I promise that this is the last of my vacation posts! I'm like that person in the 70's that made you come to my house and sit through slideshow of my trip. Thankfully you could walk away from this any time you'd like! Over the past few years I've been using the manual mode on my camera more and more and am definitely enjoying it. Thanks to digital film I can experiment and get creative without worrying about running out of film; it's definitely becoming even more of a passion than it already was. But enough about me... let's check out the favorites from our family trip, shall we? All of these are straight out of the camera with no after-effects or edits:
Not really a favorite, but I snapped this through our windshield because I loved all of the brightly colored beach houses. One of these days we'll stay in one.
Seriously the sweetest face on the planet. And one of my favorite pictures of her to date.
"Mommy, I see you!" - A little fun with aperture (a fancy photog setting)
And fun with shutter speeds. The dude LOVED the carnival rides. He's my little daredevil.
My #1 favorite from the trip. Love that proud daddy in the background.
And a big BIG thanks to this family for really making all of this happen for us. The Doran family opened their doors to us and went above and beyond to make sure we were taken care of. If you are anywhere near the Wilmington area you need to check out their church, Refuge City. They are fellow church planters and the love that they showed us really just flows through that whole place. It was one of the best services I have been to anywhere and they are six months old. Thank you for making this one truly memorable and perfect week! We love you guys!
Now... 350 more days until the next summer vacation. Insert the world's biggest sigh.
You didn't actually think that I had run through all of my pictures by now, did you? Not only do I have a few more to share today, but I have a couple of favorites to share on Monday as well... and then I'm done and the countdown until next year's beach trip will begin. Sigh. So without further ado... here are some photos from our day at the aquarium:
Jake definitely loved the aquarium and kept talking about Nemo. He was much more captivated by the large fish tanks than he was any of the attractions where you could put your hands in the water and touch different things, which was rather surprising to me. I think he could have just stared at the fish all day and we had to drag him away from certain tanks... it was awesome. And I am just always in awe of how many creatures live under that big blue ocean; it is just absolutely incredible.
Know what else is incredible? The fact that we had someone take a picture of the two of us... probably the first one we've had taken in years! Yeah, baby... we've still got it! Haha!
Thanks for looking through my ridiculous amounts of vacation memories... it was just so nice to get away that I wanted to share them all. I hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday for the favorites from the trip!
Oh my how things have changed. With two kiddos in tow, we opted to stay in much more than we went out while on vacation. We really only ventured out for a "night on the town" once since our friends treated us to dinner at their house one night and on the other we just snacked until we were full. But our big night out was oh so much fun and started with a seafood dinner of course, where we gorged ourselves on the best shrimp we've ever eaten, crab legs, oysters (well, Josh... not me), and conch fritters. Jake and Lilly opted for battered chicken fingers and "fry-fries." I don't know what it is, but there is something about having dinner in a tiki-hut type place with the sea air blowing in that is just perfect to me. I could've sat there all night if it hadn't been for two restless little ones (who were actually angels the whole time we were there).
Daddy and Lilly got a great "date night" picture together, but in true Jake form, this is the best we got of our mommy-son time:
Our main event for the night was the Carolina boardwalk! I don't think I've ever been to a beach with an actual carnival set up on a good ol'-fashioned boardwalk along the ocean. It was picturesque and perfect, plus the weather was cool and breezy.
The kids loved looking at all of the lights... there was so much to see! Jake just kept saying "fireworks" which has been his favorite word since he discovered their wonder on the fourth of July.
As for the rides, we had no idea what to expect out of our little Jake. He has never done any sort of kiddie-ride, so we knew he would either love it or completely freak out. Jake spotted the dinosaurs that went round and round and up and down and decided that this would be his first adventure. We could not go with him on this one, so all I could see were visions of him getting scared, having a meltdown, and jumping out of the flying car... typical, rational mom-thoughts I'm sure. Instead, before we could even hand the ride attendant the ticket, he had already walked through the gate and climbed up into one, looking at us like "let's go already!" Once buckled in, he just sat there and rode on it like he had done it a million times before. He was pretty serious on the ride, too, but would sometimes say "I really high!" when he whizzed by. It was one of the scariest / proudest moments as a parent to date.
By the time we called it a night, Jake had ridden everything that he was tall enough for, including the kiddie roller coaster, which was bigger than most that I've seen. I got to ride with him on that one and it worked up some speed! Our favorite, however was probably the big slide. Notice in the video that after he rides with Daddy he just says "Whee! It's fun!" but after he rides with me he says, "You okay?" My little boy needed to check on his mama... he just melts my heart.
Know what else melts my heart? Dressing Miss Lil in outfits to match her mama... yes, I went there. I'll spare my children from doing it often, but on occasion and at this age I thought we looked adorable (if I do say so myself).
And no night out is complete without a stop for ice cream! The Lil-bug loves it more than anyone I know and is the only baby I've ever seen eat an entire cone without spilling a drop.
This was certainly one of the best nights we've had as a family, and certainly a great one as a parent. Here's to great memories!
My family did not grow up going to the same summer spot every summer, at least when it did not involve visiting family. But Josh's family went to the same beach almost every summer and they contain some of his fondest childhood memories. While we are not "beach people" per se, we could not pass up the opportunity when Josh was asked to preach at a church on the coast of North Carolina. To thank us, they put us up in a condo, overlooking the dunes and the water. Ahhhhhhhhhh. That is the life.
Vacation should be exactly what it was for us this year- just time spent together with absolutely no distractions. We kept phone usage to a minimum and did not even bring a computer. The condo had a TV, but we hardly turned it on. Mostly we just read books, played with the kids, and hung out pool and beach-side (but mostly pool since it was right outside our door). We went down to the beach as soon as we arrived and while it took Jake some time to get used to the sand, Lil only wanted to do one thing:
Yep, she's my little bathing beauty... I think we'll get along fine. Once she was up, she'd stick her hand in the sand and cry, I'd wipe it off, and she'd go right back and do it all again. Over and over... so funny. We thought she might like the little tide pools that formed, but even wet sand was not appealing to her. She lasted long enough to get one picture... works for me:
Once Jake warmed up to the sand (and discovered buckets and shovels) he was a lot of fun! He even let Daddy take him into the water for a minute, but I could tell he was pretty concerned. I didn't mind since Carolina Beach has some of the worst rip tides in the area... I stayed on shore and pretended not to be nervous!
We did have one not-so-successful beach day when Jake just wasn't having it. The little dude thought that we were going to the pool and LOST HIS MIND when we went to the beach instead. He had a true terrible-two's temper tantrum complete with throwing himself on the ground and rolling around, which resulted in him being more upset and shouting, "I'm dirty! I'm dirty!" over and over again. I probably could have helped, but I was having a hard time not laughing. I took pictures instead... way to be supportive, right??!!
We tried to spend an entire day out there (even purchasing a small baby pool for Lil at the advice of several bloggers with young children) and the day ended up to be too windy. Our umbrellas and tent blew over repeatedly, the lifeguards called all swimmers out of the water, and Lil decided that the baby pool was not a good option for her and stayed on the blanket, continuing to do her hand in the sand-cry-wipe it off cycle instead. It was, however, a great day for flying a kite.
Much to the joy of our children, we ended up right back here:
So this year my kids certainly preferred the pool and that was A-okay with me. I'm just as happy lounging poolside as I am beachside, and we could hear the surf from our balcony so I spent plenty of time out there, especially when I drank my morning coffee. Jake even came around and wore his water wings, which was a fight that lasted days. I so wish I had a video camera... the kid thinks he can swim and acted like we were torturing him when we tried to make him wear them. We let him go under once when he was "swimming without them" and he came up wide-eyed and panicked before raising both arms in the air and yelling "I did it! I swim!" Oh boy. Mr. Independent does not want help from anyone. He is going to do mighty big things some day with that attitude! We enjoyed our uninterrupted time with them so much. We did manage a family picture on the beach, too, where both kids are looking at least in the direction of the camera. I'll call that a win!
I'm still in post-vacation mourning mode, so these daily posts are therapeutic for me and will help me remember the little antecdotes and share them with Jake and Lil someday. I so very much love this little foursome of mine and have to thank God daily for a gift this big and special.
Next up? The night-life in Carolina Beach! Well, night-life with a toddler and a 9-month-old anyway... which is the night-life I prefer!
Guess who's back??? And guess who is not happy about it? Yes it's true, I have the post-vacation blues. We had such a great time away and literally lived in a bubble for a week- no TV, no phones (for the most part), no laptops, no schedule... it was just us... and it was bliss. And since I took no less than 200 pictures, I'm going to have to do my recap over the course of the whole week. And you're going to want to check everyday because the pictures of my tiny beach bums are well worth seeing. But our trip didn't start at the beach as we had an overnight pit-stop to visit Josh's family on the way. The kids could not have been better on the drive and when we got there, they were ready to run around and blow off some steam. Luckily cousin Skye was there ready to play, too, so we had an impromptu photo session, dressed in matching outfits of course!
The closest we came to the 3 of them looking at the camera
Best Friends... isn't my niece the cutest little thing??
Sharing secrets already
Make no mistake... this one is a DIVA in the making! Such a precious princess.
Skye absolutely LOVED Jake and basically chased him around the house constantly. We couldn't tell if he was afraid of her or just annoyed, but it was entertaining nonetheless. We stopped through on our way back home, too, and saw even more family- Grandmom and Grandy again, Jake and Lilly's Great MawMaw and Pop, Uncle Sam, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Ginny.
Grandmom
Great MawMaw
Auntie Ginny and Skye-Baby
Uncle Ben
Uncle Sam - I promise that Lilly actually likes him unlike what the picture shows!
It was an all-too short visit, but I'm glad that it was somewhat on the way and we could see everyone, even if it was brief. Seeing those three kiddos together made it so worth it and I know that it will just get more and more fun as the kids get older. We have two weddings coming up in this bunch, so I'm sure more visits are to come!
Random title, I know. It's just that every September I can't seem to get Earth, Wind, and Fire out of my head, so I thought I'd get it stuck in your head today, too! At the start of this month, I was convinced that I was going to be a great blogger because so much has been going on! What I didn't account for is that since so muchhas been going on, I don't find a whole heck of time to blog! Not to mention that I've been working my tail off to try and wrap things up with work before maternity leave. So alas, although my intentions were good, here is everything (well, not everything... but close enough) wrapped up into one blog post. Here's what we've been up to this month so far:
We've been having more fun times with the family... Jake is loving all of the fun with cousin Adam!
Enjoying the last days of summer... although it already feels like fall (and we're loving it)!
Crafting! A few weeks ago Josh took Jake down to Georgia for a couple of nights to help his dad move up here (hooray for having more family in town!) so I drove up to Cincinnati to stay with Mindy and Adam for a couple of days, since her hubby was on a trip, too. We stayed up way late one day working on some fun projects with my friend from my UT days, Laura. Together they made this beautiful cushion for the bench in our entryway:
And here it is up close. We almost didn't have enough fabric (HA!) but it came out beautifully and I love it! It makes such a difference since the bench was just boring and plain before. Now our shoes have a place to live!
While they worked on that, I had a project of my own. Since Jake has his name spelled out in his room (remember this?):
Well, they actually don't hang like that in his new room, but you get the picture. I knew that Miss Lillian needed letters of her own, so while I originally just planned on painting them white, Mindy and Laura had ideas of their own and introduced me to the (very messy) art of Mod Podge (which I had never even heard of!). So we started with plain wooden letters, scrapbook paper, Mod Podge glue, and a paint brush...
And after a few hours of (extremely) tedious and messy work, ended up with these beauties:
And yes, that is my belly peeking into the picture! We used 3 different combinations of the paper... here they are up close:
I love the outcome despite the meticulous work they required. The project itself was actually pretty easy- a lot like paper mache actually- but my one word of advice is to avoid doing this to anything with any grooves or beveled edges. These letters had both, which slowed me down a bit. Oh, and we did spray paint them white first, just in case we didn't get paper on every part. My sister is already looking for something new to Mod Podge. Me? I'm taking a break for awhile, although I'm sure I'll do it again in the future to a picture frame or something to match her room.
Speaking of arts and crafts, our son is very into Crayons lately. Here is his latest artwork:
Jake's Pawpaw was watching him when he got away with this! The funny part of the story is that when we got home and asked Jake, "who did this?" he said "Pawpaw!" What a stinker! Luckily I had a spare can of wall paint to cover it up again and we're now working on, "Jake, where do we color?" "On paper!" The message still has not sunk in.
Wow, like I said, September has been a full month. Last Sunday night I took my most favorite person in the world on a date night for his birthday to see Rob Schneider at the comedy club here in town and then we had a nice dinner outside. His comedy was great... we highly recommend seeing the show if you ever have the chance! After the show, he was nice enough to do a meet and greet with everyone there. Josh and I decided that he has got to be one of the nicest celebrities ever! He talked to us for a good three or four minutes, asking when the baby is due and congratulating us on her arrival. He even rubbed my belly and told me I looked fantastic... always a nice thing to hear at nine months pregnant!
Other than that, we've just been enjoying our last days as a family of three. As excited as I am to have our daughter join us, there is a part of me that is a little bit sad that Jake won't be our only one... I know it sounds silly, but he's been my little buddy since day one and it's just me and him on a lot of days. I don't worry about having enough love for the both of them considering that every parent in the world will tell you that there is more than enough, but sharing my time will be an adjustment, especially since he's a bit of a mama's boy. But we'll get through it... every family does. And as long as he keeps entertaining us with bits like this, it will be all smiles in Mauneyland:
The fun just doesn't stop... my Mom arrived into town last night as well as Michael, Mindy, and Adam, who will be down again next weekend in the hopes that Lilly might decide to make an appearance before or during their visit. Tonight we are having friends over for Josh's 29th birthday celebration while we cheer on the Vols and the Cats and tomorrow Josh will be preaching again, which is what he loves to do most. I can't wait. And then next week, we should probably all slow down a bit (yeah, right!), take it easy, and do a lot of this in preparation for baby #2:
So that wraps up the first half of the month and I know the second half will be even more exciting as our due date approaches. The family is here now so she has full permission to arrive anytime now! Stay tuned... :)
