Christmas Vacation-Bahamas Edition

 The second part of CC & Poppy's vacation time in the Bahamas was a little slower paced and more relaxing than the first few days of a whirlwind. At least, that's how it felt to me so hopefully they felt the same way. We had some gorgeous weather while they were here. It had been windy and colder than usual leading up to their arrival, but we had nice sunny, warm, calm weather for them. Which meant we got to go out in the boat more!

 The boys are searching for Toothless and Hiccup and all their Dragon friends in this cave here above :) 

 'Doot doot, Mighty Machines!'

 We took my folks over to the 'Secret Beach' on Stocking Island and had fun playing and exploring the trails. 

 We had some balloons, but the wind swept those away pretty quickly. 

 I love the concentration on Joss' face here. SO sweet and focused. He's looking for 'booty-ful shells' and snails in the rocks. 

 CC & Poppy are always fun to play with...or on :) 

 Moments after this (above) they had fun 'crashing' to the ground and starting over.

 I love the smiles on everyone here!

 We headed up in the cays a little to show my mom and dad where Dallas works a bit on his trips and to explore the area up that way. We took them to his favorite camping spot on Lignumvitae Cay across from Faith Hill and Tim McGraw's island.

My mom and the boys and I snorkeled a bit at Darby Island. We hadn't planned to go in, but while we were waiting on Dallas to speak to someone Emit got a little reckless with his toy car and sent it flying over the front of the boat. I could see it clear as day on the ocean floor, so 'Mommy to the Rescue!'

 This particular cut (or gap in the islands) has tons of stingrays that frequent the area. I felt like I was playing I Spy with my mom the whole time. "There's one over there... do you see it? There's another one sleeping there, can you see that one?" In all fairness if I wasn't used to keeping an eye out for them it would probably be tricky to spot them too... 

I swam down to wake up one of the sleeping stingrays so my mom didn't think I was pulling her leg :) 

Our next stop had us all laughing for the rest of the trip. It's a blue hole/underwater cave on Normans Pond Cay. Dallas goes in here all the time on his trips, so he stayed on the boat with the boys and my folks' and I swam over. This is a shot of them just before they jumped in. I jumped in and got out before they got in and it was CREAPY...to say the least. You can see a little from the surface, but when you jump in the bubbles take, what seems like, forever to settle and give you a clear view of the rest of the hole. The cave goes under the rocks and it is just darkness looking back at you. Kind of puts your mind into paranoid mode all by itself. I was curled up in the fetal position looking around. Then I happily got out so my folks could take their turn.

I have this on video, and I think we will all get a good laugh out of for a while. 

Emit and I were keeping cozy in the same jacket! My sweet boy :) 

 Emit spent most of the morning on their last day trying to convince my mom he wasn't too big to fit in her carry-on bag and that he needed to go with her. Trust me... he would be over there now if I had given half the chance for either of them to do it. Sorry Emit (and CC), Momma's just not ready for that yet. I had to tell him he would make me really sad if he left. He didn't seem to phased by that, but I think it struck a cord with Joss. After I said that and told them we would be going to see them soon, Joss was on my side and trying to convince Emit to stay with us too :)  

 Below Emit is giving CC a good little pout at the airport and telling her, "I'anna go wif you, CC" (I want to go with you). He was not happy that he couldn't go on the airplane with them. 

 But CC was able to get a few more smiles from him still!

 SO CLOSE to having everyone looking and smiling... 

 Aren't the boys cute in their little outfits :) We can thank CC & Poppy for those too. 

 Emit seemed a little heartbroken when they went to go check-in for their flight. 

 Joss was bummed they were leaving too, but thrilled to be playing at the coconut tree at the 'hair-port'. Every time we go to 'hair-port' Joss asks, "Can I play at the coconut tree?" It's a big deal for him. That and seeing the 'hair-planes' land and take-off :) 

 Trying to get my sweet boys together... this was the closest shot I got. I had about 15 seconds and then I asked Joss to give Emit a kiss and that made Emit pretty mad (he was already in a fragile mood I should have known better). 

 Emit perked up when he got to play with a coconut on a rope. Who needs all our cool new toys we got for Christmas? Just give me a rope with a coconut and I'll be happy!

 Thanks again for a great Christmas Vacation CC & Poppy! We love you guys and will see you again soon to welcome Bev & Kevin's little man to the family :)