Summer Vaca. part 4

(again, reminder to read these in order or at least skim in order for it to make sense)

Saturday with Mark and Kristi was bound to be amazing J. We started off the day with a trip out on Mark’s boat. We all had a turn tubing (even Asher!), and I think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed it at various levels… Asher lasted about 2 minutes ;), Malachi liked it when it was very slow, but even then he only wanted about 5 minutes… Rayna loved it, til it got too fast… Afton could have gone all day! In fact, she and I had one long ride (2 tubes at a time), and she had a couple long rides with Paul (one with Paul and Malachi—he was much more confident with dad, of course). When we got back to shore, Uncle Brent and Aaron had arrived, ready to join us… but the little kids were done, so we took them back for a little lunch and then out to the beach. Afton decided to stay and try wakeboarding. She’s a natural! She managed to get up on the wakeboard her second try, and stay up for a few minutes by the third or fourth (her arms were sore later, she’s decided next time we plan a trip to Florida she’s going to do lots of push-ups to prepare for more wakeboarding ;) ). I’m pretty sure she had fun watching the other, more experienced family too.

We’d hoped to catch the rest of the cousins and aunts at the beach when we went back, but as we were arriving, they were just leaving. Grandma W (who’d driven down with Sarah to Orlando and was spending the day with us) came back to the beach with us, though the others had to leave. The waves were higher than any other time we’d gone to the beach, and the kids were a little more tired than usual after boating all morning, so we spent more time on the shore looking for shells and playing in the sand. We buried the three kids that came with us all partially (no one wanted to be buried to the neck) but then we got creative and gave them something fun… Rayna had a mermaid tail, Malachi had a helicopter (you had to be very creative to see it, but he could), and Asher had a pretty good race car… that he didn’t want to get out of! He sat there for more than 10 minutes! I wish we’d gotten a picture of that one, it’s rare for him to sit still, and it was a pretty good sand-rendition of a race car too. We did still have fun playing in the water a bit too, just with the kids keeping with a parent instead of venturing out on their own. It was a very full day. I should point out too that Aunt Kristi let us have ice cream in the afternoon instead of having to wait til after dinner ;). Then in the evening we had a little unwinding time in the hot tub (we called it treat time). By this time everyone else had headed back to Orlando so it was a bit calmer, it was a great way to unwind and relax before bed, though I couldn’t really get in (pregnant), the kids all loved it, and when they got too hot, they could get out and chase lizards—there are even more there than in Jacksonville (where Afton had been counting… I think she got to 100 in less than 3 days there).