Week of the 4th

We had a great time at the beach over the 4th of July! I headed down the Saturday before the 4th with the boys and stayed until the Sunday after the 4th-- 8 days at the beach! It was awesome and I wasn't ready to come home!

Eddie came down Monday night and Eddie's mom, dad and sister all came in on Tuesday.  It was SO GREAT to have everyone down there.  My brother and his family were there too, so we had lots of people and lots of fun!

The first part of the week was rainy, rainy, rainy! Thankfully, Eddie's family brought the sunshine with them when they came-- the rest of the week was perfect weather-wise!

When it rained we...

 baked cookies:

 ran outside every single time there was a break in the clouds:

snuggled on Baby Margaret (my children were OBSESSED with her)

 (Cal asked to hold her daily)

we went to the NC Aquarium one morning:

Snuggled Baby Marga (as Andy called her) a little more)

and...... here was the radar.... nice, right??

And then, the clouds parted...and it was a nice afternoon-- not sunny, but not raining, so we booked it over to the beach so the kids could release some energy!

this kid loves a boogie board!

Cal's crack was showing, but I still love this picture of the cousins

 Tuesday afternoon, Eddie's parents arrived and the boys were SO excited to show them around the neighborhood.  They had the best view...

The next day, the weather could not have been better.  Blue skies, warm, but not too warm, and just perfect!!! CB got in the night before so we were all together and really-- it was just great.

My parents took their boat out for a little ride, and the rest of us headed over to the beach for some play time.  

 The boys matched...

In fact, there were quite a few stripes on this beach day:

That night, after dinner, we went over to the gazebo-- actually.... the boys were sharing a room and they weren't asleep yet, so after dinner, I ran upstairs and got them out of bed, and we loaded the golf cart for a little "special trip." The boys felt like they were breaking rules and they were so giggly and happy.  It was awesome.  And, hopefully, those are the kinds of memories they will remember...

Any way, we went to the gazebo and I got this picture of CB and the boys...and I kind of love it...

The next day was the 4th of July! We went back to our old neighborhood for the parade.  It was pure CRAZINESS getting everyone ready to go, but we did it! Here are the older cousins, dressed and ready to go:

Cal is all about bike riding right now.  He borrowed our neighbor's strider bike (a bike without pedals) and cruised along for most of the parade.

 Nug was styling for the parade... he rode in the wagon with Catherine some and then walked some...and then he made my poor mother carry him the rest of the way.  And it was SO SO hot.  And sticky.  He was beyond obsessed with my mom this week.... and he was awful.  Just awful for the majority of the week.  The terribly twos are kicking all of us in the rear-- but he was ALL about my mom.  And if she could keep him from screaming, then so be it! ha!

Ready to work it!

These two love playing together-- Cal is so happy when Jackson is around!

 Most days, we would go to the beach until about an hour before naps, and then go to the pool on our way home and swim off all of the sand.  It was the perfect way to spend the day!

The little guy in the above picture was SUCH a fish this week! I think he grew brave having everyone there cheering for him.  He was swimming to everyone and jumping in.  He would swim further and further each time and finally he was swimming the length of the pool by himself-- it was awesome!!! We talked about him passing the swim test at our pool when we got home (swimming across the deep end) so that he could do down the slide and off the diving board.  He took the test on Monday and passed! More on that later... it was just awesome to watch him swim around like crazy!


And, all of Andy's craziness wore him out on the way home...

 It was seriously a great week... despite Andy's awful-ness, the boys were great and had a ton of fun with both sets of grandparents and CB too.  Speaking of-- it makes me SO SO SO happy to have both of my families together-- it it like the best of both worlds all wrapped up in one. 

I drove home on Sunday feeling like such a blessed girl.  There was a story on the news about the mother who lost her legs due to that flesh eating bacteria... it got me thinking how LUCKY I am that I am able to run around on the beach with my kids, that I am able to play duck duck goose with them, that I can help Cal swim in the water.... I just don't ever want to take any of this for granted.  I am blessed.  And I am grateful. 

(was that too deep to end this post?? sorry!)