Way Back When-esday: Cousin Edition

All three cousins at 4 months old playing on their activity mats.


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Beach Re-cap #2 of 2: But wait, there's more!

While the weather was 98% gorgeous and we spent a ton of time outside (thank goodness for good kids who are getting older, do not require naps all the time, and love the beach), we did also have plenty of fun doing other things.

When you vacation with a film maker and production manager, it seems only natural to make a commercial one night.

Right?

It really started with Chad telling Eric about this random meal that his brother told him about. Someone Chad's brother works with LOVES a meal of branch lettuce and eggs. Eric thought that was the most random thing ever- and apparantly a great topic for a commercial, so in about 2 hours, we churned this baby out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1aD50JpnKA

It's random, I told ya.

One of MY favorite things at the beach are these...

Our family demolished 10 pounds of those suckers.....and agreed that next year we will need 12.

We celebrate many birthdays, both belated and advanced and actually on the day.

The kids LOVED their presents from their aunt and uncle.

It took Jake a while to warm up to his puppet, but they soon grew very tight.

And Brooklyn received this awesome Magic Set that, I kid you not, was pretty amazing and mind blowing. She may have a future in Vegas....wouldn't Daddy be happy about that?!


And yes, a special man turned 36 while we were at the beach. Happy birthday, sweet hubby.

And then he, in return, gave a 30th anniversary gift to our aunt and uncle, a serenaded Hootie song.

We had several evening get togethers with one of our favorite families.

And I always love some quality time with my favorite mama.

"Down time" involved playing on Apple products...

Or just plain snuggling...

And I happily obliged when Brooklyn asked is she could give me a pedicure.

Because of all the birthday and anniversary celebrations, we found ourselves making quite a few desserts. Nothing like walking through Ocean Isle with baked goods.



Good thing I ran 5 days while there...because I think I ate cake 6 days.


It really was a great week, but I miss everyone already! I wish I could pack up my brother and sister-in-law in my suitcase and take them home with us. Thank goodness for social media to stay connected....and thank goodness our kids still have no concept of time and seem to pick right up with them minute one. :-)

Beach Re-Cap #1 of 2: Sand and sun all week long!

What a great week at Ocean Isle last week! With just rain as we drove in Saturday and 20 minutes mid-day Wednesday, we were very lucky to have great weather and special time with awesome family and friends for 7 days straight.

This year, the boys were roomies.

Too cute.

And the girls were roomies. Brooklyn was THRILLED to be in my bed....and I made sure there were plenty of pillows between us so she didn't continually jam her feet up my pj shorts all night long.

Not much outside time day 1, but plenty of snuggling time and wearing bathing suits.

Love.this.beach.


Our first slushie of the week. And there were many more where this came from.

So many that Jake pretty much knew the drill right away and had no problem bringing up his cup and ordering his daily strawberry.



Sand monsters. :-)


They also had a great time in the pool, where this week, Brooklyn learned to do handstands and Jake started jumping in by himself (with his puddle jumper).

The requisite family pics...


"Surfer" kids



Of course, the BEST part of the week was quality time with Uncle Eric and Aunt Caroline.

And lots of great Nanny and Grandpa time.

Bocce is a favorite for several.

But I prefer the water and my beach chair. :-)

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for a GREAT family week at the beach. This 9th annual fun-fest never disappoints and we are so grateful for this time every summer!

Goodbye, Beach!

Unless you are my Facebook friend you may not have known we were at the beach this week. More posts on our adventures and fun later, but for now, I leave you with some pics through the years. This year was our 9th annual family beach trip.

Pretty good looking bunch :-)



Last year's pic (2012)


2011


2010



And the PJ (pre-Jake) years (2005-2009)


Lots of great new memories to share soon!

Another great house concert with my favorite Carolina boy....

Back in September I helped host my very first house concert with my Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill. My college friend, Brendan, does these great house concerts in between his larger shows to break up their travel. We had such a great time in the fall that we decided to do it again. And it absolutely did not disappoint. My aunt and uncle have a PERFECT house for this kind of the thing, and they also happen to have a pretty great piano.

Add three cute musicians, 38 friends, and yummy food and drinks, and you have a pretty awesome evening.


About 1/3 of the way through the show, Brendan called Chad up to sing with him on one of his older songs. Thanks to my friend, Jennifer, you can view it on YouTube here:

Chad and Brendan also share a birthday, so we had an early birthday treat for them...


The guys stayed at our house for the night and we had a great time hanging out with them that evening and the next morning. Such great "road stories" they tell!

And apparently, white t-shirt is the official uniform for men's sleep clothes. :-)

Oh Yeah, the 4th

Well, you know I was so super excited about my last post that I bumped our July 4th weekend recap later.
So here are a few pics from that holiday weekend. On Thursday, the 4th, we had several families over to celebrate and eat some particularly yummy food.

The girls loved the sparklers...


And the boys loved the glow bracelets...






Then, on Friday, I surprised Chad with a date night and a bonus chance to see our friend Brendan, who was playing a house show about 15 minutes away.

We had a fun group go together and the band was entertaining as usual. Love us some Brendan and Craig!






























On Saturday, we spent the day at Pappy's Paradise soaking in all the sun that we were denied on Thursday.


And on Sunday, we spent a bit of our afternoon visiting my grandmother...


...before heading to ArtQuest for our Shout Sister, Callie's, 5th birthday party.




A busy, but very fun-filled weekend. Nothing better than spending time with family and friends.