Florida - Part Two

While we were sad to see Daddy head back home, we were very excited to see Grandpa and Grandma come to join us at Papa Ben's!

My Grandpa keeps a stash of goodies for the kids back in his closet. Ava was thrilled when she got these princesses to paint!!

It was so fun watching the twins swim this trip. They've had a lot less water time than Ava ever did at their age so the difference in the water from the first day to the last was huge.

Kate and Grandma

Shock of all shocks - Olivia was a little dare devil around the water and we had to watch her like a hawk. She'd sneak to the deep end to try and climb in herself, want to go off the diving board and beg to go down the slide.

Jumping to Grandpa

Having fun

I mentioned we had to watch Olivia?

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

After growing weary of the battles of will over trying to keep Olivia safe, we finally started letting her fall in. She went down the slide by herself, jumped in by herself and went under more than once (with water wings of course). The funny part? Kate was the one upset by this. Olivia was mostly just annoyed. Although she did begin waiting for one of us to help her in or catch us.

But I really started wondering if maybe I had finally made my point when Olivia started routinely playing in the pool like this . . .

The entire outfit was Olivia initiated. : )

We made a trip to our favorite Japanese Steakhouse "Da Ru Ma"

Yum . . .makes me dream of sushi rolls for dinner.

With Papa Ben after another delicious dinner!

Grandpa and Ava watching a "horse" movie

Our last night there, we got to attend the "Sailor Circus." It's a circus put on every year by local middle school and high school students. But don't let the description fool you - it really is a pretty impressive and fun night. My girls loved it.

Ava was excited about her butterfly face paint

One of the acts

The lady who helps my grandpa out has a little dog named Rosie. Unfortunately, the twins are in a phase they are terrified by any dog up close. However, they LOVED Rosie from afar and their absolute favorite was being able to be up close and personal . . .behind the sliding glass door. : )

Our last couple days there, Kate became quite the proud and independent swimmer.

Soaking in one last swim with my girls. Ava was a little fish the whole trip. So neat to see her becoming increasingly independent and confident in the water and just having fun with it.

And then we flew back home to see daddy (with my mom and dad's help).

The perfect first trip down I mentioned?

It was not repeated. Kate and Olivia screamed the entire last 45 minutes of our final flight. Made me so thankful I wasn't flying on my own.

So when we got home?

We were all ready for a nice long nap.

Back to real life. : )