Kick Off to Summer!

HOORAY!! It's summertime, and I can hardly wait! Vacations at the beach, days at the pool, sleeping in, no deadlines, family field trips, going to the movies, summer camps, Xtreme Week, crafts, playing in the sprinkler, watermelon....ooooh, these are just some of my favorite things about summer! We kicked off the break by going with Shirley and Al and Shawn and Ash and all of the kids to St. Simons for Memorial Day weekend. It was a great trip - the 7 cousins played great together and had so much fun on the beach. I am so thankful for a place we can go together like Myra's house at SSI. What a blessing!

Asa making mud pies in the sand.

Baylor and Avery playing in the waves.

The girls taking a break from the water to rest on the rocks.

Spring Break at St. Simons

For Spring Break this year, we went to St. Simons with Grandmommy and Grandpapa. The kids loved the beach, even though the water was freezing cold. It's amazing that they will actually swim in the ocean, and then come back to the house and complain that their bath water is too cold! I just don't get it!

Every year, when we first go to the beach in the spring, I say, "This year is going to be a little bit easier," and I am saying it yet again. We were actually able to RELAX a little bit this time! Asa is no longer in that toddler phase where he wants to just run from one end of the beach to the other while one of us chases him. He played nearby in the sand with his beach toys or dug holes and was as happy as a clam. The girls played really well together and spent hours climbing on the rocks pretending to be mermaids and putting on shows for each other. Daddy walked them out to the sand bar (for the first time ever), and they thought they were something else waving back to me on shore. I took the girls' kites, and we flew them, which was fun, and all 3 kids loved building drip castles with Daddy. We went to the park at the pier several times as well, which is always a hit. I can tell we are going to have a fun summer ahead of us! Bring it on!

Our Last Summer Hoorah!

I'm a little behind on my blogging, and I haven't gotten around to posting pictures from our last trip of the summer. We went with Granddad and Nonna to their house in Charleston and had a fantastic time with them - taking the boat to a nearby island and finding shells, surfing and boogie boarding at Folly Beach, wading in the fountains at Waterfront Park, walking on the pier, hanging around the house, eating dinner out and grilling dinner in. Fun times!!

Lunch break on the boat

Girls collecting shells; beautiful old lighthouse in the background

Morris Island, where we anchored and went shelling

Avery's first surfing lesson

Miss Brynn

A windy evening on the pier

Sitting out on the dock with Granddad

Climbing the oak tree with Daddy

Avery in the fountain

Asa playing in the fountain

Hilton Head Vacation - A Family Tradition

One of my favorite summer highlights is my family's vacation to Hilton Head. This was our 26th summer, so it's almost getting to the point where MY kids are the same age as I was when we started vacationing there. One of the reasons why it's so great is because a lot of my extended family goes as well. This year, it was my parents, us, Chrissy and her kids, Aunt Jeanie and Lee, Traci and her kids, Aunt Nettie and Uncle Rob, Tosha and her kids, Clark and Sara, Uncle Mike and Aunt Gale and Bailey. If you really want to know, in all that's 26 of us! It's so much fun because I just LOVE my family, and I love to spend time with them...it doesn't matter what we do. Highlights from this year were celebrating the 4th of July, fireworks at Shelter Cove, LOTS of time on the beach together, going on bike rides, swimming at the pool, eating low country boil, going to hear Gregg Russell at Harbour Town, eating watermelon, taking "family pictures" on the beach, going for walks in the mornings, and just hanging out at night talking and laughing. Thanks Mom and Papa for another WONDERFUL trip! I already can't wait until next year! I took about 500 pictures (deleted about 200) and still have so many that I want to post that I decided to try a slideshow. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend in SSI

This was our first trip to St. Simons since last fall, and the girls were so excited! They had been asking for weeks when they were going to get to go to the beach, and to make it even better...they were going with their cousins!! It is always fun going with Shawn, Ash and their kids because they all play so well together. They don't fight or whine (well, not as MUCH), and it's just EASY! Asa really enjoyed the beach this year, now that he's 19 months old. He had fun playing in the sand or in holes and taking a nap. He and Carson played really well together. The girls played out in the ocean on the boogie boards, and Baylor and Avery climbed on the rocks a lot. We spent all day on the beach both days and cooked dinner at the house, so we all spent most of the vacation in our bathing suits and PJ's....Ashley's and my recipe for a PERFECT vacation! Shawn was our chef for the weekend, making spaghetti on Saturday night and a great chicken dish on Sunday. He even made chocolate pancakes one morning! What a guy!! I was telling Ash while we were there how this is just the beginning of MANY years of summer vacations we spend together at Myra's house. What a blessing!!!

Labor Day Weekend in St. Simons

For the long weekend, we went with Shawn and Ash and their kids to Myra's house in St. Simons. This is a small "beach shack" on Ocean Boulevard that was owned by Bryan and Shawn's grandmother, Myra. She owned it back when you had to take a ferry to even get ON St. Simons. Now Shirley, Bryan's mom, owns the house, so we are blessed to have a place at the beach that we can go whenever we want. We love it! It's not fancy, so you're not afraid to sit on the furniture or walk on the floors. But the best part is the memories that Myra's house holds. Bryan and Shawn spent many summers there as kids, and it holds a special place in their hearts. That's why it's such a cool thing to be spending summers there now with OUR kids - in the same house, on the same beach. This weekend was definitely interesting as we were outnumbered nearly 2 to 1! We had 7 kids under the age of 7! It sounds like it'd be absolutely wild, but the cousins have so much fun together that they really entertain themselves. We spent every moment we could on the beach, getting out there around 10:30 and not leaving until 6:00 each day. The kids were so exhausted by the time they finished supper that it was not difficult at all to get them all to sleep. I'm sure that this will be the first of many vacations to Myra's beach house with the 11 of us! (As of now, neither couple plans on adding to their family, but we never know if God's plan is the same as ours.) Anyway, it was an absolute blast!
Myra Jane, Avery and Carson

The younger 4 under the tent. (Myra, Carson, Asa and Brynn)

Avery and Baylor were inseparable!

She was pretty taken with Myra too, since she's the "newest."

Summer Sum Up!

Boy, summers are different than they used to be. Obviously, it's a lot HOTTER than it was when I grew up. The most marked difference, however, is that summers are so much SHORTER! I actually went back to work in July this year! The kids will start school next week. Avery and Brynn will be in 4K and 2K, and Asa will go to Mother's Morning Out on 2 mornings a week. As the vacation comes to an end, I am thankful for a fun-filled summer with family. Here are some of the highlights.

We welcomed a new cousin, Myra Jane to the family. Shawn and Ashley brought her home from China on July 2. We had a big welcome home party for them.

We spent the 4th of July in St. Simons with Grandma Shirley and PaPa.

Family vacation with Grandpapa and Grandmommy in Hilton Head is always a blast! The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins Cannon, Allie Ann, and Bailey.

We went to Charleston with Granddad and Nonna. We enjoyed a boatride in the Charleston harbor, going to the South Carolina Aquarium, and wading in the downtown fountains.

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