so continuing lauren’s Day of Epic Birthday Fun, we headed off for… another of this ratty-barbie-princess-dress-wearing-three-year-old’s favorite things. just in time for hello kitty! so even though she got her own cup filled with her favorite flavor (chocolate) and favorite toppings (gummy bears, m&ms, chocolate chips, and mini peanut butter cups- yes, the really healthy stuff), she preferred to dip into the cup her daddy and i were sharing.  but mostly to eat the mochi bits out of it. ok lauren, so how old are you now? no, not anymore… not quite yet… um, no. “i have an idea, mommy!” “let me make a face at you to distract you…

oops!  i realized i forgot to mention where we stayed while on vacation, so for those of you who were wondering, we stayed at the dreams resort and spa.  highly recommended.  remember, todo incluido, baby! ok, so that bit of info has nothing to do with the present post at hand.  just tying up a loose end first.  🙂 this post has to do with child number three, who went and turned three in the midst of moving, finishing fellowship, and celebrating a decade-old marriage.  so yes, her birthday was actually spent at her grandparents’ house while her parents were off gallivanting in another country.  hey, we make no claims…

as nice as it was to be away on vacation, the best part was still coming back to our little monkeys. the girls loved the dresses we brought back for them.  🙂 jonah liked chilling with grandpa watching korean tv in his study. he wasn’t too sure about this arrangement, though. grandma and grandpa.  totally love ’em. and that’s the end of our wonderful week celebrating some pretty cool milestones.  🙂

we aspired to sit on the beach and read at our leisure while on vacation. but. our little third wheel kept throwing a wrench in our plans.  even though daddy tried his best to recreate the king-sized bed and air-conditioned conditions for the little guy. somehow jonah could tell it wasn’t quite the same. frosty, fruity beverages served beachside.  what’s not to love? then again, being that little guy didn’t get to drink the frosty, fruity goodness and had a sweaty head to boot would both be valid reasons to not love the beach so much.  but he sure did love being held by daddy. but dipping his toes into…

ok, so i have more than a few vacation pictures i wanted to share, so there’ll be two more parts to this recap. like i said before, we did very little besides eat and sleep during our vacation.  but, we did venture into downtown one afternoon to take in the sights.  (i feel the need to insert the disclaimer that phil took most of the following downtown pictures and therefore i cannot take credit for them should they strike your fancy.) it was a very colorful downtown.  but still so hot and humid even right next to the water.  no ocean breeze here! so some people went to great lengths…