Spring Break 2018, Day 2

We awoke Saturday morning eager to start our vacation at Fernandez Bay Village on Cat Island. Connie made us a fantastic and hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon and we all enjoyed one last meal together before packing up the Baron and heading out to Cat Island. First, we had to stop at Ft. Pierce, about an hour or so south of CK's folks on the coast. Ft. Pierce has all of the documents we need for travel to the Bahamas and was a last fuel spot for us before we headed out over the water. Once again, Olivia's ears were really bothering her as we descended into Ft. Pierce, so once we landed she was not happy. She asked if we could "just drive" to Cat Island because she was "done riding in the Baron." Poor girl! We tried to explain to her there was no way to drive to Cat Island, and she soon accepted that we would have to fly but would stay a lot lower and it would feel better to her. Before we left, Connie also made us ham and cheese sandwiches and gave us carrots and celery to snack on during our flight. After the Baron was fueled and we had all of the necessary documents, we took off toward Cat Island! It was more cloudy than when CK and I visited 11/2 years ago in the summer, so Olivia and I read and relaxed in the backseat. When we flew to Cat before, it was an incredible view with clear waters and small islands doting the view, but we didn't get to see as much this time.

We enjoyed our sandwiches, which really hit the spot and were soon descending to land at Cat Island! Olivia's ears hurt a little bit but not as badly as before, thankfully. As soon as we landed at Cat, a local man named Victor came out with a luggage trolley to load all of our stuff. It was awesome! We actually brought a bunch of snacks with us from Texas, so we had an small ice chest and another container with food and drinks, so it was nice to have the help. Victor took a family photo of us too before we headed into the customs office. Victor hung out outside with our bags while we went into the little rundown building that was the "customs office." Inside the small office is a nice man who stamped our passports, accepted our $50/person "visitor fee," and took all of our paperwork. The process is a few minutes long and we were soon in a cab to Fernandez Bay Village, just a few minutes down the road!

This visit we stayed in Beach House, which includes a living room with kitchenette and two bedrooms/bathrooms, one on each side of the living room. It was perfect! The weather, although a little cloudy, was warm and humid and all of the doors to Beach House were open, so we unloaded all of our bags into the living room and were so happy to have finally arrived. Meanwhile, the girls jumped out of the cab with their backpacks which they dropped in the living room and ran through the sliding glass doors to the water. By the time we were done with our bags, both girls were swimming in their clothes! CK had originally tried to reserve a stay at FBV last spring break, but it was completely sold out so he booked it for this week nearly a year ago!

The girls had a ball swimming and they soon changed into their swimsuits since I barely packed enough clothes for them to wear, thinking they would mainly be in swimsuits all week. CK and I sorted out our bags and put the girls' things in their room and our bags in our room. To access either bedroom, one has to go through the sliding glass door into each bedroom, with no direct access from the living room. It's really cool, and feels great to be outside to get into each room. Each of the rooms have wall air conditioning units, which we really didn't need until bedtime, mainly to cut the humidity while we slept.

Soon, we were all in our swimsuits, the girls swimming and CK and I lounging on the lounge chairs reading. It was awesome! It wasn't as warm as when CK and I were visiting in August, but felt great, especially after the cold winter we've had in Texas. The water was cooler, but as long as the sun was out, it felt great! Within minutes, Sofia befriended a little boy, Charlie, who is 81/2 and introduced herself to his parents. The three kids became fast friends!

We hung out on the beach and relaxed until it was time to get ready for appetizers and then dinner. We met a few of the other folks staying at FBV, including a couple who flew in from Los Angeles, picked up their 20-year old twin boys from NYC and were down to celebrate the boys' birthday on St. Patrick's Day. They have been coming to FBV every year for over 20 years! Charlie and his parents, Chip and Lisa, are from Connecticut and left a snow storm to come to FBV. They have been coming every year for 5 years and normally meet up with a British couple that they plan their visit with in the summer. We visited with everyone and soon it was time for dinner. Dinner is always awesome at FBV and includes a great salad, veggie and fresh seafood. Tonight we had lobster, mixed steamed veggies and salad. It was delicious! The girls loved it all too! After dinner, we returned to our living room and played a very lengthy game of Uno. Both girls are competitive Uno players and we had the longest game ever, before we finally let CK win so we could all go to bed!

Family selfie before heading out from Ft. Pierce. Olivia is NOT happy and wants to drive to Cat Island.

Fernandez Bay Village from the air!

Victor and the girls

The four of us and the Baron

The fancy international airport!

The main clubhouse

Two very happy girls at the beach!

Olivia is ready to get in the water!

The perfect vacation view!

Sofia putting on her fins

Evening....

Olivia and I enjoying appetizers before dinner

Spring Break 2018, Day 1

We headed out a little early for Spring Break this year, leaving Friday morning and having the girls skip school that day. They were equally excited to be missing school as they were to be heading off for a week of fun. We ended up leaving Buddy with Mitzi for the weekend, and then Thelma picked him up on Monday after they returned from their weekend away. We considered taking him to the farm, but it would have been a lot for CK's parents to deal with.

We took off around 10am and had a great tailwind and never even had to stop on our way to CK's folks! We landed just before 3pm and the girls both read and napped during the trip. Olivia read the "Wings of Fire" graphic novel and Sofia was breezing through books 5-7 of "Spirit Animals," a new series we'd just bought for her. The flight seemed to go by quickly and the only down side was that the flight really hurt Olivia's ears when we descended to land. The girls were super excited to see their grandparents and they ended up spending the rest of the day driving the Gator around the farm and playing on the hay roles. They were both excited for the days ahead and what we'd get up to while on Cat Island, but enjoyed spending a little time before with Grandpa and Grandma.

The girls are all set to head to Florida

Olivia and Giraffey reading the Wings of Fire graphic novel

A family picture in the Baron

Sofia got the flavor popsicle she wanted in the mystery pop! Love this picture of her!

Olivia giving Grandpa a ride around the farm

The girls and I took a walk down the runway to stretch our legs and explore the flowers and little animals

The crazy driver in the family! This girl likes to go FAST!

Our more cautious driver. She likes to drive, but loves to ride in the back when Sofia is driving.

She's very concentrated as she drives!

Olivia at 6 1/2 Years Old!

Olivia is growing up so fast! She is now 58 1/4 inches tall and weighs 58.4 pounds! I can't believe how much she's changed since she just turned six! Olivia still has many of her favorites, such as sucking her thumb and rubbing her belly. She also really loves to rub my belly because it is "warm and soft." Her favorite breakfast is what CK makes on Saturday mornings: homemade biscuits, scrambled eggs and bacon. She loves orange juice every morning, no matter what she's eating. She also loves spaghetti and can eat an amazing amount of it for dinner. She also loves tomato soup with cheese tortellini in it, which is a dinner I make when CK is traveling since he's not a fan of tomato soup. She really loves sliced cucumbers and likes them in her lunch. She also loves small bell peppers and roasted cauliflower.

Olivia still loves to wear either leggings and a shirt or a short and shirt and always wants a ponytail. I can talk him into a braid, but very rarely! Her favorite movie is "The Greatest Showman" and she knows all the songs since we have the CD in the car and listen to it nearly every time we are driving somewhere. Both girls know every word and sing all the songs. When Olivia grows up she wants to either design rockets or be a teacher. She loves playing with Sofia, who is her best friend and her friends. Her favorite friends are Cora, Scott, Hana B and Hannah J.

Like her sister, Olivia loves to read and has recently started reading the Magic Tree House series. She doesn't read as much or as often as Sofia, but she often will go into her room and start reading on her own. She still loves bedtime stories, although now she generally reads to us instead of us reading to her. She loves reading the Highlights magazines from cover to cover before bed. We saved them from when Sofia was growing up, so we have years of them to go through. They are a good mix of fun, interesting and puzzles.

Olivia loves school and really loves her teacher, Ms. Feaster. She is a serious student and gets frustrated when kids at her table don't take the lessons seriously. She's really come out of her shell at school and enjoys being involved throughout the lessons. She plays tag at recess and has a bunch of friends. She remains our social butterfly and always wants to have a playdate with a friend.

Olivia with her lovey, Giraffey and monkey

Our sweet girl!

Olivia and Cora

Playing in the mud while we walk Buddy

Love this sweet girl!

Enjoying some tomato soup

A little mid-day nap

Skating

Crazy Olivia and Cora during a play date!

Olivia Loses Her 4th Tooth!

Olivia lost her 4th tooth yesterday while she was at school. I arrived at school to pick Olivia up and was busy talking to another mom when Olivia showed up with a bloody mouth! It was very shocking! She was super excited that her 4th tooth was out, and didn't care about the blood. She said she asked Ms. Feaster to try and pull it just before the final bell and out it came! Because it was just before school got out, she didn't get a plastic tooth to hold her lost tooth in and had to carry it carefully. We got to the car and I got her a kleenex for her bloody gum. She was so excited! Her gum stopped bleeding quickly and she looks so cute in her new toothless smile!

The next morning, Olivia woke up to find that the tooth fairy had visited and brought her a container of pixie dust, a sparkly $2 bill and a note. Olivia's tooth fairy is named Alicia and brings her goodies and always leaves a note. She was so excited!

Bloody mouth and happy girl!

Olivia's new toothless smile!

Olivia and her note from Alicia

The note Olivia wrote to Alicia explaining her 4th tooth!

All the goods from Alicia

Happy toothless girl!

Love her new smile and how proud she is of it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day arrived and the girls were so excited. They eagerly headed off to school for their parties and I made sure we were ready to celebrate at home that evening. I decided to buy a ribeye steak that had been cut so it looked like a huge heart. It was actually pretty clever. Along with the steak, I thought we could have asparagus and corn spoon bread. The girls don't really love the corn spoon bread, so I included cucumbers, bell peppers and radishes that I'd cut up as an appetizer before dinner.

Sofia had soccer practice at 5pm and it ended up being a strangely warm and humid day, well into the low-70s. It's been so cold and miserable, that it was a surprise to get such nice weather. Olivia went over to Antonio's house to play while I took Sofia to soccer practice and stayed during the practice. The team is a lot of fun to watch and the girls ended up playing a scrimmage game, after their warm-up drills. It's going to be a great season!

After practice, we returned to the house and made dinner. The girls gobbled up the cut up vegetables while CK and I made our Valentine's dinner. Originally, I'd decided to make pots de creme for dessert, but CK said that he decided to bring dessert home from Dallas. He arrived home from his meetings with Valentine's cupcakes and I'd bought white and dark chocolate-dipped strawberries. Olivia had seen them at the grocery store and begged to get them, so the next time I was there I bought some.

We ate our delicious Valentine's meal by candle light and then enjoyed our dessert! Everything was so good and the cupcakes and chocolate strawberries were a huge hit! The girls were eager to get their Valentine's gifts, "like last year" as Olivia asked before dinner. She was very eager to know whether they would be getting more Valentine's gifts. Days before Valentine's day, Olivia had seen a unicorn stuffed animal at the grocery store that she was desperate to have. I told her she'd have to wait and see. Of course, she was ecstatic when she saw the unicorn was in the gift bag and immediately named her cupcake. Meanwhile, Sofia had a little stuffed squirrel in her bag and she loved it too! They also had chocolates, gummy bears and little art crafts in their bags. They loved it all. I gave CK swedish fish and chocolates and he gave me a box of chocolates.

The girls also got a box of goodies from Sian that included candy and a stuffed animal for each of them - an elephant for Olivia and a dinosaur for Sofia. Of course, they both were so excited and love their new stuffed animals. It was a lovely and relaxing Valentine's day!

The girls and their Valentine's boxes! Eager for a fun day ahead!

Soccer practice on a gorgeous day.

Enjoying some delicious veggies before dinner

Our yummy Valentine's desserts - almost too pretty to eat!

Valentine's dinner is ready!

Happy girl with her unicorn!

Sofia opening her Valentine's card from us.

Olivia with cupcake and her cute (yet unnamed) elephant

Sofia and her dinosaur