Back from the Beach

Well, we've been back from vacation since late Sunday. My refrigerator is no longer empty and my laundry was done on our first day back thanks to John's help. (...without even being asked. Yeah, I totally almost fell over too.)

It took us about 4 or 5 hours longer to get home than our GPS said. We detoured through Strasburg, VA to see an old friend and visited for a little while. We also made frequent stops. The girls are completely in love with McDonald's burgers and sundaes. Every time Jules sees the sign, "burger, burger." =) If you look closely, you can see the hot fudge mustaches in these photos.

The vacation was great, the hotel was beautiful and we ate out for dinner and breakfast each day. (That's probably the best part for a mom... no cooking! no clean-up!) We totally indulged and broke our pre-beach clean eating trend with pleasure. We had ice cream and pancakes and steaks and burgers and cheesy Mexican... mmm. Finally, to complete the food fest, we stopped at Pizza Hut on our way home because as John said, "that's the only thing we haven't splurged on yet." mmm. For dessert we had the cinnamon sticks. As a cinnamon addict, I highly recommend them.

Anyway, we had a great time visiting with our friends Tim and Susan. If you remember, we went to their beach wedding last year. Tim and John were college friends and I met him in '99. Susan is great, a real sweetheart. She even had pink bags (smart color choice) filled with beach toys for each girl when they arrived - big hit. Tim completely hooked us up - the hotel, lifting at Gold's everyday (where John got free smoothies which he now craves daily), parking at the beach. We were spoiled.

The girls loved Tim and Susan. They've been mentioning them every day since we got back. JJ: "Tim... nice.... hug... kiss." She was ready to go back to his house yesterday. =) They don't have any kids yet, but he wants GIRLS badly and I hope he gets them. They will be his little princesses, I can see it now.

We were also lucky to get to see his dog, Cali, one last time. He got her in '99 - the same year John got me =), so we've known her all her life. She is a beautiful, kind and loving Rotweiler. She is an old lady now and has had one leg amputated and is battling cancer. She won't make it much longer, but her 10 years have been filled with love. It's probably a blessing she won't live to see his children because she and her "sister," Sam, have always been his "girls" =)

Anyway, that's the enough sad stuff and the end of the detail portion of the trip. Tune in later for the bloopers.