30A

The week before school started I was so lucky to have a quick beach trip with some of my favorite girls!  These girls came literally from all over the world to be together.  There's not enough time or space to say how much these girls mean to me.  

We basically hopped around 30A all weekend.  From Grayton Beach to Seaside to Blue Mountain.  This might possibly be my favorite beach spot yet!

Celebrating Dr. Jessica Gielow as she begins  her career as a general surgeon!

The Red Bar.  Hank, Mackenzie's dad, made sure we had the royal treatment.  Prime bar seats.  Drinks ready when we got there.  And the best seat in the house as soon as we decided we were hungry.

Our surgeon had a broken leg that she was able to keep in a walking boot.  Whenever she wanted to "relieve herself'" we would basically carry her to the water.  That's true love!

We spent the last day at Mackenzie's in-laws house.  It was nothing short of amazing!

Katy prepared the food and I mixed the drinks... ya know, the important stuff!

Bellied up to the bar:-)

At some point we all relaxed in one of the hammicks.

We packed a lot in on our 3-night trip.  Lots of fun memories made!

Bert snapped this picture Sunday afternoon after I got home.  Apparently all the relaxing from the weekend wore me out!

Beach Vacation

My sweet friend Julie booked an incredible condo right on the beach and invited two other couples (no kids!) to join them.  It was right on the edge of Panama City Beach which I haven't been to in 18 years.  A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same.  We had a blast!

We had a corner unit on the top floor (16th) that overlooked the sunset side of the ocean.  Gorgeous every night!

We sat on the beach all day every day.  No kids to chase.  Just listened to music, read books, slept, talked, and tanned.

This was the only night we got dressed with make-up and went out.  The rest of the time we did beach spots or cooked in.  We did our first low country boil and it was fantastic!

Even after they took our cushions off the chairs, this guy was relaxed

There was awesome gym that overlooked the ocean.  This was my view while running one day.

It was so great to get away and relax.  There was A LOT of laughing, but I missed my babies like crazy!  

Random Pics

These pictures are random and in no particular order but they remind me of some sweet memories made this summer.

meeting baby James

Melissa, Meghan, and I hung out all day with the kids.  We waited until the very end to get a group picture of the kids.  This picture makes me laugh so hard.  We're not even pretending to "have it all together"!  Elizabeth's hair is out of control.  Caroline is flashing us and Reese has no clothes on at all.  James just slept through the whole thing!

Elizabeth and Reese resting while playing on the kindle.  Reese was more tired than she let on.

Caroline's very first time with gum.

The girls love sitting at the counter in our new stools.

This has become what my bed looks like almost every morning.  We all start in our own rooms, but somehow all end up in mommy and daddy's.

X-Drenaline

Fun pool date with friends

early  morning art project
 

We spent the day to Whitewater and had a blast.

One of the many slides Elizabeth and Bert went on.  Caroline still isn't a fan of the slides, but Elizabeth rode every single one except for the two straight down ones that she's not tall enough for yet.  

Halfway through Summer

I love the 4th of July, but I don't love that it marks the halfway point of our summer vacation.  We decided to make a quick trip to Memphis to celebrate Alivia and Grandma's birthdays.  It was short, but oh so sweet.

They basically stayed in the pool the entire time we were there.  Here are the cousins in order of oldest to youngest... Alexis (8th grade), Aleaha (6th grade), Haley (Melanie's niece on Jay's side), Alivia (3rd grade), Alaina and Elizabeth (1st grade), and Caroline (pre-K).

They loved having a diving board

bath time in Grandma's jacuzzi tub

I posted this picture to my mom's facebook wall on her birthday.  Happy birthday Mom!
We came back right before mom's birthday because we needed to be in Atlanta in time for the holiday festivities!

On Friday, July 3rd, we took the girls down to the Peachtree Road Race expo.  It was a lot of fun and so much for the kids to do especially since it was raining.

At lunch time on Friday, we picked the twins (Lola and Vivian) up because their parents were working.  I had a few things I needed to get for our party that night, so I took all 4 kids to Publix.   I must be really brave!  Or crazy?!

The church across from our neighborhood does the big fireworks each year.  Our friend's the Cochrans hosted us all at their house which is very close to our clubhouse.  So we cooked out and played at their house before going to see the fireworks.  The kids and the adults had so much fun.  Bentley and Elizabeth kept saying, "This is the best night ever!"

Caroline kept insisting that she liked the fireworks.  I didn't really believe her.  She kept her ears plugged the entire time.  

Riley, Elizabeth, Bentley, Izzy, and Caroline watching the encore.

Running the Peachtree Road Race has become our traditional way to start the 4th of July.  I love it.  Especially when we do it with friends!  It was storming pretty bad when we started.  They actually delayed it for lightening but since we were stuck outside (no safer than running), we decided to just keep running (along with most other people).  We were soaked but it was an awesome run.  My headphones wouldn't work in the rain so I did the entire thing with no music, but I was still able to run the whole way without ever stopping.  Last year I walked a couple of time (once up "cardiac hill").  I'll take running in the rain any day over 90-100 degree heat.

On Saturday night we did our own sparklers and fireworks.
It was a fantastic weekend.  I was reminded once again of how blessed we truly are!!