Five Years of the Good Life

I read somewhere that a good life is a collection of happy memories. If that's the case, I'm definitely leading a good life because ever since I married my husband, I've done nothing but collect a bunch of happy memories. The past five years as Mrs. Michael Augustine III have been amazingly wonderful.

We started off our day with a dolphin encounter. Mike and Grace tagged along with a trainer and were able to get up close and personal with the dolphins. Grace was in heaven! She hasn't stopped talking about it since. It was worth every single penny, and it was a lot of pennies, to see her reaction and expressions of pure joy.




After that thrilling experience, we headed to the pool and frolicked for a few hours. Normally, when I take Grace to our neighborhood pool, I'm pretty much done after an hour or so. But there's something about being on vacation and hanging out in a pool surrounded by lush tropical trees and flowers- the next thing I know, three hours have gone by and it seems like I just arrived.

Long afternoon naps were up next. Then it was time to get ready for our anniversary dinner date. We ordered Grace some room service for dinner and hired a babysitter to stay with her for a couple of hours in our room while Mike and I went out to dinner.

After an exquisite dinner of lobster for me and fancy Waygu beef (steak) for Mike, we came back to our room to a wide awake Grace, even though it was two hours past her bedtime. Lucky for Grace, we're on vacation and that means all rules go out the window. So she stayed up for a little bit longer and shared some of our anniversary cake.

Once we finally put Grace to bed, Mike and I ended our evening with some non-alcoholic wine in classy plastic wine glasses we bought at Publix earlier in the day. For the record, the wine wasn't very good. But our anniversary day- perfect.


The best things come in small packages...

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing! Served on Sesame Street paper plates.


Eating chocolate cake at 10:30 at night- only while on vacation.

Five wonderful years- cheers!

The Florida Keys

If they only had a Chick-fil-a or a Target, I would tell Mike, "Let's retire here!" The water is a gorgeous aqua blue, the weather is divine, and the palm trees swaying in the breeze just makes it picture perfect.

We are thoroughly enjoying our time here in the Keys. It has been a little overcast and cloudy, but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying the pools at the resort and the nearby Sandspur beach, which is amazing. I can only imagine how truly gorgeous it would be if we had some sunshine to really make that water sparkle.

We are staying in the Middle Keys, but we made the drive down to Key West to check out the night life (as much as you can with a two year old in tow, anyway) and find the southernmost point in the United States. It was worth the drive and all the walking, but by the end of the evening, Grace was actually begging to go home and go to sleep, an absolute first. We were doing one last potty break before making the hour plus drive back to the resort when Grace started crying and saying, "I'm tired. I want to go to sleep. Take care of me, Mama!"

We have two more glorious days here and I fully intend to take in as much sun, sand, beach, and family time as I possibly can in the time we have left.

We stopped for lunch in Miami where I fell in love with these grand looking trees.

I was getting so excited during the drive to the Keys when the water started getting more and more beautiful.

Grace checking out the kiddie pool area.



Beach time at Sandspur...






Exploring Key West...

Enjoying some Key Lime pie, of course!

Had to bust out the iPhone so Mike and I could finish our dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse.

This is the end of the road (or beginning, depending on how you look at it)- mile marker zero!

It's Official, LCDR Augustine!

It's official- my husband is now Lieutenant Commander Augustine. We are all very proud of him and so thankful for this blessing.

Grace and I went to the ship this morning to witness the ceremony and I had the honor of pinning on his new rank. I had the privilege of being at his promotion ceremony several years ago when he was promoted to Lieutenant. We were still dating then, and it's amazing to see where we are now- days away from our fifth wedding anniversary and parents to our two year old baby girl.

What a wonderful start to our vacation week!





A blast from the past- these pictures are from Mike's dad's promotion ceremony to the same rank Mike put on today.

Weekend Catch Up

We've had lots of fun the past few days. So much so that I've been to tired to blog at the end of the night. And now I'm so excited about our upcoming vacation to the Florida Keys and have lots of packing to finish that I can't quite remember details about our fun from the past few days.

A few highlights: we had dinner with our friends, the Rinas family, at a fabulous Mediterranean restaurant. The girls behaved beautifully and we even received compliments on how well behaved they were. I don't know if the sweet elderly couples who did the complimenting noticed my handy dandy iPhone sitting on the table playing videos of 'Little Bear'...

We also went to the movies and watched "Cars 2". Mike definitely enjoyed it more than Grace. She was over it in about ten minutes. If the movie doesn't have animals or princesses, then she wants nothing to do with it.

OK, that's seriously all I can remember at the moment because I'm so preoccupied with the Keys. Here are a few pictures to help make up for my lack of details.

Naked Chef! She went to the potty and was so excited about helping her daddy make pancakes that she forgot to put on some panties first.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor- chocolate chip pancakes with syrup on the side.

While Grace was quietly reading on her bed (first picture), Daddy was snoozing away. She never lets me get away with this kind of behavior.

Grace and Grace.

The girls after our yummy dinner.

The Last of the Onesies

I have been dreading organizing Grace's closet. Honestly, it's because I hate putting away clothes she's outgrown. It's yet another undeniable reminder that she's growing up way too fast for me. But I was tired of how messy her drawers looked from trying to stuff them full with clothes, so I finally tackled the dreaded chore today.

I was doing really well- meaning no sentimental tears over favorite outfits she'll never wear again- until I got to the onesies. To me, onesies are the symbol of babyhood. They were one of the first pieces of clothing I ever put on Grace. If I could, I would make her wear onesies until she was twelve years old. But unfortunately, they don't make them that big. The ones in her dresser drawer are the very biggest size they come in, and she has sadly outgrown them.


To help me get through the moment, I made Grace, who was quietly playing with her dolls on the floor, give me tons of hugs and kisses. I also made her promise me that she would stop growing up so quickly. She repeated the words, but I doubt she meant them because she giggled the whole time.

In the end, I couldn't put those onesies in the container with the rest of the outgrown clothes. I folded them up and put them back in the drawer. Maybe next time I can muster up the strength, but not today.

My little lady crossing her legs, just like her Aunt Megan taught her.

The Power of Apps

I forgot to eat breakfast before heading out to the gym this morning and maybe that's what contributed to my little moment of craziness. After Zumba class, I felt like I still had lots of energy so I hopped on a treadmill and ran a couple of miles. I was so proud of myself.

When I picked up Grace from the children's area and she loudly asked why I was so wet, I wasn't embarrassed in the slightest. I took great pride in all that sweat.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later when I started to regret my impromptu decision to overachieve in the cardio department. When Grace goes down for her nap, I normally do a mid-day clean up. But I had absolutely no energy. There were toys that needed picking up, furniture that needed dusting, floors that needed sweeping, laundry that needed washing, and dinner that needed prepping. I couldn't do any of it.

Instead, I curled up on my comfy reading chair and searched for apps to download onto my iPhone.

Maybe I wasn't quite as productive as I hoped to be, but I can't wait until the next time I need to entertain Grace in a hurry when we're out in public and I desperately need her to be good. I've got a few cool things in my bag of tricks now, thanks to some kid-friendly apps. If she starts to get antsy when we're out to dinner? I can bust out some Dr. Seuss interactive books. If I sense the appearance of my little monkey while we're out running errands? I can calm her down with an episode of "Little Bear."

Is it wrong of me to use my phone as a way to entertain my child to make my life a little easier? Or is it just a smart use of technology? I told myself I will only use the apps on Grace when it's an emergency, and that makes me feel a little bit better about it.

Having a picnic and story time while I finished making dinner.

A Member of the Club

I have been drooling over the iPhone for a long time, but being a Verizon customer, the dream of having one wasn't even possible until just recently. And then I thought, do I really need an iPhone? I've done just fine with a basic phone that can text. I also don't want to be tempted into being on the phone all the time when I could be hanging out with my daughter.

But then this month I was eligible for an upgrade and when Mike asked if I wanted an iPhone, I just couldn't resist.

I've had the phone for a few days now and oh. my. goodness. I am loving it! I feel like I am finally a member of the smartphone club after years of resisting it's allure.

I also should have never worried about being on the phone when I could be spending quality time with my child because the child herself is the one who wants to use the cool little phone. And just because she's two and a half doesn't mean she doesn't know how to use that thing either. Grace now knows how to take pictures, play music, and she's got the scrolling thing down pat. So much so that she was even trying to turn the page in her bedtime storybook tonight by scrolling through it like on the iPhone.

Big Belly

Grace and I started the day off right by heading to the gym first thing. She had an hour of play time and I had an hour of pain time. The good kind though. The Zumba instructor this morning did not play around. I will definitely be sore tomorrow.

Afterwards, we ran a couple of errands before stopping by Tropical Smoothie to pick up some lunch.

Next was naptime, but Grace thought otherwise. She absolutely refused. She wasn't mean about it or anything. In fact, she was quite the opposite, which is probably why I didn't protest the skipped nap too much. Who can refuse a girl who kept proclaiming, "I love you sooooo MUCH, Mama!"

When Mike came home, she was so excited to have a fresh playmate. She made him push her around the house in her boat, a cardboard box leftover from Costco, while singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". This tired her daddy out so much he suggested they play 'nap'. She obliged by bringing him pillows, stuffed animals to sleep with, and then covering him with a blanket. He got to nap for about a minute before she declared, "Wake up, Daddy, wake up!" And when that didn't do the trick of rousing her sleepy daddy, she said, "Get up, the alarm is ringing!"

It is now 9:30, officially an hour past her bedtime and it is finally quiet in her room. Up until five minutes ago, she was singing "If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands."

Hopefully tomorrow there is more sleeping in store for Grace. Where, oh where, does she get all this energy?

Mike and Grace were looking at a 'Where's Waldo' book and Grace pointed out a character that had a big belly. Mike asked if she thought the guy had a big belly. Grace's response: "Yes, just like Daddy!"