Final Vacation Pictures

Before I moved on, I had some final pictures of our last day on the beach. It turned out to be the most beautiful day that we were there throughout the whole week. The water was crystal clear, and the skies were so blue that they almost looked fake. It's a vacation that I will always remember with such happiness and a marking point right before our lives drastically changed. Thanks, Mom, for a great, much needed trip.

I look at these and wish I could jump back in them.

Jaggar hates the sun.

My life

I built this transformer on the last day.

Love Jaggar's pose in this.

Look at that water and sky. They were looking for a few more shells for Nonni, and a few more were found.

Sage took this picture of the water. :)

He is showing me what he found.

Jaggar enjoyed himself as much as he ever did (which isn't saying a TON) on this day. Look at him in the WATER.

So small

Back to Pier Park

There was a particular restaurant that I wanted to try, which just happened to be at Pier Park: The Back Porch. I'd heard good things about it, and their menu outside looked good. When we went the day before, Kevin didn't go with us because he was finishing up some school work. So, we went back the next day with him so that he could try it, too.

I looked like garbage pretty much every day at the beach (who fixes their hair to get in the ocean?), so this day, I decided that I'd try to look presentable. Everyone got out their cameras for this event lol.

Me and Kevin...it's been a long time since we had a picture together.

Once we got to Pier Park, I thought that it was adorable how Jaggar was trying to keep up with Kevin. He really likes him.

All of the guys

Inside The Back Porch

So cute

The food here did not disappoint. I got the crab cake sandwich, and it was amazing. I ate every bit of it.

The day before, Mom had noticed some neat face painting while we were riding the balloons. So, she told the kids that she'd get their faces painted the next day. We walked over there at about 3, and the lady informed us that the face painting booth wouldn't be open until 5. Well, Jaggar already knew about it, and he was adamant on getting his "pace painted." So we killed two hours at the mall, looking for the new bracelet that Sage lost somewhere in the midst of it (Travis found it), and walking around Target. Jaggar was more than ready to go first, but then he realized that he didn't like it at all. She had to stop, so we let Sage go first.

You can see Sage getting hers done here. We are explaining to Jaggar that it doesn't hurt and that he has to close his eyes while she does it. He was ready after that. He did not like it that much more the second try, but he did finish and the end result for him is ADORABLE when he saw himself. You can watch him here.

Aren't they so cute? Sage chose a kind of fairy like design, and Jaggar, of course, is Spiderman. The girl said that this was a makeup, and it would last for 3-5 days. She wasn't kidding. By the 3rd day, I decided to take it off and had to use makeup remover to get it off.

On the way out, Jaggar saw this rock, sat on it, and told me to take his picture.

Pier Park and Other Stuff

Every day at the beach started out in "the big boy pool." I didn't care. The weather there is so different. The sun is out early and stays up late, and it kind of makes you do that, too. So I had no problem letting the kids go to the pool at 8 in the morning. It was never crowded, and they had a blast. Jaggar got braver each day, and Sage was trying to help him swim.

He couldn't STAND to put his "baving suit" on while it was wet, so each time we had to put it in the dryer. And he was always checking it.

This is random and has nothing to do with anything, but Kevin cracked an egg and it looked like that. Travis said that it was half a bird. Turns out, the fridge was just turned way too cold because drinks of ours were freezing in there, too.

So one afternoon, we decided to go to Pier Park. This is kind of like a mini Gatlinburg to me, and Travis decided to bring out this gem out of the archives of the '70s to wear there. He says it's from the '80s. He thinks it's so great because it actually came from Mardi Gras. You be the judge.

Pier Park is any child's dream. Rides, VERY overpriced rides, are right in the center as soon as you drive in. We let them choose one at the end. It's $4 PER ride per person, and Jaggar can't ride alone, and I wasn't about to spend $24 on two rides. So I ended up riding some balloons with him that went backwards. It was the biggest thing he'd ever ridden, and he wasn't so sure about it at first. It scared him, but then he liked it okay. It made me kind of sick.

It isn't exactly true to the look of the movie, but everyone loves the movie Big, right? And these cuties are always ready for a picture.

This is actually the back of Pier Park, and the ocean is right behind them. The restaurant we ate at the next day (more on that later) is just to the right of the Pier Park sign.

As we were walking up the street, this man was walking with a parrot. He let both of my kids pet him, but I was only able to get a picture of Jaggar petting him.

Shell Island

My mom loves to find shells, but the crazy thing about our vacation is that there are NO shells on the beach. Last year, we had buckets full. It's so crazy. So Travis and Mom found something called Shell Island. You take an hour boat ride to the island, spend an hour on the island finding shells, and ride the boat back for an hour. Sounded good to us. We called and reservations weren't necessary, so we headed there for the afternoon.

I have to say...I immediately almost ruined the trip. We were one of the last ones on the boat. The only seats left were in the middle of it. I spotted one by the side where the kids and I could sit, so we went there. Shortly after I sat down, this lady comes over and says, "Hey, I'm sorry. My daughter is sitting here. She went downstairs to get a drink." I said, "Well is there room for one?" Because at least Sage could sit there. She said, "No, it's my daughter and my niece." Let me say, there was NOTHING wrong with what she said or did or how she said it. She was as nice as could be. But my evil side just came out. I said, in what Travis said was as rude as could possibly be, "Well, next time you can put something in the seat so people know." I'm laughing even thinking about it because it's so terrible. In my right mind, WHY would I ever do that? What a brat. I want to smack me.

So I go to the back where Mom and Mema are, and a few seconds later, she slams a cooler or something down and goes, "How's that?!" Without missing a beat, I shot back, "That's perfect, thanks." It was like watching someone else. I don't know what my problem was. Travis goes, "Hey, she's about twice your size, so you better chill out." And it's true. She was at LEAST twice my size. I felt pretty bad because there was really no warranting my acting that way. So as soon as she got up to go downstairs, I got up and went to the stairwell and said, "Ma'am...Ma'am (until she looked up), I'm really sorry I spoke to you that way. I shouldn't have done that, and I'm sorry." She immediately said, "I'm sorry too." All's well that ends well.

SO...after that debacle, let's get to the trip. :) Travis is still laughing about it and has since told me every time that we go out to not be rude to anyone. SO far, so good. Anyway, when we set sail, they said that some seagulls would be flying by and wanting hand outs. They passed out Cheetos to those that wanted to feed them. I took some but quickly realized that it was too creepy for me. Alfred Hitchcocks, "The Birds," is a PERFECT description for what it was like. They followed us the whole way; Sage ate the Cheetos.

There is Shell Island. On the way, the captain was trying to spot some dolphins for us. They did see one, but we couldn't see it. I don't think it came up to the surface much. I went downstairs and came back up to tell Mom and Mema that I was, in fact, actually able to see the dolphin and even got a pic.

See it? I couldn't resist. I don't know why anyone likes me either. :)

So, we arrived to Shell Island and got off the boat. These were off the dock. Creepy, crawly crabs. YUCK.

But then THIS guy was on the beach. Check him out. Eek!

We all know that Jaggar hates the beach. He has done better than last year, but he still definitely has issues with the sand. When we go to the beach and he sees the sand, he starts screaming, "NEVER! NEVER!!!" That's his new word by the way. He says it for everything. "Jaggar, it's time for bed." "Never." It's great.

It wasn't hard to find the shells. They were everywhere, and we had an hour to find what we wanted.

And something magical happened for Jaggar. He LOVED finding the shells. It was like Easter Egg hunting. He'd say, "There's one! There's one! Get it. Get the shell!" I let him carry a bucket, and suddenly, he's ENJOYING the beach.

Look at that: a SMILE from both and he's not being held!

Kevin looking for shells

Little boo boo

Seriously, a miracle

I love how they worked together.

They were both so proud of every shell that they found.

:)

Showing each other what they found

So sweet. I realize I never took a picture of our final buckets of shells. Oh well...we had a lot. As soon as we got on the boat, a girl gave Jaggar one of her big shells. Kevin said, "That's your money, Jaggar. You're cute." It's true.

Riding back.

Looking

Travis taking his self portrait

Okay, so on the way back, the captain said that he would try to find some more dolphins for us and that we'd stop to watch them if he could find them. I didn't have high hopes just because...but God smiled upon us. Big time.

Check this out. See that shadow???

Not only did we see a dolphin, we saw DOLPHINS. And they were right next to us.

And they were showing off majorly. It was so neat to see that in the wild like that.

The best picture. They jumped over and over again, and I'm SO glad that both of my kids got to see. They love the movie "Dolphin Tail," so this was like amazing to them.

I'm not sure what this pirate ship looking deal was, but it's neat, and we passed it.

Kevin

Group shot minus T

Plus T

After Shell Island, we were hungry, and I suggested Pineapple Willy's. This place was really fun, and we sat outside by the beach and water. They also had some really funny signs out there, and I took some pics of my favorites that I find to be true.

A few people came to mind INSTANTLY for this one.

My boys

My food was SO good: Caribbean salad. It had pineapples, pine nuts, chicken...yum. We went back to "Nonni's house" (as Jaggar has called where we are staying) happy, tired and full. Fun day.