Finally

Sometime last spring we planned a long beach weekend with Rhett's brother and his family. We have been looking forward to it for so long and finally this past weekend it was time! We headed down to the beautiful gulf beaches for a fun filled weekend and made some great memories. Thankfully they are in the same stage of life as we are with small children so we just take things as they come (illnesses, tantrums, boo boos, naps, throw ups, 4 hour car rides that turn into 7 - you know typical things that you experience as parents of young children).


It was also a special occasion since this was Gus' first time to see the ocean! Actually he seemed quite unimpressed but we have the photos to document this "first". After settling in we hit the beach the next day . . .


Claire was dressed for anything that might come her way! There was a great lake area that was perfect for the big two to go swimming in and play with out getting nailed by a wave so they spent most of the morning there.

Meanwhile, Ford commanded the baby pool on the beach and managed to fill it almost all the way full with sand before the end of the day. Gus napped in his bouncy seat under our tent while Graham napped in the house and we listened in for him via monitor (couldn't ask for a nicer beach set up than we had). Daddy came back and took Ford for a dip in the ocean too!


After everyone had a rest time the UGA game was coming on TV so Tish and I loaded up the kids and took them up the street to Seaside for a chance to run around and play before dinner. Have you met my precious nephews yet?



This is Mac. Officially he is 3 but he has the vocabulary of an 8 year old and the energy of a puppy. He loves bugs and lizards and all sorts of little creatures. He's not scared of them one bit. Just picks 'em up. This is one sweet boy.



Brother Graham was the baby in the family until Gus came along. He just turned one and is as sweet and cuddly as he looks. We were hoping he would take off on two feet while we were at the beach but he is going to make us wait a little longer. He climbs on anything and everything and I'm afraid my s-i-l is going to have to keep her eyes peeled for this little guy or else she is going to find him on top of her refrigerator one day. Graham and Ford are kindred spirits. They just sort of have this affinity for each other. Everytime I turned around Ford was loving on him (except when he pulled his hair :)

So we let the big kids run around and burn some energy . . .




Ford tried to keep up for a while then he decided to do what he like to do best: dance. They were setting up a band at the amphitheater and Ford just danced and sang and clapped his hands and loved it. Oh, yeah, the shoes . . . well, what can I say? He is comfortable enough in his manhood that he can kick off his blue Crocs and borrow his sister's pink ones!


We treated the kids to dinner and couldn't pass up this photo . . .


Then we stopped for ice cream. As we sat and ate our ice cream we saw an amazing rainbow in the sky!


The next day . . . back to the beach! Here are my little beach bums . . .






On our last night there we set out for the beach once again to do a quick photo shoot. 5 kids 3 and under makes most things a challenge but it makes taking pictures almost impossible. We did the best we could . . .









I love these sandy toes . . .









Probably the best part of the trip was when we handed over the kids to the Daddys and went to pick up take out from the Red Bar. By the time we got home the kids were all in bed and we had a wonderfully relaxing adult-only dinner followed by a game of scrabble while we watched comedian Brian Regan on You Tube. I laughed until I thought I was going to hurt myself. It was good for the soul.

We had such a great time with our wonderful family and made some great memories. It hurts my heart to think about being away from my nephews while we are in Africa. I pray that God will bless our relationship with them and keep us close in their hearts.

Thanks Bobby and Tish for a wonderful time. We love you and will miss you so much. I will work on my scrabble skills and be a force to be reckoned with one day!