Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend, we headed to the beach for Memorial Day Weekend!

There were THREE boys in the back anxious to arrive....

Once we got there, we played a little and then went out to eat at a Mexican place.  We came home and it was late, but there was a beautiful sunset, so we played a little more outside.

 Dear Cal and Andy: please do NOT copy your father. Riding a skateboard while hanging on to a golf cart is crazy and dangerous.  At least wear a helmet if you do.....

 We woke up Friday morning and were on the beach by 9.  I can honestly say I don't remember a prettier Memorial Day weekend-- the weather was just perfect and the beach was too!

 The boys had the best time playing on the beach.  It made me so happy to watch them enjoying something that Eddie and I love so much.  They were so happy there!

Eddie brought over the paddle board to SUP in the ocean and he ended up taking Cal out to ride a few waves! He did great and loved it...and you know Eddie was beyond excited to get to share his love with Cal.

Hank, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck.  I was screaming for Hank to come, which he normally does immediately.  He refused to leave Cal's side out there. He was biting the board and getting as close to Cal as he could.  Bless his heart.  He was getting pounded by waves, but would not leave Cal. 

While Cal was surfing, Andy was running around like crazy...until he announced he was tired and then just kinda laid in the sand for a little rest! ha! He stayed like that for quite a while, just chilling!

After a trip to the pool, we stripped these boys down in the garage-- they got big ol' tan lines right away!

My brother's family came down Friday night so the rest of the weekend was much like the first day, but with cousins to play with too!

Andy and Catherine had a blast together-- they were two peas in a pod the entire time! Catherine is Cal's age, but she and Andy are buddies.

Cal spent 99% of the weekend like this: in a bathing suit, no shoes, no shirt, extremely happy:

My brother and Eddie, who grew up surfing together in high school, had so much fun teaching Cal and Jackson to surf:

To Andy, the world is his potty...

Cousin fun:

Cal and Eddie had some good fishing time too:

We had our other friends over too for added fun!

And we celebrated Anna Claire's birthday!

 Cal and Jackson spent hours one afternoon playing in the ocean.  They were body boarding, surfing, tackling each other and diving under waves.  They had THE best time together.  We could hear them laughing from up on the beach.  I love their love of the ocean!

And look at these smiles! You think they are having fun??

Andy and Grandpa had a heart to heart on the beach.  They were solving all the problems of the world together. 

 We took a family pic on Memorial Day! (please forgive the swimsuit pic... I hate to be *that* girl, but I loved this picture with my boys!)

We ended Memorial Day with a boat right...and it was darn right fabulous.  It was beautiful out and the boys were worn out and into snuggling.  I love boat rides.  Love them.  And now getting to take them with my little ones is just so great.  I am sentimental like that. 

So very very blessed:

 We got up super early on Tuesday morning to head home for Eddie to work.  The sun rising over the water was beautiful!

It was a wonderful weekend! Bring on, SUMMER!


 

#carriedaway: week 18

Week 18:

 Day 141: last day of school for CalBoy

 Day 142: two of the boys breathing in some ocean air going over the bridge.  Bring on the beach weekend!

 Day 143: who doesn't want a little beach power nap?

 Day 144: gone fishin'

 Day 145: he's been in a swimsuit and shirtless the entire day. Summer time is calling...

 Day 146: Happy Memorial Day!!

 Day 147: showing me his busted lip. Also- lips create lots of blood.


 

Andy's last day of school!

Wednesday the 28th was Andy's last day in the 2 day 2s at his preschool!!

Here was Andy on his first day:

And here he is on the LAST day!!! (homie needs a haircut....) Look how much he has grown! (and also that he is doing similar things with his arms-- weird!)

 On Tuesday night, the night before his last day of school, he was playing and took a big ol' header.  I heard him hit the ground and honestly do not know how he did not lose his front teeth.

Thankfully he is tough and he had a fat lip, but was otherwise good to go!

It seems like yesterday that I was taking these two pictures:

 And now, here we are at the end of the year...

I loved his teachers this year.  They were so good with Andy and really loved being with them! Andy with Ms. Nicole:

While I am sad to leave his great teachers, I am SO SO SO thrilled to have both boys at ONE school next year! I am a huge fan of their school (Cal's current school) and was very bummed that Andy missed the cutoff.  That just means I will extra appreciate it next year.

After much (MUCH) debate, we have decided to send Andy 5 days a week next year.  The teacher we really wanted was offering a 5 day a week program (she was only teaching either 2 day or 3 day a week classes).  Andy thrives off of structure and he does really well at school.  I know he will love every minute of school next year!

With both boys' last days gone, summer time can officially begin!

 

Cal's last day of school!

Last week was Cal's last day of school! And, technically it was his last day of preschool since next year he will be in PRE-K! (cue the tears, please....)

He had a great year in the Turtle Class!

Here is a look from his FIRST day of school.... (remind me I am glad I made signs-- it made finding this picture much easier!)

 I can not believe how much he has grown in a year.  His head is well above the door knob now.

He woke up on the morning of the last day with some killer bed head.  Sigh,  

After school,  his hair died down a bit so I took a few more on the playground-- he's a sweaty mess, but I sure do love him!

Cal became VERY close with these two-- twins Jack and Lilly.  The three of them played together constantly! They are all missing each other already!

And, I had to get a picture with his teachers! Ms. Brinnkman and Ms. Tharrington did a great job with our boy... Cal loved school and learned a ton- what more can I ask?!

 So now school is out for Cal! Next year he will be going 5 days a week.  I know he will keep loving it! I feel blessed we found a school that we love so much.

Bring on SUMMER!

 

#carriedaway: week 17

Week 17:

 Day 134: family night

 Day 135: poppy and mimi are in town.  Bring on the circus!

 Day 136: caught nug and Eddie having a heart to heart at Andy's school today.

 Day 137: the pool is open!

 Day 138: happy birthday, Andy nugget-licious Williamson!

 Day 139: first swim team practice!

 Day 140: worm hunting in between tennis and swim team. FULL day!

 

Swim Team!

At the end of last summer, Cal was getting to be a pretty good little swimmer.  He loved it and was getting stronger and better every day. The head coach of the swim team did a little "mock league" towards the end of summer for kids who were on the team and wanted to get better and for kids who didn't do it to give it a shot.  Cal did that and loved it.  He was able to keep up (for the most part) and he swam his little heart out! There weren't meets or anything like that, but it was fun for him to have little practices.

Fast forward to our cruise back in March.  Cal jumped in the pool and all of his swimming skills were thrown off the boat-- he sank to the bottom.  After fishing our kid out of the pool, we were slightly worried about his ability this summer. He was showing improvement by the end of the cruise, but he still wasn't where he was last year.

I ran into the head coach of the swim team who asked if Cal would be doing "real" swim team this year.  I told him the cruise ship story and he assured me that it is so so common for kids that age to totally forget that they know how to swim.  I promised him I would bring Cal to swim team to try it out. 

The first practice was last week-- he put his goggles on and was ready to roll...or, uh, swim! Jackson, my nephew, was also there so they had fun doing it together. 

 I think Cal was a little nervous, but he did great for his first practice! He hung in there the whole time.  They did a lot with the kick boards since there were a lot of kids a little rusty in their abilities. 

They jumped in with the boards and kicked their way to the other end! They have older kids from the team stand in the water halfway down the lane for kids who might struggle a little bit-- smart thinking!

The next practice we had was after a tennis lesson-- Cal recruited from friends to try it with him.  Brad and Will made practice even more fun!

A fun group of boys!!! This is one way to wear them out!

 Practices are every day-- and meets are once a week.  We have our first mock meet next week-- let's hope and pray it goes well!!!! I am sure there will be a post about that one!

On a side note-- I grew up swimming on this team so it is really pretty cool to have my little guy doing the same! Hopefully he will enjoy participating in another sport......


 

#carriedaway: week 16

Week 16:

 Day 127: science magic and 900 nails.

 Day 128: how they stood while singing happy birthday to sweet Virginia. They fight a lot....and these sweet moments are rare....but gah are they sweet.

 Day 129: happiest of birthdays, SALLY!! Love you soooo much!!!! (and love this picture. and social media!)

 Day 130: last soccer game of the season! These two loved it all!

 Day 131: HAPPY Mother's Day!!

 Day 132: operation stop finger sucking.  Today we are trying bandaids.  Next week, the bad tasting stuff comes out...

 Day 133: not bad for a Tuesday night workout. Sorry for the lame picture- literally did not take one the whole day so I took this... fail.