Family Moments

Thursday, June 20, 2013

1st Beach Trip

We recently took a day vacation to my favorite place on earth- St. George Island. This was the kids first real trip to the beach. I was reminded of this when we turned onto the ISsland. They were all thinking similar things, but CJ is always the best to put it into words. He exclaimed, "Man! I have never seen such big houses!" Which was also followed by, "Look at all that snow." Between the laughter, I explained to him that the "snow" he saw was piles of sand dunes. Enjoy the pictures below. They are a glimpse into our fabulous family day.

Our oldest 3

This is why I call it heaven on earth...the beach is beautiful!

My loves :)

Can't you just see the pride dripping off of that smile?

GG checking everything out

EE played it on the safe side for a long time. She didn't actually get in the water until just before we left...and she loved it once she got in.

My two snorklers

Keeping up with GG was HARD work. He wanted to be in the water, but he is still wobbly so the waves would knock him down. He laughed the whole time, but we were steadily bending over to pick him up to repeat- over and over and over and over...

Just the girls

N didn't prefer the water...but he sure did enjoy digging in the sand.

BA really LOVED the water. We had to keep reminding him of his boundaries because he wanted to slip off deeper and deeper.

CJ braving it out to deeper waters like his big brother.

We finally thought to give GG a bucket. He sat down and played, much to our back relief!

Me and the love of my life :)

GG stayed a sandy mess! We would wash his hands off with water and within 3 seconds he would fall...we eventually gave up. He ate lunch and drank with sand covered hands. He didn't seem to care, but I was kind of grossed out!

Best buddies

Once the birds discovered we had food, they hoovered above- LITERALLY! I'm not sure how many came, but this picture only captures a few of them.

Enjoying the sand

My beach bum

CJ stopped played and asked me to take this picture of him. I guess it means he REALLY was enjoying himself, because he never does that!

EE cooling off

Since our return from the beach, every day I am asked, "Mom, are we going to the beach today?" EE tries to con me into telling her an exact date that we will return. When I say, "No, we can't go today," she replies, "Well, how about tomorrow?" And the conversation continues until I finally say, "We will go again, but I am not sure when." I'm glad to see that they all enjoyed their time, and I do look forward to sharing the experience with them again. My favorite thing by far about going to the beach, is that it seems to give me amnesia...I don't think about anything but the moment, and that is priceless!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

CJ's 5th Birthday

If I am learning anything as a parent, there is one thing I know for sure- the days can be long, the nights are definitely short, and the years fly by leaving you wondering where the time went. That's what I found myself pondering the other day when our second born turned 5. Where did the time go? Well it went one 24 hour period away, day in and day out. I'm learning to make the most of the seemingly short time we have with our little ones, to love the innocence of a child, and to laugh (and I mean laugh often!) CJ has been a child that has made us do quite a bit of laughing over the years, and I look forward to seeing how God uses his goofy sense of humor one day. We had a wonderful time celebrating the joyous 5 years God has given us with him. His day was a mirror image of the personality he shines everyday. He planned everything out- right by himself, and was adding minor (and some major) details right up to party time. Enjoy the pictures that summarize our day.