Vacation - Photo Favorites

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.

Vacation - Part 4 - the Aquarium!

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!

Vacation - Part 3 - Night Life!

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!

Vacation - Part 2 - Carolina Beach!

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!

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Vacation - Part 1

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!

Check back tomorrow for beach and pool pics!

When Blogs Collide...

I'm beginning to realize that I blog in spurts.  You can probably gauge how busy our life is at the present moment by how frequently or infrequently I post.  To be honest, this past weekend was the first weekend in a loooooonnnnnnnggggg time that we had nothing going on.  And that's only because our original plans got canceled as Josh's half IronMan was downgraded to an Olympic-distance due to the heat.  [Speaking of the heat... WHEN is it going to end??  This summer has been downright ridiculous!]  Most of our busy has been due to races actually and between marathons, half marathons, 10K's, and triathlons we seem to be traveling all over the surrounding area every other weekend.  It feels good to be back to our old racing selves, fully enjoying the season.

But along with our travels, we often find ourselves in a town where we have old friends... and sometimes even friends that we've never even met!  The first came on a trip to Nashville back in May when Josh ran the Nashville Marathon.  Even though we were just there for one night, we still managed to meet up with one of my favorite gals, Kristen, who I follow over at Add-and-Land.  I had seen her last August, but hadn't seen her daughter since she was just weeks old (and she's now six!) and had never seen her son in person.  Jake and Landon were like two peas in a pod... it could not have made me happier!

Coming along as well was my blog-only friend, Jessica from The Parsonage Family.  This was the first time I've ever met someone whom I only "know" from the blog-world, and it was so amazing to see her and feel like we were old friends.  Her husband and sweet kiddos were there, too, and although they are adorable in pictures, I definitely think all kids are cuter in person.  She did a better recap of the trip that you can find here and here's a picture of (most of) our crew.  Notice which child is missing... Jake had decided to run around like a maniac at this point, which was okay considering that he had spent four hours in the car AND gotten car sick on the way there!  He's such a trooper.  In this picture though, the back of Landon's head could pass for Jake!

Jess and I hit it off so well in fact that we recently met up again for lunch when she was up visiting her parents.  I never would have imagined that an online friendship would be something that I would ever have, or that it would translate into real life so well.  She and I have a ton in common as we're both married to pastors, so that helps, too.

THEN... on our way back from Georgia a few weekends ago, I asked Josh if we could possibly make a quick pit stop in Knoxville to visit Channa from My Boys.  Channa and I met late in college, but really reconnected (online of course) when we were both pregnant for the first time at the same time.  Her boy was due in February and Jake in March and we both used blogs to journal the experience and probably became each other's most avid readers at that time.  Then we both had kiddo #2 and have felt like we've known each other's kids all their lives.  I can't even explain it.  We've been trying to get together for YEARS and a quick lunch at Chick-Fil-A finally worked out.  Seeing our kids play together was like a dream come true:

I know I've mentioned before that occasionally I toy with the idea of giving up the blog, but then I think about these friendship and how real and rich they are due to this little outlet.  It's so strange and I never would have expected this, but I absolutely love it!  I follow many others and read quite a few that I don't actually follow, too, and hope that this can happen more in the future.  And if you're ever passing through Eastern Kentucky and would like our blogs to collide, I'd love for that to happen, too!