Spring Break '09

We left DC last week for Florida just as a snowstorm (and from what I hear it was a legitimate snowstorm) hit the area. Jesse had a conference in Tampa, so the girls and I tagged along and met my family down there as well. We had quite a fun time.

Here's the view from our place:

Every morning Hadley woke up and after maybe 5 minutes asked, "Grandpa, can we go play in the sand?"

In the above picture, Hadley is explaining that there was a big dog on the boardwalk she is walking on.

Here are the girls in coordinating t-shirts from Uncle Geoff. Hadley's reads: "The Original H" and Harper's is "New H in town." So cute.

The Gulf was a little cold to swim in, so Hadley did a little swimming in the pool on the side of our place instead. Here she is putting on sunblock. I have to make a small side note here. Hadley's dad liked this sunblock very much. So much so, that after putting it on he was glistening from the amount that was on his face. When I saw him I asked if he'd been outside yet because he looked like he was sweating.

Here's Hadley with Geoff and my dad. I'm learning that I'm not what you'd call a "master" photographer. I just take pictures rather than look for a great action shot. This picture was taken as soon as Hadley got in the pool, so one would assume she isn't that interested in swimming. That was not the case. She loved it. I told her she must hold on to Grandpa the entire time she was in the pool, but as soon as I would walk away she told him she could do it herself. I think it's time to sign her up for swimming lessons.

Here are a couple of family shots. I'm sorry Harper isn't smiling. While she is much more serious than her sister, she does give us plenty of smiles, and she has the best little laugh. I'll try and get some pictures of that in later entries. In this first picture, Hadley is trying to make Harper feel better by sticking her finger in Harper's ear.

Jesse gave a talk on Wednesday having something to do with hurricane storm surges. I believe the title was: "Hurricanes - We don't like 'em." Anyway, he did such a good job that Hadley put on her special Elmo cheerleading outfit from Granpa Feyen to say, "Yea, Daddy!"

While we were getting ready to leave on Friday morning, Hadley asked for bear, doggie, and blanket - a sure sign the girl is exhausted. Jesse fished them out of our luggage and gave them to her. Here she is just relaxing before we headed home.

For a few minutes, Hadley and I were the only ones in the living room, although Hadley didn't know I was there. She took Bear out from underneath her blanket and began telling him all the things she did that week. A lot of it was mumbling, but at one point she said, "Grandma, and Grandpa, and Uncle Geoff, and Daddy, and Mommy, and Harper." Then she gave Bear a hug.