Turks & Caicos

Last month we got to take a vacation to Turks & Caicos to help celebrate my younger brother's wedding.  We had a fantastic time!  Graecyn traveled well and we've discovered that take off relaxes her - we could feel her body melt as the plane sped faster and faster down the runway. We purchased a seat on the plane just for her, which was wonderful.  Even though she still perferred to be in either Eric or my lap, it was so nice having the extra space and not worrying about bothering the stranger next to me (and it was really great when she finally decided to take a nap).

The island was gorgeous with bright turquoise water and white sand; the weather was gorgeous every day we were there (we did get a few rain sprinkles one day, but when it's 80 degrees in February and I've got a rum punch in hand, I'm not going to complain).

I was so excited for Graecyn to see the ocean and touch sand for the first time.  My excitement quickly wore off though as she decided she hated them both and would cling to us like a monkey to keep her feet as far away as possible.  So much for building sand castles!  The resort did have little carts that we could rent and that was a life saver for us.  Even though we had her stroller along, she was so much happier rolling around the resort in her cart (see middle picture below).

There was a beach BBQ one night which was so much fun.  Graecyn loved the music.  I thought the loud drums and horns would scare her, but she wanted to be right up at the stage and would not let me stop dancing with her.

We stayed at a Beaches Resort, which has a Sesame Street theme.  Graecyn was a little scared of the characters at first, but by the last day, she was in love with them!  We even got to have breakfast with them on our last day and got to dance with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and the rest of the gang!  If you look at the middle picture of the below collage, that was pretty much her face when we were around the characters - her super excited cheesy grin.

We enjoyed the warm weather and sunshine as much as possible.  Graecyn was happiest on her towel on the lounge chair.  Graecyn has always loved bath time and enjoyed swimming lessons last summer, so I was so excited to take her in the pool.  For whatever reason, she developed a fear of water (pool, ocean, bathtub) as soon as we arrived in Turks.  We did finally get her into one of the pools without screaming like crazy (thanks to her Aunt Juli and cousin Addison) (thankfully, bathtime has become fun again).

The most important thing that we did while in Turks (and the whole reason for the trip) was celebrate Will and Danielle's wedding.  Danielle was a gorgeous bride and the wedding was absolutely beautiful; I think it was everything they hoped it would be.  Graecyn was a flower girl along with her cousin Addison and Danielle's niece, Gracie, and Colton was the ring bearer.  The girls looked so cute in their flower girl dresses.