*The Williamson Way*

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

July 4th Week at the Beach

We spent a fabulous family fourth week at the beach!

The Tuesday before the 4th, Eddie's mom and dad, both sisters and brother-in-law all flew in. We headed to my parents house at the beach for the week! My mom and dad were there waiting for us, so it really was a family-filled week....and it was SO much fun!

We had 11 people under one roof and we all had the best time together!

I have no idea how to do this post-- I took close to 300 pics over the week...oh, and did I mention there was a hurricane? Yeah. We took a direct hit! Thankfully, there was no damage and all was fine.

We had amazing weather-- even with a hurricane! We were able to go to the pool the whole morning of the day it was supposed to hit and the weather didn't turn cloudy/rainy until around 6 and then the storm hit in the middle of the night, so we didn't lose any time outside.

We had a blast just being together! I told myself I could pick 10 pics to post. Well. I failed.

Here is a peek at our week.....

We.....

played on the beach:

Mom broke everyone into teams and each team had to cook one night...we came up with themes (of course we did). My team (Patty, Big Ed, Tommy and me) tackled A Taste of Texas. Tommy and I were the "outlaws."

Uncle Ah-Ho got a full workout daily from toting around kids-- they LOVE him and he is too sweet to them. He had a kid attached to him 99% of the day...starting early!

We went shopping to AB before the hurricane hit! CB and I had to play with hats...

We pretended to be scared of the fact that a hurricane was coming! CB was ready to fight the thing-- Trish and I were scared...

We had a dance party when the rain started...not really for any other reason than to shake booties...

Hurricane night was Mexican theme night! Ole!

These two cuties weren't scared at all!

We got matching shirts and had to do a pic outside pre-storm.

All the ladies in their AB shirts...

The night of the storm, I will admit, it was actually pretty scary. The winds reached up to 100 mph, which made it a category 2 storm.... it was just scary listening to the winds whip around. Andy was sleeping sort of near a window, so we moved him into our bed, and then we ended up moving Cal into CB's bed.... needless to say, not many people got much sleep that night!

But the next morning we woke up to the most beautiful weather!!!

We hit the beach early and spent the majority of the day there playing hard.

Again, getting his workout...

We surfed some! (Eddie was in heaven with the waves after the storm-- he was a surfing machine for most of the day!)

Oh. We drank.... did I mention that part yet?? We drank!

All the girls!

The siblings....

Love these smiles...

The original fab 5

CB had to go home on Saturday. :( booooooooooooooo

On Saturday afternoon, we took the boys over to meet the puppies....

(and I melted inside!)

Saturday evening we cooked out and played outside and then went for a boat ride to watch the sun set.

Andy is extremely fond of uncle ah-ho... these next pictures are so sweet!

And, I love love love this one of Cal on the boat!

Hank was allowed to come for the ride and he was thrilled to be included. He sat right next to me the whole time...

Andy managed to change some settings on Tricia's phone and took a selfie-- I kinda love it!

These two love birds are awesome....

It was SUCH a great week at the beach. I feel so blessed that we have a family that even wants to get together...not to mention, we all actually get along-- ZERO drama! 11 people in one house and zero drama... tell me that's not unheard of. I am thankful my parents opened up their house to the Williamsons and I am even MORE thankful that my parents get along with the whole Williamson crew so well! It was pretty fabulous to me to have everyone I love so much under one roof!

BLESSED.

A new set of wheels

Before we left for the beach for the 4th, we had to stop and pick up Andy's new bike! We made a deal with him that if he jumped into the pool and swam-- like a big boy-- he could get a bike. He did it while we were in Myrtle Beach and then again when we got back home, so bike time it was!

He decided he wanted a pink bike. The store only had one that was identical to Cal's grey and orange one-- so we went with that instead! He was so so so excited!

He still cannot stop himself and needs help starting too, but he made a ton of progress at the beach over the 4th. We stationed about 4 people all along the way of this road that has a little wrap around at the end of it and off he went! He was a riding machine-- and it was SO fun watching him ride. His little legs just pump and pump.

If only we could get him to master stopping and starting....

Bye bye, Baby!!!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Diving/swim team

Many parents dread swim team because of the time commitment. I don't know why, but I love it. Maybe it is because I grew up doing it. Maybe it is because lots of my close friends have kids on the team too (this is a HUGE HUGE plus!). Maybe it is because I see Cal gaining confidence and having fun.

Maybe it is all of the above.

I love seeing him try hard. And play hard. And laugh hard!

He isn't getting faster...in fact, it's kinda the opposite- ha! He dropped 5 seconds off of his start time...and then he added 20 seconds......! HAHA!

But, his stroke is getting so much better and you can literally see him thinking of the stuff the coaches tell him-- like where to place hands and how to reach arms, etc....

And his dive.... he's improved immensely in this department!

At a morning practice last week they worked on their dives.

Remember, this is where Cal was starting:

His coach taught them to start crouched down low....

It was hard to get him to break the habit of stepping down mid-dive:

But he finally got it!

He still has to start in the squatted position, but he's getting there! As much of a time commitment as swim team is, I can honestly say we love it...and Cal loves it, so that makes me happy!

Cal told me a few weeks ago that he wanted a private lesson with one of the coaches because that would make him faster.... maybe we will do that next week sometime before the next meet.

Speaking of meets, we missed the last meet because we were in Myrtle Beach. We are missing the next meet at the beach with Eddie's family. Then there is only one more meet before champs....! The season is almost over!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Summer Regional Meeting

Every summer, Eddie's company gathers the entire region--and their families-- at the beach for a meeting. They are beneficial on so many levels and we always have a great time when we go!

We left Thursday morning to head for Myrtle Beach. For whatever reason, they love to BOTH hold my hand in the car. I don't get it either. But they were really good on the way down, so whatever.

My brother's wife was down in Savannah with the kids-- she was having a sorority reunion with some college friends and the kids were with her parents, so Chris was solo. He got to spend some quality time with my boys! They were in heaven!

When we checked in, our room wasn't ready, and by the time it was ready, it was time to get showered and ready for welcome meetings and dinner. The boys were in need of some energy release so we all headed down to the beach. They had THE best time running and playing in the water...

I tried to get a picture of the boys.... Andy wouldn't stop staring at Uncle Chris!

Me and my sweet Momma!

Andy had quite a blast frolicking around in the sand--- hahaha these pictures make me laugh so hard.

Cal was in the water getting beaten by the waves-- they are never very rough in Myrtle, but they were this evening! Eddie finally had to get in with him because Cal was getting knocked down harder and harder.

I had SO much fun with my brother.... he's one of my favorite people.

The boys slept together on the pull out couch in the living room. It wasn't great, but they did better than we thought they would. Neither kid slept through the night and surprisingly, Andy slept better than Cal did. Cal was flailing around and kicking Andy. At one point when I went into the room, Cal was on Andy's pillow with a leg kicked over Andy's back-- and Andy was sound asleep! Last night Cal had spun himself around and his feet were in Andy's face, kicking him. He was asleep and just flailing around....!

Friday, I was so bad about taking pictures! We were down on the beach while Eddie was in a meeting and it was crazy trying to keep up with both kids (sounds stupid, I know!). One would be in the water trying to surf and the other would be walking down the beach away from me (you can guess which was which). No time to grab my phone to take pictures!

That night was a Disney theme night party. I was eating dinner and looked over at Cal who was playing pin the nose on the Olaf all by himself- ha!

That night, Eddie laid down with the boys to help them settle down-- and they all crashed!

From a photobooth at the party...

Saturday we played outside until a storm ran us off the beach. Before it rained, the boys devoured some ice cream!

Saturday night was the awards dinner...

The boys went to the child care....

My little twins!

I was SO proud of my family!!!

My sweet hubby going up to accept his award.....holla! I was taking pics for Eddie's mom (she's proud too) and clapping and hooting and hollering. I might be classified as proud.

We had a great time and loaded up the car to head home Sunday morning. Andy had a rough morning and threw a good number of fits (he didn't poop-- and still hasn't.....) and he just flat wore himself out! Bless his heart, he crashed and slept hard for almost two hours! Not going to lie- the silence was fabulous! hahah!