The Jackson 5 Hit the Beach!

We had an awesome time in Virginia with my family. I'm going to try to cover our whole trip if the kids sleep long enough, but who knows!

First and foremost, I would like to give a little love to Tyler. He seems to believe that my blog is centered around poking fun at him. Erroneous! So, in an attempt to right this outrageous claim, I would like to sincerely say the following:

Tyler is a wonderful hubbie and dad. He helps me so much with the kids and I love and appreciate him! (I promised myself I wasn't going to cry...) On our plane ride to VA, he was the lone ranger with Trace and Sydney while I hung out in my own row with sleeping Nash...I definitely got the better end of that deal! But, Tyler never complained and took great care of his troops. He's amazing! He put the kids to bed most nights we were in VA Beach and played with them at the beach and pool. He even took them on all the kiddie rides while I rode the good stuff! Thanks for all you do Tyler, and I hope you had as much fun on our trip as I did! Ok, on with the blog.

Here is one way to sum up our trip to the beach: Trace is truly a Mechling and Sydney is all Jackson!

Trace:

• Loves the beach--Our first day there, Trace spent 8 hours soaking up the sand and sun! He never once came inside until forced to for dinner. We took shifts to supervise him. And, lunch, snacks, and drinks were brought to him so his fun would not be interrupted.
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• Loves the pool--After beach time was over the second day, he wanted to hit the pool where he was caught doing belly flops into the chilly water.
• Loves exciting rides--At Busch Gardens, Trace was tall enough to ride one of the roller coasters, The Big Bad Wolf. He rode it 3 times, and people in line were impressed with this brave little four-year old. Now I know who will ride with me when he's tall enough!
  

Sydney:

• Loves to eat! She probably ate her weight in "brownie bites" and cheese puff balls. Who can really blame her.
• Loves to talk...enough said!
• Prefers naps to beach time. On Monday before we left for the Lodge, we took the kids to the beach. Sydney was there for all of 10 minutes before she was done. So, I threatened the nap. Sadly, she opted for the nap.
• Knows what she wants! While we were at the Great Wolf Lodge and Busch Gardens, Syd knew what she wanted to ride and what she didn't. There was no changing her mind. The Scrambler (middle picture) was her FAVORITE. We rode it 3 times, before I couldn't take it no mo'.
  
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Nash: A pleasant mixture of Mechling and Jackson. He enjoyed eating, napping, strolling around Busch Gardens as well as the water slide park and just about everything else he was forced to do. And he did it all with a smile on his face (that comes from the Mechling side).

Before I end this portion of my ramblings about our trip, I would like to give some love to my wonderful parents. There's nothing like coming home and being taken care of by Mom and Dad. They do EVERYTHING for us! My mom makes us yummy suppers and entertains the kids--she even folds our laundry (when I'm not looking)! Daddy Ray absorbs the chaos like a champion grandpa. He also makes sure that there's enough cheese balls and brownie bites to last a lifetime. Somehow, they didn't last that long! Thanks Mom and Dad for an amazing week--we had a blast and we love you! OK, kids are awake, I'll finish up later!