AMI Daily Selfies

Kalyn started a new tradition: the daily selfie. We loved it. We LOVE her!!

AMI Moments

We pretty much forgot about the Donut Shop this year! Our new rental house was too far to walk to doughnuts, so we focused instead on the milkshakes and iced coffees at the nearby coffee shop. Mom and Ryan snuck down on the last morning to grab a couple dozen.

 We certainly didn't miss out on sweet treats for the week.

I think Ryan had a great week since he's a big boy now. He grabbed some special moments with Nana and Papa.

And hair gel.

Everyone loves his new status as Not Crazy Threenager Anymore.

  This trip felt like the start of a new phase in family vacations. The phase where everyone can play board games, nobody has screaming meltdowns, and people only take naps when they want to.

  I'm loving this phase, because Kalyn curls my hair, puts on mascara and lip gloss, and shows me You Tube music videos of One Direction. Best week ever.

  We were devastated when Kalyn had to fly back home, so we sent her this pic to beg her to stay. It was really hard to say goodbye to our Boston family.

But Ryan's frowny face helped us cope.

AMI Sunset Walk

The best part of AMI this year was Ryan being old enough to walk to the beach for sunset. Last year he was still in that turns-into-the-angry-Hulk phase after 7pm. This opens up a whole new world!

Maybe next year he'll be able to fish with the boys at dusk.

We got to stay out there past dark to find sand crabs with our flashlights, and to see a sky full of stars.

Nana kept asking us to take her picture "for the funeral", so we did:

Then every picture after that became #forthefuneral.

Beach nights are the best.

 

Mom says when we win the lottery, we can rent a giant condo that's actually on the beach, and have beach nights every night!

Our goal is to see a sea turtle nest hatch one day.

Ryan's goal is to dig a hole. A really, really big hole.

AMI Boat

The boat club came in handy this year!

The ladies were riding in style...

The kids wanted to drive faster. Kalyn was wondering why small boats have to rock back and forth in the waves until they make you want to throw up.

We anchored at the northern tip of AMI and devoured a bag of Oreos. Oops, I mean, enjoyed the beauty of unspoiled nature.

Dad let me drive back.

It was a good morning.

AMI Beach

On the third day, the clouds parted, bringing glorious beach days.

Except for the jellyfish invasion. UGH. Now I remember why we never like to go to the beach in August. One got me on the leg when it got stuck in my float, and one got Kalyn on the arm. Our trusty homemade jellyfish sting kit was helpful- shaving cream to help scrape off the stingers, and vinegar to stop the pain.

We used Dad's fishing net to catch some of the pretty little monsters and play with them in the bucket.

We were still able to have fun,

 

especially after dinner when we snuck back down to the water!

The best part of the week was reuniting with our favorite egret. We are convinced he is the same bait fish stalker from last year. 

He was so happy to see Dad pull out the fishing net.

Dad didn't catch his dream snook this year,

but the boys still had fun trying.