Turkey time at the beach

12 years ago, I got engaged on Thanksgiving and it was a pretty epic Thanksgiving, to be sure. This Thanksgiving was right up there, in my opinion, on the level of epic-ness.  It was just so so special.

Eddie's parents, sisters and sister's hub were all down at the beach. My parents were there, along with my mom's two brothers and their significant others. My mom's younger brother hasn't been down to NC in FOREVER and we realized I haven't seen him NOT at a funeral in a really really long time. Which is awful. And he had never met my kids before!

So it was a very, very special time at the beach for sure.

We all got down there at different times.  Eddie, my dad and my uncle Pat took Cal out fishing Wednesday morning early. And they had a BIG time.  

Cal caught the first fish, but it was definitely not the only one. Eddie thinks they caught close to 30 fish (and threw them all back) that day. Cal was in heaven!

Andy went to the golf course with Poppy to hit some balls so he was pretty thrilled too.

 And I took Bruce over to the beach to wear him out a bit. The beach was gorgeous and it was empty so he ran and swam and ran some more. He was smiling, I swear.


The men all coughed up a dollar to Cal for catching the first fish-- he was proud, can you tell?!

He then proceeded to bet everyone a dollar in arm wrestling- hahaha! Thankfully my uncles are good sports and paid Cal and Andy both a dollar when they "won."

 Andy made a placemat at school, along with a turkey hat. He insisted on wearing the hat and eating off of the placemat (it had fact families on it, which is just funny to me- he thought it was great!)/

We learned on Wednesday that much, much more champagne would be needed, so Thursday morning, a special trip was made to fill up the cooler. 

 We headed over to my parents house for lunch and these fools put on "nice" clothes and it was a battle. I ADORE these shirts so so much. They are super soft- once they put them on, they both agreed they felt good.

 Okay, so Cal's hair. I think swimming must be taking its toll on his hair. We wash it every night and brush it before bed- and it usually dries before he falls asleep. He wakes up looking like he stuck his head in a tornado. He got it cut this week and the barber commented on the "unruliness" of his hair. He's still cute.... I just don't know what's happening with his mop.

Walking over to grandma's house!

We had to take a quick Williamson family picture before eating so we ran down to the water to snap it. The boys both wanted Tommy to piggy them in one way or another- he came running down like this:

My in laws! Love!

Then there's these two....

We ate some of the yummiest food......my stomach is growling just thinking about it! 

 Of course we had the paper crowns!

I was just so happy at this point. I was looking around the table and everyone was just....happy. And smiling and laughing and my kids were being well behaved....and it was just......great. I know I sound hallmark-y, but it really was just so special. 

Andy was enjoying his food so much, he didn't notice his crown slipping down over his eyes. 

After dinner, we ran to chance clothes and it was time for the ultimate baseball game. Cal divided up the teams: pilgrims and the turkeys and we were given bandanas to separate us.

i mean.... we had some FUN out there. It was cold, but no one seemed to mind too much. 

 The Pilgrims....

 Happiness is......

 And the TURKEYS! (aka, the winning team.....)


 We went inside to warm up and continue drinking. Andy lost a critical lego piece under the stove and it required a whole lot of people to get it out.

Friday, some neighbors had a big oyster roast so we went over there for a bit. It was a lot of fun! My MIL and my two SILs...

 My baby daddy. He's a cutie, y'all.

We went to mom's house for some serious cookie making and decorating. I am not sharing any of those pics here because I am not sure they were share-worthy, but it was a LOT of fun...like, a LOT.

We headed back to the house, where Nuggie fell asleep on me on the floor. I didn't want to move. Ever. until my back started cramping. 

Saturday, we decided to hit the beach. The boys donned their wetsuits and were determined to get in the water. 

 They didn't hesitate.... they were right in there. Along with Bruce!

Three happy, salty boys!

I know that was a long post.... and it was cheesy.... but it really was a special holiday. I loved seeing my family from Michigan and I can't wait to see them again!!!

We came home from the beach on Sunday and got our tree and then went into full blown decorate it all mode. I might share pics from that soon too! Are y'all decorated?

 

An obnoxious brag post

The other weekend, I had a really "proud mom" weekend. This is a total brag post, and you just have to excuse it. I feel like by coming out and saying I am bragging, it totally excuses my bragging. Right? You follow?

Let's begin.

Eddie was out of town duck hunting...or fishing...or something.
Friday night, the boys and I ate dinner and then curled up on the couch (all three of us on one couch) and we watched Home Alone 3. It was perfection. I mean, the movie was pretty awful, but everyone was happy and snuggly and it was just a great night.

Saturday morning, Cal had a swim meet in Raleigh. We headed over that way and got situated to watch our buddy swim. (his hair is wet because he had to take a shower prior to leaving because he was playing football in the yard and was COVERED from head to toe in mud. How does one do that so quickly? I do not know....)

He met up with his buddies, and I met up with their families and these two surveyed the competition.  just kidding. They just chatted it up. 

 We swear we feed them.

So this meet was called the Turkey Classic and they had this huge turkey up on the wall... every time a swimmer got a personal record, they got to sign the turkey (such a fun idea, I think!)

Insert bragging here:

Cal Williamson got to sign that precious turkey THREE times on Saturday (he participated in three events, so that is pretty awesome if you ask me!). He placed FIRST in 25 back. I about died.  

There is an app where you can track your kid during a swim meet-- I took a screen shot after the first day. The places are fine, but what I like to look at is the time improvement.... those are significant numbers to be dropping.

And this was a very fast-paced meet. Cal did 25 back and then accepted his heat winner and then handed it to a coach and got in line to do 50 fly, and then got out of the water and literally ran to get in line for the IM (individual medley: all four strokes). He was done with all of his events in under two hours.

We left the meet and went home to quickly change clothes for the end of season golf banquet. I have not been quiet on here about my love of this program- or my kids' love of this program.

The pro did an intro and then said it was time to hand out awards.

Insert bragging here:
He said last year they only gave out one of these awards, but we would understand why that wasn't possible this year once he handed out the awards.... then he announced ANDY AND CAL WILLIAMSON got most dedicated golfers (along with some other kids too!)! I was shocked (I didn't know awards were given out-- just thought it was like a pat on the back, way to go, kind of thing.)

 These boys really were dedicated this season and spent a LOT of time out on the course and range. They were thrilled and really, really proud.

The boys (whom I did NOT dress) with the pro, Mark. 

We had to send a picture to Eddie, who I know was kicking himself for not being there-- but thankfully we were able to call him immediately after and fill him in (and also, I took too many pictures.....he got those too!)

Super proud of these two!!!

So then Sunday, we had to head back to the same meet. Cal had three more events to swim. How cute was he Sunday morning??? I mean, I could have eaten him up. 

 Eddie hauled tail home and was able to be there before his first event-- they BOTH were happy boys!

 And, here is Cal, signing the turkey THREE MORE TIMES. Oh wait, hang on....
Insert bragging here:
Cal swam three more events and got three more personal bests. He did a 50 free and dropped almost 8 seconds, 25 breast and dropped a few seconds and 25 fly and dropped time too!

Six events, six PRs, six signatures on the turkey!

I looooove this picture, with my boys- all supporting Cal.... how cool for Andy to get to see this? How great Eddie was able to make it back to see it?? How great Cal tried this hard (and was able to swim that many laps-- let's be honest, I think I would die if I had to swim a 50 right now.....).

Okay so this post was totally obnoxious.  But I had to brag.  So there. I was a proud momma. I AM a proud momma!

We have another meet coming up this weekend. Hope he eats his wheaties!