Turks and Caicos 10 year Anniversary Trip Part 1

On December 21st, Taber and I will have been married for 10 years! We decided to celebrate a little early though since we didn't want to leave the kids during the holiday season, so a few weeks ago we said goodbye to our responsibilities and flew off to the lovely island of Turks and Caicos.

When we were planning our Anniversary trip we thought of a lot different options, a cruise, New York, Europe since it's so close. Then last year our friends went to Turks and Caicos (an island in the Caribbean I had never even heard of before) and when they came back and showed us the pictures I was like, "Duuuude...That's where I wanna go!"

We had a direct flight from Boston so everyone on board was leaving the cold and heading for blue skies. As a result they were all very excited and chatty. When the island finally came into view we looked out the window and were greeted with a rainbow spanning across the turquoise water. (You can kind of see the rainbow in the picture.) When the captain said we had arrived at Turks and Caicos everyone started cheering. It was awesome.

 We flew through customs, took a cab to our hotel, swapped our winter clothes for swimsuits and less than an hour after landing we were sitting on the beach and pinching ourselves to see if this was really real!

The island turned out to be just what I was hoping for, warm turquoise water and white sandy beaches, + hot guy to share it with ; )

We spent the week just enjoying each others undivided attention. It was so nice to actually have full conversations without being interrupted by "the fruits of our romance" : )

 We spent a lot of low key time reading on the beach. I finished 2 books, probably the first 2 books I've read since becoming a mother of 3. : )

When we weren't on the beach we would check out bikes from our hotel and cruise around the island. 

 One day they didn't have the beach cruisers so we had to take the tandem. Tandem biking is harder than it looks! I'm glad we tried this after we'd been married for 10 years and not on our honeymoon. Definitely requires lots of patience and communication!

We also did lots of snorkeling since there was a reef directly in front of our hotel. Taber was smart and bought some snorkel masks and flippers before we left so we didn't have to pay ridiculous fees to rent them. There were lots of awesome fish and one day we even saw a pretty big barracuda.

 The beach is such a difference experience without the kiddos.  Don't get me wrong, I love taking our kids to the beach, but it was just a nice change to be able to play too : )

In fact, the kidless beach freedom made us a little hyper : )

Woopee!

I guess we took a lot of jump pictures. 

We were excited ; )

 Usually we'd wrap up our beach time when the sun started setting.

Then we'd shower and get all dolled up to go out to dinner. 

This is another thing that's really exciting about a vacation without kids. You can go to fancy restaurants, at any hour of the night and take as long as you want to eat your amazing food : )

 It's usually such a huge deal for us to get a babysitter and go out to dinner alone. In fact, I think we've only done it once since having Cam! So yeah, going out to eat every night was the coolest!

This collage is an ode to all the yummy food we ate on our vacation. 

Just thinking about it brings a tear of happiness to my eye. :)  

(p.s. all the cool people take pictures of their food, trust me. )

 And speaking of food, everything was ridiculously expensive on the island so we hit up the local grocery store to get stuff for lunches so we wouldn't spend our entire life savings on meals.  Even the grocery store was crazy expensive though! Can you guess how much the few items in our cart cost? I will seriously send a goodie care package to whoever guesses the closest! 

Okay, well this post is already getting ridiculously long so I will pause here and save the rest for another day: )

The Riggs and the Draschils hit Maine

Taber has been itching to get up to Maine all summer and we finally got the chance to go a couple weeks ago with our Boston buddies the Draschils.

First on the agenda was a lobster boat tour. This was the 4th time we've done one but it never gets old. : )

 The kids were excited that our captain reeled in several keepers or "keepas" as they pronounce it. 

(Also I think it's kind of weird that the dude in sunglasses stared down our camera during this picture. If he wanted to be in the pic he could've at least smiled! ; )

Awesome picture of Teya, Brielle and Brinley sitting in front of the pier. I just love their messy hair, Bree's serious face and Brin staring off in the distance.  Makes me smile : )

 After our lobster tour we hit up a local ice cream stand. 

(This girl takes her ice cream very seriously)

 Cam was too tired for ice cream but I had to take a pic of those juicy lips  : )

 The girls also enjoyed hanging out on the dock watching some locals fish. 

All of this was at Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, Maine. It is so beautiful and picturesque there, I'm glad we made it up this year before the summer ended.

After our ice cream we loaded up the troops and headed over to the beach.

 The kids wasted no time immersing themselves in the sand.

 This was the first time we let Camden get in the sand and he thought he was in sandy buffet heaven! He seriously kept shoveling that stuff in his face like it was gourmet dining. I tried to stop him but it was a losing battle.

 The girls wanted their legs buried but Taber and Joseph went one step further and buried their whole bodies.

 Three little heads in the sand. Adorable.

 The Draschil's baby Joslyn is a month older than Cam and has been sitting like a champ for months. Cam has always been a noodle boy and never had much interest in sitting up, but there's nothing like peer pressure from a cute girl to motivate a guy to action.

 Look at me Mom!! I'm a big boy!!

 (Thank you Joslyn for teaching Cam to sit ; )

 Glad we got to enjoy such a beautiful day in Maine and extra glad we got to share it with the Draschils. Friends always make good things even better. : )

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*Update*
So after I posted this I realized I forgot to include two of my favorite pics that Melinda took of our beach day with her super fancy DSLR. Definitely want these in the blog book so here they are :

This just makes me laugh. The drool, the sand under his nose, the scrunchy smile. Love that baby.
(Also can you believe those teeth?! )

Me and my little man.  I might have to blow this one up and frame it.  So sweet.

A Visit from Grandma Karen

Last week Grandma Karen flew in from Colorado for a quick visit over the 4th of July weekend.

The girls were pretty excited to wake up and see their Grandma at the table with brand new coloring books.

Since it was a sunny day we decided to brave the holiday traffic and go to the beach. It took us 2 hours instead of the usual 1. Totally worth it : )

 The girls showed Grandma all the best ways to dig in the sand.

 And Koa enjoyed his new upgraded beach tent. 

(side note, little chub chub has lots of names but lately we've been calling him Koa, short for his middle name Kekoa, and it's kind of starting to stick. Anyway, just in case you were wondering who the heck Koa is, now you know : )

I took a similar picture to this last year. Brinley's a little bigger but still loves being tossed up by daddy.

This picture just makes me smile. Kids + beach = happiness

3 Generations

A lot of people think Karen is my Mom when they meet her.

 I think I could pass for her daughter ; ) 

Sand Mermaids

Warming up in the beach chairs.

It was the perfect day with Grandma and I'm so grateful we had that time together. 

Sadly her trip was cut short when we came home from the beach and found that Taber's Dad had been in a serious horseback riding accident that left him in the hospital with 6 broken ribs. It was really scary and Mama Karen made arrangements to be on the next available flight to be with him.

Before she left she gave the girls each their own special book and sat down and read with them. They are so lucky to have such a special Grandma.

Papa Rigg is out of the hospital now and at home recovering. The ribs will take awhile to heal but we're just glad Mama Karen was able to get back there and be by his side during a tough time.  

Even though her visit was short, we were able to make fun memories and enjoyed every last minute she was here. We love you Grandma Karen! Thanks for coming to see us!

Baby at the Beach

When Taber suggested a beach trip for Memorial Day I had my reservations. Any mom knows that a fun beach day for the kids means an astronomical amount of prep work and labor for the grown ups. Not to mention I was pretty nervous about taking a 4 month old baby to the beach. How would he nap? How would I nurse him? How would I keep him cool? How would we be able to relax and enjoy the beach? I wan't sure how it was all going to work out but I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a try.

 What do you pack for baby at the beach? Well we brought a tent to keep him shaded, a baby swing because I didn't want him sitting in the sand, a spray bottle to keep him cool, diapers, wipes, change of clothes and my nursing cover. Add that to the sand toys, beach towels, beach chairs, beach blankets, sunscreen, sunglasses, change of clothes, snacks, lunch, and drinks for everyone else and it felt like we had enough stuff to take a 10 day road trip across the country!

It was a lot to lug out there but it ended up being worth all the work. Cam was as cute as a button and loved the new sights and smells of the ocean.  

When he got tired we sprayed him down with the squirt bottle and let him take a nap in his swing. He looked pretty happy and relaxed in his little beach hut.

He loved being held by mommy

And Daddy

But not so much by big sister ; )

Mostly he just wanted to watch the waves and suck his thumb.

I'm glad we decided to go because the girls had so much fun. We were there for over 4 hours and they never got bored. 

The water was super cold (51 degrees!) But my girls are pretty fearless and had no problem jumping right in. 

Teya was the leader, running in and out of the waves, and Brinley was right there following her every move.

If my feet were numb from stepping in the water I can only imagine she had a frozen fanny after this stunt. 

I Love this picture so much. It captures Teya and her endless energy so well.

Jumping for joy

Happy Brinsie splashing like big sister.

In Summary: lots of work: lots of fun. Going anywhere takes more effort now that we're a family of 5 but it's always worth it to see the kids get so excited and have such a good time : )