Marie rode down to the beach with Marmie and Pop-pop. That helped us out because with only 2 car seats in the back, I could sit back there and help keep the kids entertained. Anyway, when they arrived in Florida, the grandparents took Marie to the grocery store, and I guess she was hungry because here she is munching on an apple with one hand and the other hand is in the bag of goldfish.
We spent most of our days by the ocean and in the pool. We had a wonderful first floor unit, and our little patio area opened right out to the pool. The kids would look out everyday and scream, "agua." They wanted to be out there all the time.
Marie hated the sand. She would not put her feet down in it. Whenever we tried to put her down, she would lift her feet and say, "no." The first two days, she would only sit on my lap on a blanket in the sand, and she played strictly with water-no sand. By the third day, Billy convinced her to sit on the blanket by herself. She never stood in the sand on her own. Maybe next year.
Abby had sand caked in all her private places within minutes of hitting the beach everyday. She loved it. They all really liked to play with buckets of water, which kept Dada, Pop-pop, and Papa very busy--a lot of running back and forth to the ocean to fill up buckets.
Besides beach time, we did some extracurricular activities. Papa wanted to take the kids to "The Track" in Destin. They had a bunch of kiddie rides that the little ones enjoyed, and Rose was able to do some of the bigger kid stuff.
The swings were a big hit with everyone.
Abby on her spinning swing.
On our way to the Track, Marie decided she was carsick and barfed. Therefore, when we arrived, we were really hesitant to put her on the rides. This one was especially dicey because the ride spins plus the cars they ride on spin. That's a lot of spinning for a girl that just threw up. However, she insisted on riding, and we gave in. We could hear her giggling every time that little car spun by us, and she did not throw up again. 
The choo-choo train was a favorite. I think we rode it 3 times. They kept saying, "mas" (more) as soon as it would stop.
In the evening, we would relax on our patio with the kids. Here they are eating popsicles. They were a sticky, nasty mess after each eating 2 popsicles.
Will looks like a little vampire here after eating a cherry popsicle!
We had like 10 pictures of them sitting on the couch sharing this bag of chips, and the whole time, Pop-pop is just reading his book. I thought that was so funny. By the end of the week, he could just tune them out.
We also took the kids to the Gulfarium, which is a small aquarium. It was right around the corner from where we were staying. They didn't really care much about the dolphin show, but I loved it!
Their faces say, "I am not entertained by this. What do you think I am, your clown?"
Here is Dada with Abigail, or Abby-G, as the other two call her.
Marmie took this picture one night as she was getting ready for dinner. The kids gathered to watch her get ready in the bathroom doorway. I didn't know Marmie curling her hair could be this entertaining!
We treated all of our wonderful helpers to dinner at a nearby restaurant. My dad, Maureen and Billy's parents all came down to help us. That's one of the reasons why this trip was so much less stressful than last year's. The grandparents are just amazing, and we appreciate how much they help us out. We could not possibly repay them with just a dinner, but I guess it's something.
After dinner that night, we took a walk on the Boardwalk, and the kids were watching people playing on the beach. They also ate ice cream for dessert.
There was even a playground on the beach where we played with friends.
On our way home, we stopped at Petsmart to let them play. It was raining so a rest-stop wouldn't work. They ran around and looked at all the animals and practiced their animal noises.
Here they are with the guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, etc. Gross!All in all, it was a lot of fun. It's so much different than last year because they are down to 1 nap a day. Last year, they were napping in the morning and afternoon, and so by the time we got them all ready to go to the beach (swim diapers x 3, bathing suits x 3, sunscreen spraying x 3, sunscreen lotion on faces x 3) and gathered all of our beach supplies, lugged everything down the elevator, got set up on the beach with our tent, toys, etc., it was time for their morning nap! It was awful. This year, we would get them ready, and walk right out to the umbrellas and chairs that came with the unit.
This year, as I mentioned, we had tons more help. Therefore, when the kids would nap in the afternoon, Marmie or Pop-pop would hang out and listen out for them while Billy and I sat by the pool or ocean to read and relax. That felt great! We were also able to eat out almost every night because of all the help we had. Granted, we ate around 5:30, but that's when the restaurants were least busy, and our kids usual dinnertime.
We also had a lot less to pack. We rented from a fellow triplet mom, and she really hooked us up. She provided 3 high chairs, 3 strollers, and a monitor in the unit. She also rented us 3 umbrellas and 6 chairs on the beach. We rented cribs from a company down there, and they set them up before we arrived and took them away as we were leaving.
I'm already looking forward to next year's vacation!
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