Photojournal: Naples

I shared St. Augustine pictures so I'll document Naples too, where we went in the beginning of June to celebrate my birthday (I get to go on the best birthday trips--Hawaii, Santa Cruz, Tofino Island, wow! I'm a lucky girl.) At the last minute I was not at all wanting to go--like whining while packing and begging Steve to please just cancel the whole thing not wanting to go. I had just seen our dream house (this one, the one that wasn't meant to be) and was wanting to fast forward the whole process where we get it, and Naples just seemed like a silly little roadblock impeding from us moving forward in that process. So silly. I'm grateful Steve patiently but firmly somehow got us all in the car heading west. Our suite at the Naples Bay Resort was nicer than...well, our actual apartment, so it was a nice change of pace. And despite the fact that the weather was overcast and rainy virtually the entire time, we loved every minute of it. Lots of naps, unplugging from everything, some swimming in between the rain, suspending potty training (we were about 12 days in and nowhere near 'done') in lieu of relaxation, and ordering meals from elegant restaurants to go so that we could eat without worrying about reigning in the babes (um, brilliant!). And birthday cake with a chocolate mousse buttercream that Steve drove 20 minutes across town for, a thoughtful move on his part involving a lot of online research in the week before we left. Pretty close to perfect if you ask me. Sometimes you've just got to get outta dodge. Or Vero ;)

And now here's where I post a gazillion pictures.

Wugs pushing D Lu around our hotel suite in the $20 umbrella stroller proved to be the best entertainment.

Be crazy! Get wild!

Guess we took it too far :(

I just included this one for the expression on Mila's face.

St. Augustine.

While we were in Jacksonville meeting the new boy in our family, we spent a day in nearby St. Augustine. I love that town, kitschy as it is; it's so quaint and charming and full of 'The Oldest' this and 'Oldest' that. I remember coming here a lot when I was little and Steve and I had spent a romantic long weekend at a local b & b here way way way way way way long ago (but it still stands so a return visit is in order someday!). We hightailed it over to the Spanish Bakery, not necessarily because it's the best but because that's what we've always done in St. Augustine, eaten at that spanish bakery tucked in behind the chocolate shop that closes at 3 pm and usually sells out of bread. And we showed Mila the wonders of hill rolling in front of the Castillo de San Marcos. Of course a demonstration was in order so here are us goofs rolling down the St. Augustine hills. Dani is just itching to be able to give this whole mobility thing a whirl as she says we make it look fun. 

Then just as we were all buckling seat belts and tightening car seat harnesses to head back to Lamb's house, Mila said (quite woefully I might add), "Ohhhh, we never got to go on the train." You know those ultra touristy sightseeing trolleys? The ones I used to scoff at pre-babies? So we did what any parents of a bright and precocious toddler who feel torn on a daily basis about how many times we are forced to say 'no'...and said yes this time. We piled onto the train, Mila passed out about 15 minutes into it, Dani got all relaxed and nursed nonstop, and it was really just Steve and I learning about Florida history. Whenever both babies fall asleep at the same time during the day (rare!), Steve and I joke that we're transported to an instant date. So there we were, on a date on the sightseeing trolley, and it ended up being one of my favorite things. Definitely my high that day. (and we're totally going back at Christmastime as Jacqueline and Adam told us those things sing carols nonstop then. Carols! Year after year I try to finagle us into caroling and it never works out! this is our year yo!)

Our fourth.

Fireworks, glow baths, what was hopefully the last multi-course meal we'll ever make in this dump hole apartment, and family. A wonderful fourth and there's not much else I could've asked for. We never did get around to the sparklers I bought, I think we'll save them for our little beach vacation next month. Or maybe Mila's birthday. It's all good.

Oh and I did dress the girls all patriotic like but you know with this heat Mila lives in her underwear these days. Who can blame her? I would live in my undies too if our living room window didn't open up to a parking lot. Dani wore the vintage shirt/dress that Mila did on her first fourth. Lucky girls, all this sharing and borrowing.

Note the batman underwear which she picked out. I couldn't be more proud.

More cousin love. And my take on the cronut.

Here is the smattering of photos from that epic, very much homemade photoshoot we did in the last 30 minutes of our visit to Jacksonville last weekend, you know the kind, crap Marmousch asked us to do this one thing and it's super important to her and whoops, we're blowing right through naptime so everyone's a little grumpy. Well, we tried. For the record I'm a fan of capturing everyone as they are and not necessarily getting a smile unless it's a genuine one. Also note that Mila has clearly entered the tongue out channeling-Gene-Simmons phase. A necessary rite of passage in any extrovert's childhood, I guess.

Also you know this cronut craziness that's going around? Jax has gotten on board so Steve being the intrepid that he is left the house at the crack BOTH Saturday and Sunday to get our hands on some. No luck Saturday but booyah on Sunday--he came back with two cronuts, the limit they'll sell to one person. We cut each cro in halfsies and the four of us (Mila was content with a krispy kreme and I daresay she came out on top) all got a portion. My verdict: I'm glad I tried it and yes, to me it was worth the $5 since making homemade croissants intimidates the heck out of me and while we're at it I'm not the fondest of frying at home (the smell, dear God the smell!). But would it be a regular Sunday thing if I were a Jacksonvillian or whatever the proper term is, or New Yorker if I were brave enough to get up before dawn to stand in line for donuts (which I totally am, I did it for Conan O'Brien and these are a donut hybrid after all). Well no. Give me my hot and gimmicky Krispy Kremes any day of the week (they're coming back! says my brother-in-law. which besides the birth of my nephew was the best news I heard the whole month of June). I can easily put away three krispy kremes. Cronuts, my limit is 1. They're heavy hitters. But as always, I'm happy I got the chance to try it.

I realize I've just spent more time talking about cronuts than I did about our incredible new nephew and cousin. I'll redeem myself with this next picture. It speaks volumes.
 

 See? Smitten.

"I'll give you a treat, Wugs."

We just got back from a weekend at Lamb and Adam, meeting our new nephew and cuz. We love you so much Robi! He is the sweetest little baby and captured all of our hearts, especially mine and Mila's. And now thanks to this video my brother-in-law took with the (awesome) 8mm iphone app I'll always have this memory of the time we tried to take a group picture. Good times. Great times. Bribery is apparently alive and kicking with the Weibels. Ha! I'll post the actual pictures later this week.