While I was trying to shower, clean the house, pack the car, etc etc, Cal was my little shadow: "what are you doing, mommy? where are we going, mommy? we go to beach now? I wanna go to beach. Andy napping? We go to airport get gramma? where are we going?" You get the point. It was brutal. He stood outside of my shower glass door talking to me and knocking for the entire shower--NONSTOP. I also was trying to decorate for Eddie's birthday so that when he came home on Sunday there would be some fun stuff for him... this gave Cal even more things to discuss.
When it came time to wake up Andy and hit the road, I was at the end of my rope. I put Cal in the car in the garage and put on a movie. I didn't fully crank the car because I didn't want the fumes to make him sick. Hank jumped in and assumed his position in between the boys' seats. It took me all of 8 minutes to wake and dress Andy. I came down and loaded him in the car....and my car wouldn't crank. Seriously.
With my husband, dad, brother, mom, and the majority of my friends all out of town, I was SOL. My mom texted me that she landed and would be waiting outside for me. I just sat in the car listening to Andy cry since I woke him up and Cal saying "I wanna watch mickey. why andy crying? mommy, where are we going? we go to airport now? where is cars? i want cars 2!"
Sooo, I called Chapel Hill Tire (if you are local-- use them!), and they told me that they unfortunately do not come out and jump cars. I guess he could hear the desperation in my voice (and the
You better believe I took those boys over at Chapel Hill Tire a big ol' plate of my chocolate chip cookies! For those of you who have never experienced this goodness, I will share the recipe soon...it will change your life. Well, okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they are reallllllly pretty yummy...
After that minor setback, the boys and I were off to pick up my mom at the airport and be on our way to the beach!
The trip down was fine. I was thankful to have my mom riding with me-- it is hard to do it solo (which I did on the way home), plus I like to talk to her the whole way anyway!
My brother and his family were already down at the beach so we had a party (and a full house) waiting for us down there!
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| while figuring out the sleeping arrangements, the boys tackled grandpa on the bottom bunk (side note: we tried to have Cal and Jackson sleep in the same room and it was a huge FAIL. They were having too much fun in there!) |
On Friday morning, we woke up and the gramma/grandpa "bunny" made a little visit! Jackson and Cal each got scooters, Catherine got a little pink Minnie push car (which Cal LOVED), and Andy got a mickey mouse riding car, which was awesome too (which Cal also LOVED...the kid loves some push toys!). They also got matching bathing suits and personalized towels. In their stash o' goodies, the older boys also got sunglasses. Cal was OBSESSED with his, as you will see below.
The weather was not ideal on Friday, so we spent much of the day indoors. We did venture out to the aquarium, along with the rest of North Carolina. It was crazy crowded, but fun still.
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| checking out some cool stuff with Grandpa |
I win the Worst Mother of the Year Award because of how poorly I packed for the kids. It was 88 degrees here the day before we left. The day we left, I was still wearing shorts, but I wore a 3/4 sleeve shirt. As we drove to the beach, I watched my car thermometer drop and drop and drop. It was freezing down there! Cal has been refusing pants anyways because he says "shorts make me run faster!" so he only had shorts to wear and one long sleeved hoodie. Whoops. I packed a pair of jeans for Andy, at least, so I wasn't that terrible on his behalf. Let's just say the poor packing did not dampen Cal's fun one bit!
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| we blew up the bouncy house in the garage. It was a ton of fun and a great way to burn off some energy! |
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| Gramma got thrown in, too :) |
The boys were able to ride their scooters outside instead of down the hallway inside:
Heading down the driveway:
My brother then took turns taking each kid for a ride down the driveway on his skateboard. This terrified me, of course, but the kids loved it, of course!
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| it's hard to see Cal's face in this one, but he was chasing them laughing as hard as he could. |
Then, we moved the party to the front of the house, which faces a canal. The rule is the kids cannot step off of the deck without a lifejacket on. Well, the sun went behind more clouds and it was getting downright chilly out. This is where my award for Awesome Mother comes in. Nothing warm to put on Cal! Again- whoops! So, I took my jacket and put it on him with the sleeves rolled. It didn't slow him down one bit! Homie kept right on playing!
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| attempting lacrosse. Cal had a hard time with this since he wanted to swing it like a golf club. |
On Saturday, our neighborhood held an Easter Egg Hunt. Andy was sleeping, so we left him at home with my dad and I got to have some quality time with CalBoy. It was a cute hunt, although, those things go by SOOOOO quickly! They are over before they even begin!
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| not too many eggs were found by these two. The big kids swooped in pretty fast! |
Enter the sunglasses:
Unfortunately, we were driving down the road this day and Cal requested his window down. He held his glasses out the window (who knows why) and lost them on Salter Path. bummmmmer. I am going to have to go find him another pair because he seriously loved these.
Grandma with 3 of her grandbabies:
After naps that day (which, by the way, Cal did not nap once while we were there...sleeping for him was a challenge this weekend. Andy, on the other hand, took two killer naps each day and slept through the night each night!), we had an Easter Egg Hunt at our house with just our kids. We hid a TON of eggs. Seriously, a TON, and the kids had a good time loading them in their baskets.
Cal didn't really get the idea of an egg hunt last year, but fear not, he got it this year... and he was allll about loading those eggs in his basket!
On Sunday morning, the sun was shining, but it was still pretty chilly. Jackson really wanted to go over to the beach, so Chris and I took both kids over. Judging from the pics below, you'd think it was hot...but it was soooo cold out there! The sun felt great, but the water was like ice. Cal ran around some, but really wanted to just snuggle with me, where it was warm! Jackson actually went in the water and went under! burrrrr!
After the beach, we had a great brunch with the family and then we cleaned up and bit and I headed home with the boys. Andy cried for the first hour pretty hard. Cal said (no less than 257 times): "mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying? mommy, andy crying. why andy crying?"
After that first hour, Andy quieted down and Cal got into a movie. Andy drifted off at the 2 hours mark and slept for about 30 minutes, until Cal saw a truck and screamed at it.
We made it home to Eddie greeting us in the driveway! Andy went down immediately for a nap and Cal got to watch some golf with his daddy. Everyone was happy!
Also, I should note...Andy was in fact with us at the beach, although he does not appear in any pictures...hmmm... see the note above about him sleeping. He took 2 hour naps in the mornings and then 3-4 hour naps in the afternoons and then went right back down again for bed time, so I guess he slept through most of the photo ops! Again, "The award for Worst Mother Of The Year goes to: CARRIE WILLIAMSON!"
Hope you all had a great Easter weekend... bring on SUMMER and more trips to the beach!
