Settling in for Fay, and some pictures!!!

Well, it is about 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening and we got in our last hour or so of beach time before the storm comes. We took a nice walk with the sun starting to go down...Amazingly, so far we had one quick, intense shower, and the rest of the storm kind of just disappears on the radar before it gets to us. That won't last a whole lot longer, but for now there are still quite a few people out on the beach under partly cloudy skies, but still warm temperatures (in the 80's). There are definitely some darker clouds to our East, which is where the storm bands will come from, but definitely nothing too ominous. The NOAA website doesn't even forcast the storm to be at a hurricane level when it hits shore, as of now. We will see. People say that these things are very unpredictable, so always have a plan if things change.

There is a voluntary evacuation of the barrier islands (Siesta Key is one of them), but they aren't telling anyone they need to leave, and there is hardly any boarding up of houses or anything like that. I was at Target earlier to get a flashlight, a couple of candles, and Scrabble (in case the power goes out for a long time) and people were just shopping as if nothing was happening. I called Larry to get his take, as he has lived in Naples and been through several hurricanes. He said that as long as it is a category one or so, it shouldn't be too bad. He said it would be a good experience for us! He said the last category one he was in he was driving around and stuff was still open. I hope that is the case for this one! Our friend Bethany, who is from Sarasota, said that she used to surf in category one hurricanes, so maybe we will see some of that!

Anyway, I got some pictures uploaded and thought I would share....So here they are!

A&C getting to play on the Chattanooga Choo Choo...a big hit on the drive!

The view up the beach from our balcony...How beautiful is this place? The sand feels like powdered sugar!

Austin throwing the ball to Caitlin...He's got an arm!

Caitlin doing her interpretation of an SI swimsuit model...She LOVES the water! No fear at all!

Austin and Caitlin playing ball...

Last night's sunset from our balcony...Breathtaking...

fay is coming!!!

well, we are figuring out what to do right now...looks like we are in the direct path & a voluntary evacuation has been issued. we are keeping a close eye on the conditions and will do our best to find a weaker section of the storm to find shelter. how's that for some vacation excitement?!?

this morning i was able to hang out on the beach for awhile by myself and was lucky enough to see TWO DOLPHINS playing!!!!!!!! that was one of the coolest things i've ever witnessed!

then we headed to a different beach (venice) to look for shark's teeth. austin was melting down shortly after we arrived so we left empty handed...the kids decided to play in bed until 10pm so naptime was early today!

more later!

siesta key

first of all, this place is beautiful! the sand is cool and has the texture of flour. we arrived yesterday and were able to get in some time on the beach. austin wasn't so sure of walking in the sand at first, but as he got used to it, he had a good time. caitlin was fearless...she just marched right up the beach like she had done this her entire life. the same went for the water...she loved the waves and kept asking to go further and further out. to which we replied, NO WAY. they were both very good and stayed close to us...mom's recurring nightmare is one of them getting swept out to sea!

we all had an early bedtime last night (maybe we had "van lag"?!)...ryan and i didn't even make it to see michael phelps' last swim and that's what our goal was! sad!!! but after we put the kids to bed we sat out on our balcony, ate pizza, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the gulf.

it is hot as blazes here! the water is perfect though & even when we're cooling off inside, the view from our condo is spectacular. ryan made a great selection...tons of windows and 3 balconies overlooking the gulf with no obstructions. we took some good sunset photos last night.

austin and caitlin built their first sandcastle yesterday. they were so cute!!! this morning we all took a walk along the beach and looked for seashells. they had a ton of fun. austin thinks every tall building in "the big city" is "daddy's work" which is pretty funny!

well, gonna get out and enjoy some more sun...hope the hurricane doesn't get us on monday/tuesday. they named it "fay" and they aren't certain of the course yet...stay tuned!!!!

the state fair...

we ventured out to the fair on sunday morning! it was a gorgeous day...sunny, in the mid 70's with a slight breeze...not your typical "august in indiana" weather. the kids were excited because we had been talking it up nonstop for a few days...as soon as we walked up to the fairgrounds, caitlin said, "what i smell like?" (translation=what do i smell?) daddy said, "the fair"...ain't that the truth?! they loved seeing all the animals up close. they got to ride on the merry-go-round and they rode on a ride all by themselves for the first time. it was called "convoy"...just a bunch of little "trucks" hooked together that they could "drive" around the track. it was sooooo cute to see and further evidence that they are indeed growing up waaaaaaay too fast! the highlight of the day was that they each got to ride a pony!!! austin went first and was a little bit afraid to get on, but he did and then he just grinned from ear to ear. caitlin hopped on right away and was all smiles too. austin's horse was named "rowdy" and caitlin rode "hank". too cute! they also had elephant rides but ryan vetoed that till they're older. darn!

earlier in the week we took them to the zoo to see the koalas....they loved them. austin also loved seeing the rhinos...caitlin declared them "stinky". they also got to pet the goats and ride the merry-go-round...always a favorite.

we have suffered the devasting loss of austin's favorite toy...his lawnmower!!! one broke last week and the other one broke yesterday. poor guy. we are going to find him a new one after vacation. in the meantime, he has been pushing his tractor around like a mad man!

yesterday ryan and i celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!!! YAY! it's always nice to remember the day we promised to be together forever...marriage can be a bumpy road sometimes, but it is well worth the ride to be with the one you love with all your heart.

2 more days till the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are all sooooooo ready to just go and relax! so excited, in fact, that we bumped our departure time up by a day! ;) the last minute preparations are underway...hooray!!!

suppose i should go accomplish some of the aforementioned last minute preparations...more after our vacation...

vroom vroom!!!!!

this morning we were playing outside and caitlin had an accident in her undies. so, she and i came in to change. i told her to take off her shoes, shorts, and undies while i ran upstairs to get some clean clothes. it took me about two minutes but by the time i had come back down, there she was...naked from the waist down, swinging from her trapeze. oh my gosh, it was the funniest sight i've seen in a long time! i had to usher her inside the house, all the while explaining that we don't go outside with our buns hanging out. so glad none of our neighbors were out yet!!!!!!!! she only had 2 accidents all morning so we're making progress....

except we're not....caitlin wants to wear undies but refuses to use the potty. what the heck? we'll keep chugging away tomorrow.

aunt bubbles and uncle john stopped by this evening for a few minutes...the kids had a ball. they especially loved sitting on uncle john's motorcycle (see pics). they fell asleep without a peep tonight! love it!

funny, but not really

well, austin has discovered how to lock our doors. last night he locked me out of the master bathroom (he locked the door then pulled it shut when he left the room, so he wasn't locked in or anything)! of course, i can't find the million and one keys the builder left for us because i cleaned and lord knows where i put it! thank goodness my neighbor let me borrow one of theirs! double thank goodness because he locked himself and caitlin in our bedroom and i needed to unlock it! talk about double trouble!!!!!!!

in the bathtub tonight austin kind of lounged back onto caitlin. so, she grabbed her dora sponge and told me "i'm scrubbing my little buddy!" as she washed his hair with her sponge. i cracked up!!!!!!!!

tomorrow is a total hang out day. i am going to do some cleaning tonight and then we are all going to veg tomorrow! we bought "go fish" so we'll see if they can get the hang of playing that game...

funny stuff

we went to 2 furniture stores today with the kids. each time ryan and i would sit on the furniture to test it out, the kids started yelling to get up and "it's not play time!" they were good considering we were looking for about 2 hours (and bought NOTHING b/c we couldn't decide!). so, anyway, afterward they got some dairy queen for putting up with rolling through the boring furniture stores with us.