Alabama - Part 2

After the Baby Shower, we gathered some things and headed down to the beach to do a little night crabbing.  I know this is a common pastime for beach vacations, but we never did this when I was a kid.  During our trip to the Outer Banks for Meg's wedding, Phyllis introduced the family to this fun activity.  Mimi took Gavin along and we stayed behind with a sleeping Riley, but he apparently had a blast.  This time on our beach trip, we made it a family affair.  

Mimi had fun splashing in the waves with the kiddos!

It's pretty awesome how much fun you can have when you're armed with flashlights, a few nets, and Beepa around.  He was catching the crabs and letting them sit in his hand and crawl on his arms.  Brave man!

Whew!  What a jam-packed Sunday.  On Monday, we were excited to head to the beach and get some sandcastles built!  We loaded up with our beach umbrellas, a cooler, the toys, and trekked it down to the beach closest to our condo.

Riley doesn't remember the beach from Megan's wedding, so this was kind of like her first experience.  As a parent, it's amazing to get to see the world through the eyes of a child.  I loved listening to her squeals and she and Gavin ran toward the water and sat down to build castles.  The sand was beautiful.  

The ocean, however, was a different story.  Everyone we've talked to says this was very unusual, and we honestly don't remember anything like this from the night before, but as we ventured closer to the Gulf, we realized that the waves were bringing in tons of broken shells, making it nearly impossible to walk into the water.  It was about ten feet out before the bottom smoothed out, but by then, it dropped off drastically and became too deep for the kids.  Quite disappointing.

But, trying to keep a positive attitude and a smile on my face for the kids, I gladly scooped Riley up when she asked me to and we walked over the broken shells into the waves.  She was excited to experience this for the first time, afterall.  Well, a big wave came, and being the good mom that I am, I lifted her up trying to keep her safe, but the wave knocked me down to my knees, right onto the broken shells.  Cue the scrapes, and the blood.  No bueno.

Though disappointing to us adults, it wasn't a huge deal for us because the kids prefer the pool anyway, and after just a short time at the beach, they were ready to head back to the condo to swim.  Maybe they'll love the beach more next time...

While we were swimming, the aunts went up to turn the baby shower decor into 4th birthday party decor!  A month early, but we were able to celebrate little Miss Riley's birthday with family while in Gulf Shores.  So fun!

She loved her presents!  She received a cash register, a coffee maker, and some make-your-own-headbands.  She spent the rest of the week making everyone go shopping in her grocery store and serving up coffee.  

She also received a really special gift from Mimi and Beepa.  How awesome that not only did my mom keep Briana's flower girl dress from our wedding, but that it fit her rather well considering she was a few years younger than Bri was in our wedding!  She loved it.  She saw herself in the mirror and said 'I look so pretty I could just cry at myself.' 

We finished up the night with some more vacation shenanigans....NIGHT SWIMMING!  One of my favorite things to do and something I have such great memories of as a child.

Another perk of being on vacation - NAPS!  The kids both ended up napping almost everyday, which is just unheard of these days.  But the best part was that Riley wouldn't just lay down and fall asleep most days, so she let me rock her on the rooftop deck, with the ocean breeze blowing.  Can you just imagine how heavenly that was?  My baby girl.

More pics coming...we're only up to Monday!  What a great vacation we had.

Checking Alabama off our list...

I've been thinking for a while now how awesome it would be to work toward visiting as many states as possible with the kids before they leave for college.  Last year, we started planning a big family vacation with my whole side of the family, and Destin was in the running but due to cost, we ventured a little farther west and settled on Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Everyone in this part of the country seems to vacation there, and I knew many friends that swore it was worth the drive, so I was excited to vacation in Alabama for the first time!

After first grade ended, we loaded up the van and headed out bright and early the next day. (Read: 3:00am!!) The drive was LONG.  It seemed to take us longer than the GPS told us, probably due to traffic, but it was just an all-around unusual drive, with us getting on and off the highway several times.  Strange.

The kids were troopers and we finally made it at the exact same time my parents arrived at the condo.  How crazy is that timing?!  We had a penthouse condo on the bay, just a few blocks away from the Gulf of Mexico.  It was a bit outdated, but the space was amazing.  Definitely big for our party of 13!

We hit the pool almost immediately, threw some hot dogs on the grill for dinner (because we didn't want to get back in the car!) and decorated for Megan and Kyle's surprise shower (more on that soon...) on Saturday night.  Of course, everyone was pooped from driving so bedtime came a bit early.

The next day was Father's Day.  We spent much of the day lounging by the pool, exploring the very small (and perfect for our kids!) beach on the bay, welcoming Megan and Kyle, and then headed out for all-you-can-eat shrimp for dinner.  Awesome, huh?

As soon as we woke up on Sunday, we went to the balcony off our bedroom and saw this cool water spout (and another) in the distance.  Pretty neat!

The view from our balcony of the bay.

The bay side was shallow with a nice sandbar that you could walk pretty far out of and the guys enjoyed dragging chairs and beer out with them and just enjoying the sunshine.  It looked like they were just walking on water.  So cool!

If you look closely, you can see Beepa and Gavin on the dock.  This was right off the property, too, and where the kids got to go fishing later in the week.

It was really great to be able to celebrate Father's Day with both of the men in my life.  That doesn't happen often anymore.

 

While we were out, we stopped in a gift shop and saw these personalized sand buckets.  How strange was this?  The names lined up on the shelves perfect for Gavin Jack and Riley Savannah (though not spelled correctly!) 

We headed back after dinner and got the surprise shower started.  They knew about it by this point, but before arriving at the condo, Megan and Kyle didn't know I had planned this surprise.  I sent a text 'invite' to the family letting them know what I had up my sleeve, got some games ready, decor, and ordered cookies from the fabulous Mara (of course!).  

It was so special for me to be able to plan this.  I hate not being close enough to be a part of the everyday things of her pregnancy, but I can't wait to be Baby Ball's aunt! :)

Time for a quick blogging break...more to come tomorrow.

Goodbye, First Grade

Just like that, first grade came to an end a few weeks ago.  We were so lucky to have another fabulous year with Mrs. R.  It was just luck of the draw that we ended up with her two years in a row, and I'm so thankful it worked out that way.  Gavin had such an amazing start to his schooling career with her.

They celebrated the end of the year with a special "P"arty.  Pajamas, pillows, playing outside, eating pizza and popcorn, watching Parent Trap, taking silly pictures...the whole shebang.  He was pumped up for his fun day!

Riley and I joined him for a little while.  Unlike kindergarten, we didn't spend the whole day with him this time.  In fact, he barely paid us any attention during the outside play time.  He was much too busy goofing off with his friends. :)  But, I still enjoyed being part of the fun, seeing him laugh and play with the other boys in his class.  Watching him come out of his shell is pretty special.  The older he gets, the more outgoing I see him become.

We snapped a few class photos before lunch, and it just cracks me up because it was so dreary that day....not a hint of sun in the sky, yet Gavin couldn't keep his eyes open without his sunglasses.  We made a trip to the store and stocked up on more sunglasses for the summer after school that day.  He somehow lost every pair in his collection over the course of the school year.  

We headed in and the kids got all settled in to watch their movie and relax for the rest of the day and that's when Riley and I headed out and let him enjoy his afternoon sans Little Sister.  I think he appreciated that. ;)

Before we left, we presented Mrs. R with a gift the class all contributed towards.  It was such a pleasure to put this together for her.  Made me have flashbacks of the wonderful class gifts I once received.

Gavin, Daddy and I are so proud of your accomplishments in first grade!  Great report cards and test scores indication you're already reading at almost a 5th grade level and doing match like a pro....that's all fabulous.  But, more so than that, we just love the young man you're becoming.  You are trying more things - Cub Scouts and soccer were on the list this year.  You're finally tackling things that once gave you so much hesitation and fear - swimming and riding your bike, for example.  Thank you for making our days light up and for always giving us hugs when you know we really need one.  We love your loving heart.

Riley's First Dance Recital

We've said for quite a while now that some day, Riley would be on stage and entertaining the crowds.  We finished up our first dance experience with her ballet and tap recital at the beginning of June.  To say she was in her element would be an understatement.  She absolutely loved it!

Though we weren't too far back, I still didn't get the greatest photos, but I did want to share the ones I did get.  And the videos...well, let's just say I was balancing the video and my camera, so I'm sorry if it was a little shaky. 

She danced her tap song first - Rio - and then after intermission, performed her ballet dance to LOVE.  She, of course, looked beautiful on stage, and we so adore how she kept waving to us as she walked up. We lucked out and picked the right side to sit on.

We are so proud of you, sweet girl.  To be just three years old and get up on that big stage in front of SO many people takes a lot of courage, and you nailed it.  I think we're taking a break from dance for now because you want to try out gymnastics next, but I have a feeling we'll see you on stage again soon.  You are so talented.  Love you, Riles.