Folly Beach Vacation 2009

This year we went to Folly Beach for vacation. After the fiasco of vacation last year, Jon and I decided we were not going any farther than 2 hours away! A few years ago we had stayed at this great house for the bridge run, so we decided to go back. Gran, Doda and Kiki went with us and we had a an awesome time! The boys this year were at the perfect age to start enjoying the beach. The first day Ben and Jack were both a little hesitant about the ocean. By the end of the week Ben was walking headlong into the ocean without stopping. We had to watch him to make sure he didn't go too far!
Jack loved building sand castles, digging holes and make "gates". We decided to rent a golf cart since the house was down the way from the beach access. Boy that was a great idea. Kids require TONS of gear. You would think I would have figured this out by now, but it always amazes me! Not to mention an electric golf cart is a good catalyst for getting naps started!
Later in the week Brennen came down and brought his niece and nephew to visit and play. Jack and Ben loved having the older kids around! On Saturday, Robbie, Suzann and Harley came down to visit us. Jack and Harley always have fun together, and Ben will follow anything that Jack does! Brennen cooked an awesome dinner for everyone and we had lots of fun catching up with everyone.
We all agreed, that this was one of our best vacations ever! We did not want to come home!!

Harly is the getaway driver, Jack is the director and Ben is the pedal man!
Nothing like a push up on a hot day at the beach!

Feeding the birds. This is very serious business.

Sweet big boy.

Sweet little boy. All tuckered out after a long week at the beach!

A Vist to Aunt Laddice

Gran and Kiki took the boys one day to visit Aunt Laddice in Allendale. They have not been there in quite a while. Jack loves Aunt Laddice and asks about her all of the time. It is very sweet. The day went pretty well it seems until there was a little accident. Kiki took the boys outside to play after lunch and Jack pushed Ben down. Ben fell down backwards and hit his head on the one rock in the immediate area. He had a little puncture wound in the back of his head, but he was ok. I think Kiki was super freaked out, especially with all of the blood that comes from a head wound! He ended up being fine, but I think it scared everyone involved. I am glad I was not there!! I might have really flipped out! Jack was very worried about his brother. Mom called me at work and told me all about what happened. When I got home I wanted to ask Jack about it just to see what he would say. I asked him if had a good time visiting Aunt Laddice. The conversation went a little something like this:

J: Ben hurt his head.

L: How did Ben hurt his head?

J: I pushed him

L: Is that a nice thing to do?

J: No, I tell Ben I sorry.

I couldn't help but chuckle. You could see the guilt on his poor little face. We had the whole conversation about being nice to our brother, etc, etc. About five minutes later they were both wrestling on the floor. I am ready to have my suite at the emergency room!!!

The investigators...very curious about everything.

Prior to the head injury. He found a pretty flower.

He can look like a sweet little angel. He can also be a sweet little angel when he wants to be. This picture melts my heart though. Look at those eyelashes!

Visiting the Huttos and Weathers

We went to Folly Beach to visit the Suzann, Robbie, Harley, Mrs. Ann and Mr. David. This was a big thing for us. We never take day trips that far away. I was not sure how the boys would handle being in the car that long, etc. We had swimming lessons early that morning, and then left right after. Both boys ended up sleeping most of the way, which was great! We got to FB about 12:30, and hit the beach! Harley had gotten some hermit crabs named Cindarella and Snow White. They spent most of the day playing with the crabs, poor crabs!! At least it gave us time to chat and catch up while they were entertained! Jack and Harley played great together. Ben, well Ben always finds something to do. He very easily entertains himself, which is a good thing!

As Jack would say "Building a gate for the crabs." Who knew hermit crabs could provide such entertainment? Cinderella and Snow White were brave souls and according to Suzann they are still alive and kicking. They would not be so lucky at our house I am afraid!

The beach boys!

Ben found much entertainment in eating sand. Plain sand, paci dipped in sand, chips dipped in sand, you name it and cover it in sand, he would eat it!

We were invited to stay for dinner. Robbie cooked a delicious pot of shrimp and grits so we all got cleaned up and dressed for the party. As you can see, the three little monkeys were having a good time together. Too cute.

Jack and Harley playing together. I think he would have followed her anywhere that day! It was pretty cute.

Swimming Lessons

We signed the boys up for swimming lessons again this year. Well again for Jack, first time for Ben. Jack loved them last year and did again this year. Ben loves taking a bath, and that only carried over to swimming lessons thank goodness!! They were both in the parent and me class. The company we take lessons through offers private, semi-private and quad classes. We did the quad class (with 2 other kids). Yes, we were half of the class.
Because of the fact that Jon and I both had to be in the pool I did not get any pictures. I did not really want my camera ruined. We took class every Saturday morning which was great, especially on the really hot days. The last week we were supposed to have class Coach Jane called and had to cancel because her car would not start. Jack was very worried about this. For the entire week he kept asking about Coach Jane's car. Finally, the next Saturday when we went for the last lesson he was like, "Is Coach Jane's car still broken?" When he finally saw her he was like, "Coach Jane's car not broken any more!" It was pretty funny.
The last lesson we were the only ones that ended up coming. This ended up working out great. She let Jack wear the vests that they wear in the next level and he was basically jumping off the side and swimming by himself with the vest. Ben tried the vest, but couldn't quite get his balance. He loves the water though. He spends every bath blowing bubbles (really gross in the bathtub). Hopefully they will keep up the good work!!

Cissy and Tony's Wedding

The first weekend in May we went to Vero Beach, FL for my cousin Cissy's wedding. This was a big trip for a multitude of reasons, and lots of planning and preparation went into this trip. We initially thought that we would just rent a minivan and drive down there with Gran and Doda. The more I thought about this the more I was not liking the idea of a minimum of about 9 hours in the car with a 2 year old and a 1 year old. First, a 9 hour trip would become something more like 12 with all the stops we would have to make; second, I don't like to be in the car that long, and I HATE stopping; last, I HATE being in the car that long (if momma ain't happy, nobody is happy!).
We began looking for plane tickets, but flying out of Columbia is ridiculous. Anyway, long story short we ended up getting 6 tickets round trip from Greenville to Orlando on Allegiant Air. The tickets were crazy cheap, and the flight was direct! 1.5 hours to Greenville, 1.5 hours in the air, and 1.5 hours to Vero Beach...perfect! Well, lets remember, travel never goes exactly as planned!!
Jon and I took Thursday off and spent most of the morning trying to fit all of our stuff into two suitcases (we did it)! Gran and Doda then came up and met us to make the drive to Greenville. The boys did great, we borrowed a DVD player and Mary Poppins came in very handy. When we got to Greenville we ate an early dinner and then headed to the airport (Greenville airport is very nice by the way). We were of course VERY early so we had about an extra hour to spare before the flight took off. This made for lots of running time for the boys, thank goodness the airport was not that big. Anyway, our flight left Greenville around 8 and was scheduled to land in Orlando at 9:30 (we made it at 9:15, woo hoo). We got to Orlando, had to wait FOREVER to get our lovely rental minivan. Luckily there was a 15 foot stuffed alligator on display in the baggage claim, Jack was thrilled. Anyway, we were all set to make the remainder of the drive and we left the airport about 10:00 pm. Please keep in mind that Jack has not slept a wink this whole time, Ben did sleep the entire flight. We get in the car and are all being very quiet in hopes that the boys will go to sleep, Jon and Doda in the front, Ben and Jack in the middle seats, me and Gran in the way back. We are on 95, for about 45 minutes and we are trucking making great time. Then we see nothing but red lights in front of us...road construction! We went about 5 mph for I don't know how many miles. The boys had been asleep, but as soon as the car stopped, they both woke up. Jack wanted to watch a movie and we put on another movie and then Benjamin started screaming! Ughhh, we weren't moving so we took him out of the carseat and he immediately went back to sleep. Anyway, we finally get back on track and make it to Vero at about 12:45 am (Jack is still awake). We pulled into the very nice Vero Beach Hotel and Spa (Jon and I would like to go back sans children). The very nice valet/bell boy helps us unload all of our stuff while we get checked in and get children out of the car. We walk into the hotel and get on the elevator, about that time Jack cough's (Jon is carrying him), I look up and the motherly instinct kicks in, the next cough he is throwing up! All over himself, Jon, I grabbed his blanket and boy was it awful. We get off the elevator and the bell boy gets out of the other elevator and we are like...ummm we are very sorry to tell you this, but we have had a little accident, poor guy! He was very nice and helped us get all of our stuff in the room, he brought us extra towels and laundry bags for Jon to send his clothes to be cleaned!
As we are walking into our room I am having to take Jack straight to the bathtub to get cleaned up, Jon is having to change his clothes, thank goodness for Gran and Doda!! Anyway, we all get cleaned up, get settled and get in bed at about 1:30-2:00 am. Jon, Jack and I are all sleeping in a king sized bed, and Ben is in the porta-crib beside us (we had a 2 bedroom suite). At 3:30 in the morning Ben starts crying, I reach over and he is burning up with fever. Jon and I get up and give him a bath to cool him down, and Jon ends up going back out to go and get Tylenol for him! Finally back in bed we go around 4:30, and then we are all up and ready to conquer the day 7:00 am!! What a night!!
Needless to say that was the worst part of the trip. We had a baby sitter for the whole weekend that was awesome. Jon and I really enjoyed hanging with the family and having some adult time. Cissy and Tony's wedding was beautiful (as were they!) and the trip was awesome. The trip home went much better. Somehow I did not get any pictures of the wedding, well not somehow, I didn't take my camera! This was a good first trip for the boys. They did awesome on the plane rides, which gives us hope for future trips and despite the little setback the first night they really had a great time. The baby sitter took them swimming in the pool, they got room service, got to feed the birds, and basically have a great vacation!

Looking for shells on the beach. Yes, Jack is wearing tennis shoes, just think of him as one of the old folks that lives in FL. The boy did not want his shoes off.
Very serious discussion with Aunt Bec about goldfish and feeding the birds.

Benjamin taking orders in the restaurant.

Jack and Ben taking orders at the diner window. I asked for pizza and salad and was told, "You can have pizza, but no salad." Guess it is not get it your way when Jack's the cook!

Fleetwood Concert

This year for Catherine's birthday we gave her tickets to see Fleetwood Mac in Charlotte. Since we both love all things Fleetwood and probably more importantly, Stevie Nicks, we were both very excited. Fleetwood rocked, for a bunch of folks 60+ they were very impressive. Lindsey Buckingham was amazing on the guitar, and Stevie was still her very mysterious self. She couldn't quite twirl the way she once did, and didn't hit all the high notes, but her voice was sounding great. Christine McVie was missed, would have loved to have heard "Songbird", but we got to hear all of the other hits from "Don't Stop" to "Landslide" and they even brought back "Storms". It is always great to go to a show where you know all the words to every song! We even got to see Uncle Frank and Aunt Bec who had made the drive from Hartsville for the show! Overall we had an awesome time. I highly recommend seeing Fleetwood Mac to anyone!

Anxiously waiting for the concert to start!

"Rock on gold dust woman..." Love it!!

Don't remember which song this was, but had to have a pic of the top hat!

Catching Up!

Ok, so I am going to be working on catching up on the blog. Since it has been almost 4 months since my last post!! Prepare for lots to come!