Coffee on the Verandah -The Last Slide, Recap & Souvies 5/29 - Link to Aulani TR 5/31

[PracPerfPatricia]

Wow... look at how blue that water is... lovely...

Ummm... the kids looked like they were pretty into burying Eric... (he must have been fairly "lightly" buried to get up that easily... the thought of that makes me nervous ...(the burying not the getting up easily...

Are you going to do any more turtle talk?

Hmmm did they want to stay or go...? I'm going with stay...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Cynthia! Love the updates! Makes me want to plan for Vero - only problem is, Aulani is calling my name really loudly now.

Your Oct plans look great - lots packed in.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Your pictures of the beach make me want to be on vacation so bad right now! Did your kids get sunburned? The pics of Evan in the sand look like he was getting progressively more pink. Hope that wasn't the case.

Your "not the best morning" reminded me of a melt down I had a couple of trips ago. Something to do with rental cars if I remember correctly (why is it always rental cars?). Different people needing to pick up cars on different days and it was in the middle of the day when I wanted to be somewhere else, and Todd was expected to be the chauffer. Not my finest moment either. I can definitely sympathize with how you were feeling.

 

[KatMark]

Cynthia, I am so sorry I missed two updates. Between work and moving my mom to the Nursing Home and the Engagement Party, life has been hectic to say the least.

Sorry you had to work on vacation...it sounds very frustrating what you were trying to do. And I don't blame you for the meltdown with not getting to go to the beach when you wanted. I mean...you did ALL the planning for this trip, they should have gone with you.

The beach pictures are beautiful...it looks so serene and clean.

An adult beverage with lunch is just what you needed, I'd say.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I wish I could have a drink with lunch at work some days! That's frowned upon though.
I'll have to do that on vacation like you did! I can't wait!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I'm finally caught up! Thank you so much for the links, it made it much easier

As I was reading, I was mentally making note of the different things I wanted to comment on, but then I decided that the list was far too long and that everything I had to say had probably already been said by someone else, so I'll refrain!

I will comment on this last update though because I can so relate to how you were feeling that morning. I often have a plan in my head about how I want certain things to go and I am very guilty of not sharing said plan and then getting irritated when things don't go how I wanted them to - something I need to work on, I know.....

I'm glad your day turned around and you got to enjoy the beach after all!

I'm really excited to hear about the turtle walk, think you'll get that far before you leave on Tuesday?

 

[eandesmom]

good updates while i was away for the last few weeks.

Yes you were away weren't you, you sneaky one you!

gotta love beach vacations and relaxing

You guys do a good beach vacation yourself! Can't go wrong with the beach can you?

Yay! I'm so glad you made it to the beach! It sounds like the perfect afternoon!

I was SO happy to finally be there, it was just lovely!

Hey Cynthia!

It has been a couple of weeks since I was last able to sit down and read anything that wasn't a troubleshooting guide.

Just reading those two words, troubleshooting guide, makes my eyes bleed.

Enjoyed the last sevral updates and happy to hear you finally got you some beach time!

Took long enough to get there huh! I was very happy to feel that sand between my toes.

Hope the rest of the day settled down for you. Have fun on your upcoming trip!

Thanks! It did settle down...and then ramp up!

In a good way.

I am VERY excited for the trip. only 3 work days left and only 1.5 of those actually in the office

I'm even mostly packed!

Love your beach photos. Feed the vultures?

They are vultures. I am telling you this 2 boy thing, only 15 months apart is going to KILL me as they keep eating more and more and more. We are out of food the minute I unpack it these days and it's just going to get worse.

And yet they still are at like the 5% percentile for weight.

And tell me more about the turtle nests.....interesting. Did people pretty much leave the taped off areas alone?

People definitely left the nests alone. I'll get into more turtle talk (literally) in a couple of updates, it's fascinating. At Vero they do a great job of protecting them but the area in which they can/o nest is rather huge and while it's all public beach, it's impossibly to mark all the nests. I found this cool fact (way more coming later)

In Brevard County there were 22,871 loggerhead nests in 2011

Glad your day became sunny and bright. And a clean kitchen?

Clean has it's drawbacks as you will soon see. It was sunny and bright, and hot. Perfect for jumping in the ocean!!!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

Yes you were away weren't you, you sneaky one you!

i think you underestimate the power of my sneakyness...(said in my best voice from mr deeds)

 

[Misskitty3]

Love your beach pictures! What type of camera were you using?

My guess is that everyone skipped the "activities" and decided to stay at the beach!

 

[eandesmom]

All caught up finally -

Oh yes with family a snit happens.

Snit does happen!

And I doubled up. Snit happens with family AND work.

Glad you got it out of the way early.

At the time it didn't feel early but in retrospect, it really was.

It is true men aren't mindreaders and as long as you can feel comfortable voicing your disappointment and feel understood while doing it all will be fixed.

Well, I think it depends on the man. I've had previous relationships where voicing it wouldn't have made an iota of difference nor would I have felt understood. Jeff on the other hand.....

for finally being on the

I think the kids stay put.

I was so happy to finally be at the beach!



Guess noted.

Those beach pictures are reeeeaaaalllyyyy making me despise the chilly New England October weather! The water looks beautiful!

Oh but it is so pretty where you are and I bet the fall colors are amazing!!!

The water really was beautiful. It's funny, some folks complain about the beach as it's not the "white sand" that some people dream of. I loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Wow, the beach looks a lot nicer (less seaweed-y) than when we were there.

No kidding, I was shocked when I saw your pictures. It's funny, I don't even recall there being seaweed but clearly there is a little in my pictures. Many more (and better) beach pictures coming.

Timing is everything! It looked very inviting.

It was! Puts my frustration of the morning in a new light huh!

How were the shells? Did the kids find any treasures?

It's odd but honestly I don't recall them looking for, or finding shells.
Heavens knows Eric played in the sand enough to find some but I don't have any memory of shells at all and they definitely like looking for treasures...just this weekend at the cabin Evan was looking for rocks. Heart shaped ones to be specific.

Loved the "feed the vultures" comment.

Oh my goodness, it is just starting to hit me how brutal HS will be with the two of them. I'm out of groceries before I unpack the bags these days! And yet you could still blow them over with a feather.

Yeah, I don't need to be buried in sand at this point in my life either.

I can't imagine anything I'd less like to do! Well ok, maybe I can but it is up there in the NO THANKS factor!

Snit happens!

Love that line, definitely keeping it.

Wow... look at how blue that water is... lovely...

it was gorgeous, just gorgeous

Ummm... the kids looked like they were pretty into burying Eric... (he must have been fairly "lightly" buried to get up that easily... the thought of that makes me nervous ...(the burying not the getting up easily...

In this instance I think he was, buried lightly. They were very into it. One super cool thing about Vero in particular is how much Kendall played with the E's. It's not always the case, given the age spread as much as anything, and the 3 of them were so cute at times during the Vero portion it just made my heart sing.

Are you going to do any more turtle talk?

Lots actually!

Hmmm did they want to stay or go...? I'm going with stay...

Guess duly noted!

 

[eandesmom]

Hi Cynthia! Love the updates! Makes me want to plan for Vero - only problem is, Aulani is calling my name really loudly now.

Oh it's calling my name too! The airfare is my hurdle. Vero is just lovely though

Your Oct plans look great - lots packed in.

So excited! 4 days!!!

Your pictures of the beach make me want to be on vacation so bad right now!

Me too

Did your kids get sunburned? The pics of Evan in the sand look like he was getting progressively more pink. Hope that wasn't the case.

Well I think the editing I did enhanced it in a couple of pictures. Good eye, I wondered if anyone would catch that.

Seems obvious in the pictures. In that bright sun, with sunglasses on, not so much.

Evan is that kid. The "I don't burn" kid. The I'm too cool for a swim shirt/rash guard. At 13 I have to pick my battles. Eric burns if you look at him, so we watch him closely. But Evan? Sometimes the best thing is for him to learn the hard way.

Your "not the best morning" reminded me of a melt down I had a couple of trips ago. Something to do with rental cars if I remember correctly (why is it always rental cars?). Different people needing to pick up cars on different days and it was in the middle of the day when I wanted to be somewhere else, and Todd was expected to be the chauffer. Not my finest moment either. I can definitely sympathize with how you were feeling.

It is so hard when you feel certain moments you'd really looked forward to slipping away due to things beyond your control.

Cynthia, I am so sorry I missed two updates. Between work and moving my mom to the Nursing Home and the Engagement Party, life has been hectic to say the least.

I'm impressed you are on the boards at all!

Sorry you had to work on vacation...it sounds very frustrating what you were trying to do. And I don't blame you for the meltdown with not getting to go to the beach when you wanted. I mean...you did ALL the planning for this trip, they should have gone with you.

I could have made the E's go and opted not to. All Jeff really knew at that point was I wanted out of the room, not that it was as beach focused as it was.

The beach pictures are beautiful...it looks so serene and clean.

An adult beverage with lunch is just what you needed, I'd say.

Yeah, probably should have made one before I left the room the first time lol!

I wish I could have a drink with lunch at work some days! That's frowned upon though.
I'll have to do that on vacation like you did! I can't wait!

Yeah, the days of the 3 martini lunches at over huh. Vacation is a better place for it I think lol. Vacation is actually the only time I will do it at lunch, any other time I'd need a nap after a drink in the middle of the day! On vacation...I can

I'm finally caught up! Thank you so much for the links, it made it much easier

Welcome back!

As I was reading, I was mentally making note of the different things I wanted to comment on, but then I decided that the list was far too long and that everything I had to say had probably already been said by someone else, so I'll refrain!

I will comment on this last update though because I can so relate to how you were feeling that morning. I often have a plan in my head about how I want certain things to go and I am very guilty of not sharing said plan and then getting irritated when things don't go how I wanted them to - something I need to work on, I know....

I think most of us, females anyway, are guilty of that. It's funny the spoken and unspoken wishes we all have. Often the unspoken are much more important to us yet we don't share them. I wonder why that is?

.

I'm glad your day turned around and you got to enjoy the beach after all!

I'm really excited to hear about the turtle walk, think you'll get that far before you leave on Tuesday?

I'm not sure. I'll get at least one more update up, but may be writing the title walk update on the plane lol! We still have a few adventures before we get to the actual walk and that will definitely get it's own update.

I was hoping to post the update today as I'm at a trade show and have downtime but the Internet connection is crummy.

 

[Poolrat]

Snit does happen!

And I doubled up. Snit happens with family AND work.

Oh yes. Guess who was supposed to proof something for the brochure and never received it?? Yup that would be me.
No worries- I proofed what I gave again with what I submitted and the official aquatics brochure designee will double check what I submitted against what is supposed to be printed.

Well, I think it depends on the man. I've had previous relationships where voicing it wouldn't have made an iota of difference nor would I have felt understood. Jeff on the other hand.....

Oh I totally agree. Someone that understands what your goals are for a trip or otherwise make better mindreaders. But to be able to open up and know that will be accepted is priceless.

Love that line, definitely keeping it.

Love it too.

 

[eandesmom]

Oh yes. Guess who was supposed to proof something for the brochure and never received it?? Yup that would be me.
No worries- I proofed what I gave again with what I submitted and the official aquatics brochure designee will double check what I submitted against what is supposed to be printed.

I hear you there. 1 mailing and 2 proposals out there waiting to come back to me to finish up.

Did I get anything today?

Nope.

Oh I totally agree. Someone that understands what your goals are for a trip or otherwise make better mindreaders. But to be able to open up and know that will be accepted is priceless.

Priceless is right. Generally speaking Jeff does better than the average bear, no complaints 99% of the time. I let him off the hook the rest.

 

[natebenma]

Good thing you rented everything so you wouldn't get sand all over the villa!


I don't know how I feel about the rental fees for the chairs and umbrellas. On one hand, it eliminates the towel game where someone gets up at 0-dark:30 to plaster loungers with towels to reserve them, but really, aren't these trips costly enough???

I love everything about the beach (including the sand). I love the sounds, I love the smell and I find waves are mesmerizing to watch. I always bring a book to the beach, but I never end up reading it because I am always watching the ocean.

Love your pictures!

This was the first time at a warm beach for your boys?


Cynthia- I'm not sure if I will get back here before your trip, but I want to wish you and your friends a spectacular trip! It truly sounds like the most amazing getaway ever!

I would say "Don't do anything I wouldn't do" but I'm actually pretty boring- so do EVERYTHING I wouldn't do. And think of me as strains of Jimmy Buffett play over the speakers while you are drinking something tequilla-ey.

 

[eandesmom]

Good thing you rented everything so you wouldn't get sand all over the villa!

He did go straight into the ocean.

it wasn't so much about sand all over the villa, it was more about sand all over MY towel and then by default, me. If I had 2 towels, lying on the sand is fine, though not ideal for my neck but when it's part on, part off, sand seems to get into the crevices of anything and everything. The chairs just helped alleviate that a little.

I don't know how I feel about the rental fees for the chairs and umbrellas. On one hand, it eliminates the towel game where someone gets up at 0-dark:30 to plaster loungers with towels to reserve them, but really, aren't these trips costly enough???

It is a public beach so they can't really just have them up and out for anyone and everyone so I get a fee for set up and take down but the prices were steep. I'd originally discounted the idea entirely but was persuaded by many who'd been, that they were worth it. And they were.

I love everything about the beach (including the sand). I love the sounds, I love the smell and I find waves are mesmerizing to watch. I always bring a book to the beach, but I never end up reading it because I am always watching the ocean.

I do the same. Reading poolside, no problem. At the beach, I'll just close my eyes and listen to the sound of the surf. Pretty sure that's what heaven sounds like.

Love your pictures!

This was the first time at a warm beach for your boys?

thanks! It was, we'd been to other warm beaches but...it had NOT been warm when we were there so they'd never actually swum, played in the sand, snorkeled or used a boogie board. All new to them.

Cynthia- I'm not sure if I will get back here before your trip, but I want to wish you and your friends a spectacular trip! It truly sounds like the most amazing getaway ever!

I am SO excited, can't come fast enough. ONE more work day!

I would say "Don't do anything I wouldn't do" but I'm actually pretty boring- so do EVERYTHING I wouldn't do. And think of me as strains of Jimmy Buffett play over the speakers while you are drinking something tequilla-ey.

LOL! Sadly I will probably not hear anything remotely buffetty unless we play it in the villa. Which actually is a spectacular idea while we make our Turtle Krawls, or enjoy one on the verandah, the drinks we are copying from the Gurgling Suitcase and making in the villa.

I doubt you are boring at all

 

[eandesmom]

When we'd looked at the activity list the night before, Archery had been identified as something the E's really wanted to do.

And apparently they wanted it more than they wanted to stay at the beach.

Only one person guessed correctly, and even identified the activity!

One slushie credit for Mark (aka Captian Oblivious)!

I admit, I was a little bummed. Purely selfishly, I'd have stayed at the beach. But, I was cooled off in all ways that mattered, had gotten a little beach in and really...the trip was about the kids and whatever they wanted to do. New and different things and going with the flow so I was ok with it. I assumed Kendall and Jeff would but instead, they decided to follow us and check it out. First order of business was to check in at Ebb and Flo's. Apparently half the resort wanted to do the activity as well!

I have no idea what Evan is doing in these pictures

First they hand out the equipment by Ebb and Flo's, which is located behind the pool.

And then you stare at it like it might bite you

Truthfully this part wasn't all that interesting to me to watch so instead, I found this on the sidewalk to take a picture of.

Training complete (I paid a lot of attention to it huh), we headed out of the main resort area. The archery field is across the street from the resort where some additional property is located. If you stop by Glennbos TR, you'll see what Fishing at Vero looks like! And actual pictures of the Neverland tunnel, which apparently I didn't photograph.

Just before the archery field, is a small soccer field

The target was nestled in the woods

Now the real instructions started

While the E's learned where to point, and where not to point&.the other half of our crew checked out the goals. They had remembered there were soccer fields (ok field, and a small one at that) over where we were headed and had checked out a ball from Ebb and Flo's.

The guy on the fence cracked me up. I saw him everywhere during our stay.
And he never had shoes on.

The archers were lined up by age

If an arrow went astray, it could end up here and not so fun to find

Oops, not an arrow, a soccer ball. Some over zealous kicking for a field the size it was.

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

First up?

Eric

Who was struggling

And didn't handle it very well. He’ had been at Boy Scout camp just a few weeks prior, and had done quite well at archery. He'd expected it to be similar and to just ace it without having to work, focus or maybe even dare I say pay attention to the instructions.

Eric is a perfectionist and when frustrated can default to not wanting to try… if he can't do it well. He was on the verge of a meltdown.

Before I could go try to re-calibrate him…

Evan was up.

He cracks me up, I swear it’s as much about the look and pose as anything! He did pretty well though so clearly whatever look he was going for, worked.

While the kids were going for the bulls-eye…the bigger kids kept playing soccer.

On a small field.

Kendall, as a defender, has a serious boot. Jeff not so bad himself.

They had a very hard time keeping the ball on the field. Even near the field. Which was pretty funny for a while, each of them running past the field, into the foliage to forage for the ball. Until…

Jeff kicked it right into the archery range.

Talk about a party foul!

Yes, he got yelled at and a lot of evil eyes.

Of course I have no shots of the party foul, I was busy looking at this little guy

I am not sure how many rounds the kids had, there were a LOT of archers and as a result it took a bit. I’ am guessing it was about 3. Eric, while he did regroup and have some success, it was not where he'd wanted it to be and was still a little upset. We headed back and the group decided they were really hot and wanted the pool. Sigh. Not the beach, the pool. I decided… I needed a few things from the store. And that I wanted to shop, really poke around in there, alone.

It is a small shop and I felt a little silly taking pictures so didn't get much and what I did, I tried to have be Vero Specific

Now what you can't see in the pictures is that the pink shirt at the bottom, which was a night shirt, was the only item with the Minnie and Turtle Vero logo. This bummed me out to no end. I love that design and had been dreaming about a souvie with it, for months. Literally. However, I don't wear nightshirts (PJ's thank you before anyone goes somewhere with this one lol). Everything else Vero was Mickey with the surfboard. Frankly, it seemed unfair. 4 mens Vero specific T shirts and all us girls got was...a nightshirt. Plus as a general rule, I don't do pink. Ok really it was only one shirt design in 4 colors but still, it provided options. Still, I made some purchases.

Heading back to the room, I made myself an adult beverage for the pool and went to pull out my new old key west mug from the dishwasher.

Apparently, it wasn't dishwasher safe.

It did have a sticker on the bottom that said so.

It had never, ever, occurred to me that a coffee cup would not be dishwasher safe. Sure, I knew the new salad servers I'd bought at WOD, which are melamine, weren't dishwasher safe but a coffee cup? Who makes a coffee cup that can't go in the dishwasher? Unless maybe it has a metallic rim?

The design had literally melted off the mug and I was left with a few blobs of what looked like paint in spots.



One of my purchases at the store just now had been a Vero Mug. Yes, with Mickey and the surfboard. The OKW one was such a great size and feel, I did want another. However, interestingly enough while they are similar, they aren’t identical. OKW is slightly bigger and has cool ridges on the inside of the handle, Vero does not. I digress.

Sure enough… it also had a sticker.

To say I was bummed was an understatement. I debated returning the Vero mug but decided I’d keep it and try to manage handwashing on a go forward basis. Risky. While I can control myself, the reality is that any one of my family could accidentally stick it in the dishwasher and ruin it.

But I really liked the mug. And since I'd ruined one, I didn't have a pretty one to drink out of the next morning so...I kept it.

As I made my drink, I realized we were about out of rum. We'd only had a small bottle purchased at OKW and it had been used up in several rum and cokes for Jeff over the course of the trip. I was only on my second drink of the trip using any of it but if I wanted another tomorrow, or he wanted one tonight we’d need more. He'd helped himself to a beer while I was at the store so it wasn't mission critical but I figured why not take care of it now and have errands done. Drink in hand, I headed down to the pool to find…...

Little boys making farting noises with the noodles. If you blow into them it can make a farting noise. Which can become a contest if you find it funny enough. And it squirts water, even better. Poop noodles, they decided to call it, and were just having a blast squirting and farting water left and right. It's the little things, right? Everyone seemed content so I headed back to the store to get more rum so Jeff could have a drink while getting ready if he wanted.

Purchases made and items delivered to the room I headed back to the pool. By my photo stamps we must have spent at least another hour at the pool, maybe more and suddenly it was getting late. Late that is if we wanted to shower before dinner and make it to the turtle walk on time. The call went out for one last poop noodle and we headed up. The boys always get the short shift here. Rinse off at the pool using the shower so the big people can take real showers with shampoo and such. Eric is still very ok with this. Evan, Mr. I have to pack my special Hollister body wash (which he left somewhere on the trip though I can't recall where…, possibly Vero) on the other hand, likes his own prep time these days. Too bad, so sad.

Originally I had planned on doing dinner in the villa this night but we’d decided that we wanted to go out and would instead, cook the following night. This would add some time. Time to clean up, change, travel to dinner, eat, then drive to the turtle walk location. The turtle walk was scheduled to start at 9pm. We were asked to arrive at least 15 minutes early. Have I mentioned that we are those people? The perpetually cutting it close, not allowing enough time, late people? Typically not horribly late. 5, 10 15 minutes. However, as evidenced by how long it took us to get to Vero…not the best travel time planners, especially in new areas.

5 people. One shower. Could we pull it all off?

Squidlips

 

[KatMark]

First, thanks for the info on the OKW Mug. After I saw yours, I had to have my own and bought one last month. The only time I use my dishwasher is at the holidays when we have people over, and I'll be sure NOT to put my mug in the dishwasher.

I love your update. Eric and Evan crack me up. You can almost see that Eric is frustrated in his pictures, and Evan just gives off that "I'm good looking and suave look" in his pictures.

That is too funny about Jeff kicking the ball into the archery section.

And why is it they ALWAYS have more of a selection for men in the type of shirts we want? I do sleep in nightshirts, but I would rather have a t-shirt.

As always, enjoyed the update.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Archery huh? Well that seems like a fun choice... nice size group...I liked your photo of everyone on the move...

Poor Eric... He's a perfectionist ... he wants to be good and gets frustrated when it doesn't go the way he wants it do... (I think it's much easier to be like Evan and go with the flow...) I've got a little perfectionist and because he is so good academically it's really hard to get him to realize that sometimes its just cool to do something new... and even if your not great the first time out it's ok... you try stuff and see if you like them... and you can get better...

(Strangely both of my kids wanted to do the LL Bean Discovery School when we were in Maine and they wanted to do archery too... Hmmm... the thought of Emily armed with bow and arrow... )

I think you should have sent out a call for Captain Morgan to bring you some rum... (have you seen those new commercials... they make me laugh...)

Oh Cynthia that stinks about your mug... I know that must have been frustrating... I collect mugs from different places we go... that would have upset me... (On the positive side you'll be going to DWD really soon so you can get something new...

Turtle Walk ... woo hoot ....

 

[glennbo123]

You probably won't believe me, but I knew it was archery and didn't want to spoil it. I don't remember how I knew...it wasn't an Instagram pic...maybe some other correspondence.

Hey, thanks for the shout out! It's funny how we took similar pictures of the walk over across the street. Well maybe not, what else is there to photograph?

Yes, I thought that soccer field looked a little small. It must be hard to keep the ball in play (and out of the archery range ).