldn't fall asleep so I let him get up after about 30 minutes. I went out for another short run while Ty took Carter on a bike ride around the neighborhood. Then Ty and Paul cooked fajitas for dinner while I colored at the table with the kids. This time on our way back to my grandparents' condo Carter fell asleep and was hysterical when we got him out of the car because he woke up. Elise kept messing with him after we laid them in bed so he couldn't fall back asleep and it was a mess. We ended up dividing to conquer. Ty slept in the kids' room with Elise while I slept in our bed with Carter. Sleep was a huge battle pretty much the entire trip, but we just rolled with it and tried to be flexible! That's the tricky part about traveling with toddlers.

Carter hidden in their tree!

Me helping Ty get on the bike with Carter.

 

 

Elise and Carter checking on Wyatt using the monitor.