Last week, I explained to Allen that it took all day to post an update. He informed me that he could tell I was busy because the story wasn't "spun" as well. As much as I enjoy spinning the tales, this is a season in my life when I can't seem to make the time to tell it so well. I'm just going to get the facts and little quips down while they are still a bit fresh on my mind. Hopefully, when I'm done updating, I'll have a record of what we've been doing, the kids will be unharmed, and the house will still be in one piece. One of these days, they'll all be in school, I'll have all the time I need to tell the stories, but I won't have quite as many to tell. Until then, this will have to do -- my kids need my lovin'.
Thursday we arrived at Corpus Christi for a fun family vacation -- in fact, it was the first official family vacation since the triplets joined our family. Well, at least it was the first time we went somewhere together with only one thing on the agenda: have a great time together. We spent Wednesday night in Waco, then Thursday morning we hit the road for a long drive. We stopped in Halletsville, TX, for a picnic lunch, and we were so lucky to find an awesome city park for a quick bite, and to let the kids run, climb, and play. We found a few letterboxes along the way to the hotel, and we finally arrived. After unloading the car, we found a Greek restaurant, filled up on gyros, then headed back to get the kids and mama-with-a-migraine in bed.
Friday morning we got the kids fed in the hotel cafe. Even though we were split at two adjacent tables, we got lots of comments about how full our hands are. Although I get really sick of hearing, "Wow, your hands are full!" when people come up to us to say, "I've been watching your family and you've brought me a lot of joy this morning," it makes it all worthwhile. We spent the morning at the Corpus Christi aquarium then had a picnic lunch in the parking lot while I griped that Dad was feeling the gulls. I do love to be right, though, and it wasn't long before Jon threw his sandwich out the back of the van explaining that he was doing what Granddad was doing. The little ones napped in the car on the way back to the hotel, but that was expected and planned. We took the scenic route around the bay and attempted a few more letterboxes. The first two, Will and my Mom jumped out of the car ready to go, but we didn't find the second one and Will was pretty bummed about it. On the third one, Allen stayed with the snoozers, Dad and Will went to look for shells, and Mom and I dug around dirt and leaves but found a beautiful stamp.
When we made it back to the hotel, we changed into our beach gear. While I was busy in the room, Allen was juggling kids in the hallway and a family walked by and asked if we had triplets. They weren't asking to ooh and ah; they pointed out that they had a family like ours -- two boys and a girl triplets with an older brother. That gives me hope that when they're a bit older, we'll still be able to find hotels that will let us all stay in the same room. We walked across the street with our arms loaded with kids, buckets and shovels, towels, and who-knows-what. That was the first time the kids were ever on the beach and they LOVED every bit of it . . . mostly. We walked them out to the waves and Will and Ben were thrilled and kept on going. Maddie and Jon were a bit timid, but eventually figured out how to have fun. Maddie was content digging in the sand with only her toes getting wet, Jon was comfortable in the water if he was holding me, Will just kept on going, and Ben couldn't get enough. Several times I'd look up from the water and see Ben on his tummy inching his way deeper. When the waves came, he'd lift his head, close his mouth, and squint. He figured it out pretty quickly. We splashed, chased shellfish, watched waves and fish, collected seashells, and made sand sculptures for several hours. When we started getting hungry, we headed back to clean up and went for some dinner. We got back to the hotel and had a quick birthday celebration for Dad. It was a busy day, and we expected the kids to crash. What we didn't expect was for Ben to wait for us to be busy, climb out of his pack & play, open the room door, and wander into the hall. Allen recovered Ben, Ben got a scolding, and we were much more cautious at bedtime.
Saturday was another busy day, but that's how our vacations always are. We went to Mustang Island State Park and hit the beach again. Since the public beach was clean and uncrowded, we expected the state park to be even nicer, but we were in for some disappointment. After we paid the fee to get into the park, we explored by car and decided where we'd camp for the day. We unloaded all the beach toys and kids and headed for a covered picnic table. That was the nice part, what wasn't nice were all the cigarette butts, beer cans, and trash between the table and the sea. We cleaned up our area and the kids got busy building sandcastles. The waves were stronger than the previous day, so Maddie never got very wet. She had her fun collecting shells and building with the sand. Ben and Will had fun in the water most of the time, and Jon went back and forth. The kids had long naps in the afternoon, we had an early dinner, then we all enjoyed the hotel pool. It has been interesting watching the progression of confidence of the kids with the water. Maddie couldn't have been happier jumping into the pool, even when her head went under, she'd blink hard, but come up laughing. Ben is ready to start swimming, and he and Jon enjoyed being scooted between adults. Neither of them were upset being underwater, and they both enjoyed showing off their bubble-skills. Will started pretty timid, only wanting to cling to one of us, but before we went in for the night, he had scooted around the perimeter, and enjoyed running and jumping into the pool. We used the outdoor showers and our Johnson & Johnson's samples and bathed the kids before putting them in bed. 
Sunday was an all-day travel day. We started early, went to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, then headed "home" to Waco. The Refuge was hot and buggy -- after a few small stops, the triplets and I stayed in the car where the A/C was on and the mosquitoes were out. Allen, Will, and my parents hiked a few trails but I don't think the wildlife was interested in being hot, either. We did see several deer, lots of bids, and many more blood-suckers than I cared to count. The drive back was long, broken up by a few potty stops. We counted this vacation as a success -- we all had an awesome time! Just like the blueberry patch, it was great to find a place that had something to offer each of us. We enjoyed it together, and that was the important part. Thanks Mom & Dad for helping us on our vacation!
We are home for a short week, and I think that's just enough time to get all the salt and sand out of our clothes, shoes, and car. Allen and I got just a little more sun than we wanted, and the kids are suddenly really tan. I love the sun-kissed smiles and the way their blond hair glistens -- the healthy-glow and beauty that the sun bestows upon them. We had a wonderful time, even though I don't seem to have enough photos to show it all. Since we sent our point-and-shoot to be repaired, all we had was our SLR. With our upcoming travels, we didn't want to ruin the fancy camera with saltwater and sand, so we didn't get many pictures. We have a few, and the memories are still vivid, so it will do.
I wasn't too sure what to expect, but if things didn't work out, we would just pack it up, buy some of the 
After the little taste, it became a branch-to-mouth process for the little kids. When I asked Maddie if she was going to put any in her basket, she mumbled through the berries , "No! Put it in 
After Ben tasted a few, he plopped himself on the ground to eat all the berries in his basket. He just kept stuffing them in, then when the basket was empty, he stood up to pick the berries just to eat them. Jon ate all his, but then collected some. We ended up dumping them all though, because by the end, there was a few inches of sand, leaves, and grass on top of the berries. After Ben had his fill, he sat in the sand and played -- filling his basket with the sand or tossing it to the wind. Jon continued collecting leaves, and Maddie kept picking and eating berries. Eventually she 
The kids and I chalked and that somehow turned into 
It's funny that Father's Day turned out to be one of MY favorite days this year, but I'll take it. It was great to enjoy my family by letting go and acting like a kid. I had to grow up a little bit to help get everyone cleaned up, but I loved it all. We ended the day with thankfuls prayer that we have such wonderful dads and grandfathers, and that I've been blessed with a terrific husband who is an awesome dad.
We took the kids swimming in the lake . . . well, the boys swam while Maddie sat on the shore admiring her pretty pink sun hat, her ruffled swimsuit, and her painted toes. She called her suit the "princess fish" suit because it had ruffles and fish on it. Each time we invited her to join us in the water, she turned up her nose and said, "No swim in dirty water!" She insisted that the water was dirty and even complained to me when she got splashed that she had "dirty WET" on her arm. At least the boys enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see what they think of the ocean when we visit it later this month.
After that, we got everyone cleaned up and visited the zoo. We came home from the zoo exhausted and I think everyone napped for a long time. Allen and I came home Saturday night with the triplets. The drive seemed particularly long to me since the kids were picking on each other, fussing, crying, and doing eveything possible to frustrate everyone in the car. Sunday was an fun day for me. I let Allen sleep in a bit, then I got to go to a friend's house to scrap with my buddies for most of the day. I put a big dent in my scrappy to-do list, and I had great company. I came home refreshed and excited to scrap some more.