Happy Birthday Sabrina and Samantha

We have just returned home from three nights at The Lake Lanier Legacy Resort.  It was as relaxing a time as we could possibly get with a 2 year old in tow around that much water.  We truly did enjoy ourselves.  We arrived on Saturday and spent the afternoon swimming at the hotel.  We had dinner at Bullfrogs and then watched the Dive In movie by the pool.  They were playing Ratatouille.  Amelia watched most of the movie before falling asleep in my lap.  Destiny watched about half and Sabrina watched half.  Samantha played in the pool the entire time and when it was all said and done, Peyton and I are the only two Tingles that actually watched and enjoyed the movie.  It was our tenth wedding anniversary...what a way to celebrate (only a touch of sarcasim).  We slept in a bit the following morning and went to Windows for Sunday brunch before heading to the water park.  The girls rode almost all of the waterslides with their Dad.  Amelia and I played on the beach and in the wave pool all afternoon.  She loved the waves.  I had a tough time getting her out of the water.  Her little toes were completley wrinkled prunes by the time we left on Sunday night.  We spent the early part of the evening at Sunset Cove having dinner at the Sunset Cove Cafe and Club.  I was so impressed with the restaurant.  The kids were able to play in the water and ride the craziest water slide I've ever seen (The Vortex) while we waited on our dinner.  If you know me at all, you know the one thing that I am always going to stop to enjoy is a man with a guitar.  If he's remotely worth listening to, you will have to drag me away from the scene.  We were sitting directly in front of the stage and there wasn't one song that he played that I did not love.  This was the dinner I wanted for our anniversary and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Amelia was dancing behind my chair and hiding from the "man with the guitar."  She's so shy.  When dinner was over, I found a shady spot to read (Fifty Shades Freed, the 3rd book in the 50 Shades trilogy) while Peyton played in the water with all four of the girls.  They eventually found me and we walked down to the beach where all of the boats were docked.  I can see why Sunset Cove is party central for Lake Lanier Islanders.  What a crazy fun atmosphere.  I watched at least five volleyball games while the girls played in the sand and Peyton and I waded just off shore.  Amelia is not afraid of water.  She thinks she can swim without her vest.  We had a tough time convincing her that she must have it on to keep her head up.  I can't remember the last time I felt as relaxed as I did at Sunset Cove.  We went to Publix after leaving the waterpark to pick up a birthday cake for our little angelic monsters.  They quickly agreed on a cookie cake---I was so surprised that they were able to agree on anything.  We picked up some fried chicken and sub sandwiches for their birthday dinner and headed back to the hotel.  We were all so exaughsted.  They opened their presents:  WAY too expensive Galaxy tablets that they have yet to put down.  It almost put a bit of a damper on the trip because they wanted so much to play with them the next day.  On Monday, July 23, we went back to Windows for breakfast.  I hope the girls will always remember the Chocolate Chip covered Belguim waffles that they made with their dad.  I doubt I will ever forget the amazing breakfast buffet this place has, not to mention the windows overlooking Lake Lanier.  We were scheduled to check out, but we decided we needed one more day, so I went to the front desk and checked us back in.  It was officially their 7th birthday.  It brought tears to my eyes remembering and recounting the night before they were born.  The anxiety that I felt about giving birth came flooding back.  There is a picture of Mema Shirley sitting with me on a bench outside of hospital admissions at 5:00 on the morning of their birth.  You can see the fear and worry in my face.  As much as I wanted these precious little girls, I was terrified to go through another hospital stay so soon after my back surgery.  The doctors had given me every possible scenerio and the worst case scenerio was a vaginal delivery for baby A (Sabrina) followed by a C section for baby B (Samantha).  I believe that God knew I couldn't handle the recovery from a C section because the best possible outcome occured.  I was induced mid morning and by 5:42, I was holding my first little girl, followed by baby B at 5:55.  My labor was easy by most accounts and the girls were happy, healthy, beautiful little angels. I don't know how life could be any sweeter.  After breakfast, we were going to go back to the waterpark or for a swim.  With two girls who just wanted to play on their new tablets, we ended up staying in the room too long to go to the park.  Not to mention that even though we used a whole bottle of sunscreen, we were sporting six varying degrees of sunburn...mostly just noses, under eyes and shoulders.  No one had the energy to venture back out into the sun.  We waited until just after noon to head down to the pool...not the brightest idea to go at the hottest part of the day.  We played for a couple of hours before heading back to the shade and air conditioned room.  Around 4pm or so Peyton took us all out for a walk.  We walked around the grounds and found the perfect/secluded little beach with beautiful white sand and a great place to fish.  All of the girls went fishing with their daddy.  No one was dressed for it, but it didn't stop us from jumping right into the water.  Who knew that such a short distance from our room we would find such an ideal place to play.  In hindsight, we would have spent most of our time there had we found it sooner.  Destiny and Peyton caught one fish together.  It was the only fish of the day.  Amelia and I made a break for the room and hiked (literally) back up the side of the cliff (slight exageration, but with a 2 year old in my arms, it could have been k2) to the room.  We were just finishing up a great bath when the others arrived all covered in sand.  After everyone was showered, we went back to Bullfrogs for dinner.  The third dinner in a row with live entertainment...and it was a Monday night. I ordered ribs for the first time in my life.  Peyton reminded me that ribs were not a great "date" food, in fact they are the ulitmate no-no.  I figured after a full decade of marriage, it couldn't hurt to eat ribs in front of him.  He's seen much, much worse.  He ordered his final Texas Gold Margarita of the trip and I settled on something called a Leap Frog (lime juice, Tanqueray, and sprite).  It was so good, I had to have one more.  We went back to the room and watched American Gladiator until eveyone fell asleep from pure exaughstion.  This morning, I woke up feeling amazingly refreshed.  We loaded the car and headed back home. I have a full three days left off of work and I couldn't be happier than to spend them at home getting things ready for the new school year.  Sam and the Bean will start second grade in two weeks and Destiny will be in middle school.  Poor little Amelia will be home alone again during the school year with no one to play with...so goes life as the baby of the family.