A volcano and Aladdin

After being out and about a lot from Tuesday through Saturday, I was happy to stay put on Sunday and eat all three meals in our unit at the resort. I know some people probably enjoy eating out three times a day on vacation, but I don't. The cost of doing so really gets to me for one thing. Secondly, although they have been getting better as they have gotten older, there were many times in the past that it was stressful for me to eat in a sit down restaurant because the boys weren't always on their best behavior. Thirdly, since I am still for the most part trying to follow my diet, it's harder to do so when we eat out. I have found that a bowl of soup is usually the best way to keep my meal under 450 calories at a sit down restaurant. Last week when we ate at Denny's, I had a bowl of potato soup. We went to Denny's again tonight because kids can eat free on Tuesdays, but my only choice of soup tonight was chicken noodle, which is not one of my favorites by any means. I didn't order anything to eat, but thankfully Ian had pancakes and bacon, and he was too full to eat all the pancakes. I ate one of his

pancakes. On Sunday we didn't spend any money anywhere.

Monday morning we spent a couple of hours at the indoor pools at the resort where my in-laws are staying. Then we came back to our unit for lunch and to spend some time at the beach and pools at our resort. I brought back two large carry-out pizzas for dinner for the seven of us. Then we all went to play miniature golf. Nadia picked one called Hawaiian Rumble. The boys are going to pick where we go miniature golfing the next time we go this week. Today we had another day of not spending any money. Paul's parents paid for Paul's meal. I didn't order anything, and the kids' meals were free. Paul took Nadia and Ian to see Aladdin at the movie theatre. That was free because I had coupons for free popcorn and two free drinks plus I had used points from a credit card for an AMC gift card that we used $15 of toward the three tickets. Tickets are $5 all day on Tuesdays at AMC theatres. They went to the 6:15 showing. Oliver and I walked along the beach for at least one mile from Paul's parents' resort

to our resort. We collected some beautiful shells. I took some photos of a family who was getting their family picture at the beach. The woman had the same camera that I have so that was easy enough. Oliver wasn't allowed to see Aladdin because he had a tantrum last Friday night. Ian said he loved the movie! Paul dropped Nadia off at her grandparent's resort after the movie so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear what she thought of it. She doesn't like many princess stories any longer. She thinks she's too grown up for most of them, but she still likes Mulan and Aladdin.

After we finished our walk, I had him change clothes to take some pictures at the beach. I love the pictures but I wish his shirt wasn't so wrinkled! Also, if I had to do it over again, I would have packed two polo shirts for him. The pink one was selected to match Nadia's dress, but for his individual portraits I would have preferred a different color. Still considering he's generally not the most cooperative with taking pictures, I am very, very happy with what I got as I got

quite a few that I really like! I hope we get good family pictures later this week. Nadia accidently ripped her the bodice of her dress (not on a seam) last Thursday night when she was putting the dress on - the only dress she brought and the one we all brought things to match her dress. Grandma is going to try and repair it the best she can with a needle, thread, and some scotch tape. Since Oliver did such a great job taking pictures and since I had such a small dinner, I made each of us an ice cream cone and then let him swim in the pool a little before I put him to bed. Unfortunately we had to wake both boys up at 10pm because the fire alarm was going off at the resort. We exited the building until the fire fighters said it was safe to return. The sound was deafening. I have no idea how the boys could sleep through it! The same thing happened during our one night stay in Jersey City last month before we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I remember my sister, Yvonne, sleeping through an alarm that went off right by her bedroom door even though it woke me up and I was sleeping two floors below the alarm in the basement of our house.

It had been awhile since we had taken the kids to play miniature golf, and I have to say that the boys improved quite a bit since the last time we went. Oliver actually had more than one hole-in-one! It was the first time we actually kept track of his score. He and Nadia tied for last place, but the fact that he tied Nadia shows he had drastically improved. Grandma and I tied for third place. Pop Pop ended in first place, Paul in second, a nd Ian in fourth place. The scores from we four adults were very close together. The cost of playing miniature golf seems to have really escalated or maybe it's just that it's more expensive at a beach. Just for the five of us it cost $55 to play one round of put put! Oi vey! Considering we generally only play once a year, it's a special splurge.