What a difference a week (and year!) makes!

Would you look at Miss Sue Sue? She is standing oceanside, letting those waves get right up next to her. No sign of fear on her face, even! Both girls are thinking this is pretty cool now. Her daddy got her down close to the water, as she thinks shells are neat! He'd go hunt them down, and she would stand patiently waiting for him to deliver them to her. Here were these two sweeties a year ago! Bye Bye Paci! Hello hair! yes, indeed. We wore big, fat bows on the beach! And of course, TUTU bathing suits! Flashback to beach 2008~! and then there were TWO! Another flashback. One baby girl on the beach. Now two! LOVE it! Hey,there Gabbi Girl. What would our lives be like without your happy little self?! Ellie's favorite place on the beach was probably on the beach chairs. She has cracked us up on this trip, doing "tricks". She has one she does on the handrail of the stairs at the pool. One she insists on doing everytime we get on the elevator (and only barefooted!). And one she does on the beach chair....
This is it! See the pride in her face?!Todd watched me upload these pics, and loved this one! He usually doean't have much of an opinion, but he really liked this picture of his girly. I need Jessi to ad a little Photoshop magic to darken and enhance the contrast and add actions, and blah blah blah, but this is what you get! Ellie Bellie even let MeAsson take her into the ocean and eventually up to her waist. WOW! One of our very favorite places on the grounds is this swing! Ellie wakes up in the morning and it is only a matter of time before we are hearing, "swing. swing. wagon!" Oh, and let's not forget "boots", "Crocs". SO not only are we doing great on the beach, we are also now playing in the pool! This is Gabbi with DeeDee and Granddad! They had a good visit with the grandgirlies. Having them was great anyway, but hey, if we are just being honest... the extra sets of hands were GREAT! One to swim with Ellie. ONe to swim with Gabbi. One to feed each one. One to carry each one down the boardwalk. One to wrestle Ellie into her carseat (another of our newest struggles!) One to help make bottles. One to help with diapers, One to make dressing changes during the day. One to hunt down lost bows!
We sure are going to miss them! This little star is Gabbi's favorite toy at the moment! They were bought for Ellie to use in the pool for squirt toy play. Gabbi has overtaken them! We take them to restaurants, the pool, and even use them to pacify her around the condo. I love that star!

Ellie has gotten so brave that she is now throwing her head back to get her hair wet and pouring buckets of water over her own head!
Oh, and JUMPING OFF THE SIDE of the POOL!!!
And would you just look at this newfound happiness and pleasure?! Yippeeeeee! Now we can have some real fun!
Ellie got the turtle. Gabbi got the crab. And she couldn't have liked it better! One last pic of both my girls before I hit the hay.
and a repeat, because I love her funny little expression in this one!

Keep you posted!

Mealnie

Happy 14th, Me Asson.

Ellie has really made some strides on this trip! She came saying, "Masson." Started saying, "Massa-non" a couple of days ago, and then woke up even closer with "Me-asson." In case you didn't know it, her real name is Mary Allison! And she is beachin with us for three weeks. We are lucky to have her.

I know that at 14, birthdays are really important. And I also know that she would really like to be home for her birthday, so we tried to make it a big deal. and yes, Breanna, (per facebook!), she IS with someone who loves to celebrate! So, we took good care of her!

On the way home from eating out last night, we stopped by the grocery store with a lame reason, knowing that what we really needed was a birthday cake! I liked this one because it had a beachy theme, and there are not many people who get to have their BD at the beach! I got my hands on some pink icing and dude.... I BOTCHED this crazy cake! I discovered that I am NOT a cake decorator! In no way! Scroll up two and see if you can even read what I wrote. It was sad.

This week, we have really needed our Masson, Massanon, Measson! Tomorrow, Todd's parents leave, which basically means it is back to Mom and Masson tag teaming these little rugrats! Isn't it always a dream to see your babies love their sitter this much?! Ellie says, "Lub you, Measson."
She was even able to coerce Ellie Bellie to jump into the pool.
Now our vaca has really picked up! We are beachin, poolin, and altogether more explorin the whole Beach Club.
I must remind everyone that she IS 14! That means still W-E-I-R-D!
She called this one the Martha Washington! W-E-I-R-D!

When she was coming up from the water, she was doing the whole slow motion Bo Derek jog.

Pam and Jay... we LOVE your kid. We are grateful to you for letting her come with us for such a long time. I wanted to do this blog to show you that we took care of your baby today, and really tried to celebrate with her in whatever way she wanted. We even went about 15 minutes past our destination to get her some Dippin Dots! It was her day. (as we were reminded ALL day long!)
I even got up and made her four new pieces of jewelry! That was our gift to her.

Oh, but the poor kid does take some grief from us! I could NOT resist this picture! There is a cheerleading camp going on here, as there was last week, and likely will be for the next two! It seems to be the new thing. Go to cheer camp at a beach resort. Wish it wasnt'... but it is!

Anyhoo, our Massanon is not a cheerleader! She is more the tennis team, editor, civic minded little leader type! So, when she was coming down the boardwalk with these little chickies behind her, I had to snap it. Todd said she looked the equipment manager! We asked her if she was sure she had ALL the girls pompons in her her bag! She was less than amused! We were very amused! Ha.
To round out our day, we took her to the Hangout for dinner. In typical teen style, her Blackberry is never far away! Ol' brace face is 14 but acts much older when it comes to taking care of my girls! Both of my girls adore her. I remember when she first started with me and would call me if the girls pooped! Now, she just scrapes that poop out from under her nails and keeps right on truckin. (jussssst kiddin!)
Oh, the reason we went to the Hangout was because I knew what they did for Birthday girls! They have to get up and dance on the tables! Would you look at her? Just STANDING there, twirling her hair! What's up with that? Come on, Masson. Let er rip!
And prior to leaving, I got the OK from mom for the ol' token virgin strawberry daiquiri that is very coming of age in when at the beach! Mom said ok.
Masson, we love you and are glad to have you in our lives. And at the ripe ol' age of 14, I figure we will have you around for many years to come. Happy Day, Little Girl!

Todd, Melanie, Ellie and Gabbi Girl