Tales from Mommy Merrill: Marco Island

I can't believe I am writing this blog on the 7th of September! Where did the summer go???

We decided to head to Marco Island, FL for a weekend get away. Ronnie and I had been down there 3 years ago (when we were engaged, no kids... life was much different!) and we remembered thinking how fun it would be to come back one day with our family. So this year we gave it a whirl!

When we got there it was threatening to rain and lightning all over the place... so we had to camp out in the room for a bit before the coast was clear.

Drew has no problem relaxing with daddy. And yes - he has a bag of chips (Veggie Staws) in his lap and they are watching Sports Center ('ball'). Drew calls everything on TV - 'ball'... he even calls the TV itself 'ball'... it's very cute.

'Mom - can we go yet?'

Once the rain cleared it was gorgeous out! We have barely been to the beach all summer (way too hot) so I was anxious to see how Drew reacted to the sand and the water.

First stop: Kayaks. Of course we had to get in one like a big boy.

Surfs up!

They next few pictures are some of my favorite pictures of Drew - ever. I can't believe how quickly he is growing up. It actually brings tears to my eyes to look at some of these!

He was chasing that little bird and yelling 'bir! bir!'

He thought the gulf was the 'pooo' -- that's one big pool, Drew! He was mesmerized by the water and the sand filling in over his little feet. I just loved watching him take it all in.

Music coming from the "trees"????? Had to make a pit stop on the way to dinner to check this out.

Night #1 Sunset!

It's funny how every traveling experience is different with this little guys. You never know what to expect. As you can see, it's was dark out ... Drew's bedtime is 8pm. It's still light out at 8pm. This little rascal didn't want to miss out on the action.

It was tough getting him down on this trip because he no longer falls asleep on us before we put him down - he sorta talks himself to sleep every night. That doesn't work well in a hotel room where you have no where to 'sneak' out to. We tried to sneak out to the balcony but as I walked past him in the room (pretending like he might not see me), he sits up and laughs and says 'Mommy, mommy'.

'Bedtime? Whatever mom - we're on vacation!'

Saturday was our big pool day! This resort has a GREAT kids pool (to my family up in Iowa, it seriously is too hot to go on the beach...you just fry out there and the water isn't even refreshing this time of year!).