VACATION!!!!

We had the best time on our vacation. We were looking for a place that wasn't too far away as we have children that don't like to ride in car seats. We wanted to feel like we were in the woods but we always need water nearby. We wanted a pool, two bedrooms, and the possibility of someone else making some of our meals. After questioning all our friends with kids, we found Alderbrook. It was a bit more luxurious, both in amenities and price, than we normally do but they had some awesome winter/mid-week specials and we jumped on it. A two bedroom cottage that wasn't much smaller than our house! Gas fireplace, full kitchen WITH A DISHWASHER!!! Only down side was that there was only a shower which negated one of our treasured bedtime routines but that was ok.

Oh...but before I get to those pictures, here are some others that I had forgotten about.

Dress up...although notice that only one is dressed up.
Science project: ice, salt and food coloring. This lasted for about 15-20 min. but worth it. Now she asks if we can do another experiment. Absolutely!!
Food: One of those days when I realized we did something right here. Of course, as I am learning with Edie, it may have nothing to do with our parenting but their individual personalities. But I'm taking the credit for this one. Hummus, naan, tomatoes, cucumbers.
This is Murphy's life recently. Lucy has suddenly been paying a lot of attention to him. Therefore, he is usually covered with every blanket she can find. This day, she covered him and then nestled in to watch a show. He is very tolerating. Of course, he's smart too. Not only is she dressing him up, but she is sneaking him people food like cheese, which is one of his favorites. She has just learned what begging is and that if you leave your unattended plate of snacks on your picnic table, it will be eaten. SO...everyone is learning.
Lucy LOVED the ferry boat ride. We were able to take the boat from our neighborhood which is about a 5 min. drive from our house. The resort was then only a 45min. drive from there. PERFECT.
This was a little sitting spot between two huge trees next to a fire pit. The maintenance guys were kind enough to light a fire for us one night so we could roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

Exploring at low tide. Lots of streams and oysters. Of course we brought our buckets and shovels and fishing pole so this space was thoroughly explored!
View from our cottage. Actually...it's a much bigger, unobstructed view but I wanted to show you the mountains.
Can you see the bag on Lucy's shoulder? It's her treasure bag with which she was collecting rocks. Any rocks. Every third step she found a rock to put in it including a giant, 3 pounder. After lugging them up the next bend and trying to pawn this stash off on me, she decided to sort. She still brought back a half a bag full.
Family pic using our favorite gorilla pod!
View from the hiking trail which was across the road from the lodge.

Snacking in the woods. No it wasn't dark, just shaded.
We spent a lot of time in the pool. Lucy gained all of her confidence back and by the end ditched the floaties to play with Dad. However, she was most happiest, "swimming all by myself!!"