2011 Beach Trip: Photo Shoot

On Thursday night, we took the kids out to the beach for our annual photo shoot. This year it was very hard to get still pictures of Elise. She wanted to run straight to the water. We were able to bribe her to sit for a minute by offering her popcorn (the kids' newest treat). Here are the results:

2011 Beach Trip: Ella's!

As always, a trip to Ella's was planned for our vacation. Here are Steven and our sweet babies, waiting outside for our name to be called:


Here we are, inside and enjoying our time together:



Good food and fun times!

Elise loves "May-toes"

Elise grabbed a full-size tomato off the counter a few days ago and then took a bite of it. She turned around and told Steven, "I like apple!" She knows that the little (cherry) tomatoes are called "may-toes," but I guess she didn't realize the big ones were tomatoes too! Here she is, eating her "apple" :

2011 Beach Trip: Around Town

After naptime each day, we would venture out around town and get dinner. We had dinners at Ella's and Sharkey's (as usual!), but we also tried some new restaurants this time: Captain John's (in Calabash - nice view!), Tony's Pizza(also in Calabash - yum!), and Tomo Japanese Steakhouse (in Ocean Isle - super yum!). We enjoyed them all, especially the last two. In fact, one night when the kids were tired, we put them to bed early and got Japanese takeout for Steven and me. And we ate Tony's Pizza for a second time on our way home on the last day of our trip. We also shopped several times at Callahan's Nautical Gifts of Calabash, and we took several trips to the Ocean Isle Creamery.

Here we are at the dock right outside Captain John's:



On the 4th of July, we took a walk on the pier in the day and at night. That's where we saw fireworks all up and down the coast. It was very cool, and Isaac loved seeing them. Here are some pictures we took during our daytime pier walk:



And here's our annual Sharkey's napkin picture: (to see the past years, click here and here.)

Sitting together and eating together...

These two kids definitely love each other!

2011 Beach Trip: Around the Condo

Even though we spent several hours a day at the beach, there were many sweet moments during our vacation that happened in our condo. There was also a huge "first" that happened there: Our kids stayed overnight in the same room! We had no expectations when we put them in there for the first nap of the trip, but it turned out fairly well, so we decided to try a night this way. Well, they ended up spending the whole week together, and it was so sweet! They both slept in pack-n-plays, and Elise learned to climb out of hers while we were on this trip. There would be times when Isaac got out to use the bathroom and Elise got up and hopped out of her pack-n-play, too. Or Elise would get out before she fell asleep, and Isaac would wake up, get out, and come tell us that "Elise got out of her crib!" Once they fell asleep, though, they both slept quite well.

Here they are, refreshed from that good sleep, and happy to be eating breakfast:



Isaac loved blowing bubbles on our balcony:


Elise hasn't quite figured out how to blow bubbles yet:


But she sure does know how to do this trick:



Sweet memories and such a happy time!

Elise's first haircut...

I'm glad we took this picture of Elise with pigtails last week:


Because this week, this happened:


Those little dots on Elise's floor are her precious baby curls. While she and Isaac were upstairs playing sweetly together in our "safe" areas, I was downstairs cooking dinner and thinking how wonderful it was that my children were playing so well together. The next thing I knew, Isaac was downstairs getting our broom. I asked him why he needed the broom and he said, "I need to go sweep." Of course, that gave me a bad feeling, so I followed him upstairs to find the scenario that is pictured above. I gasped and looked for Elise. She was in the hallway with a frown on her face. Isaac had just cut her hair and she wasn't too happy about it! (However, she didn't complain while he was doing it, so it musn't have been that bad.) He didn't cut it all off, but he did cut the longest curls off of one side of her head. I sat him down and told him that he wasn't to do that again. He told me "Mommy, her hair was really really really really really really REALLY long and it needed to be cut!"

So, Elise Jeannette, your first haircut wasn't in a chair with a cape on. No spray bottles or shampoo. Your first haircut, my dear, was a gift from your very well intentioned big brother. ;)

2011 Beach Trip: Beach Time!

This year we spent most of our beach vacation time actually on the beach. After waking, we'd have breakfast in the condo, play a little bit, put sunscreen on, and then head out to the beach. We'd eat lunch while we were out there and play some more. Then, when the kids were worn out and it was nap time, we'd shower them off and head inside.

As in the past, the kids loved the beach. We took them to play in the ocean the first night after we'd arrived. Isaac loved running toward the water and then turned around and ran away screaming in fun when a wave came towards him. He did that for a while, and then he got confident and started jumping into the water and going into the waves. Elise played in the sand to start, but when she discovered the water, she wanted to sit right at the edge and let the water come over her legs. She got up and ran along the shore, and then she plopped down in the water. Whenever she got to water, she would plop down like that. Throughout the week, both kids got even more confident and played in the water without much fear at all. Once again, Steven and I spent our time standing over them making sure they didn't do anything way too daring. Elise was insistent on sitting at the edge of the water and letting the waves crash over her. She went under the water a few times during the week (we pulled her right out!), but that didn't phase her at all. I just have to admit it, our children are little fish. Yep, there's no way around it. They love the water!

Here's Elise and her friend Cheylee, running around. Cheylee was a great helper and kept an eye on Elise while we chatted with our friends John and Lee and Cheylee's parents Phyliss and Rich. Do you see Isaac in the background, on his float? He is waiting for a wave to come to him.


Big girl on the beach!



This little man has no fear!


Steven and the kids, playing in the big hole that they dug:


Our family on the beach (we were all worn out when this picture was taken!)



Beach time is SO fun!!!

2011 Beach Trip: Getting there...

Over the week of July 4th, we took our annual family beach trip. We once again went to Ocean Isle Beach, NC, and had a fabulous time. Since we'd had a pretty stressful month before leaving, we especially enjoyed the rest, relaxation, laid-back beachy days, and just being together without much responsibility.

This year we decided we'd get an early start (for us, that meant leaving the area by 8 AM.), and we were able to get to Ocean Isle a little after lunchtime. On the way down, we all enjoyed Chick-Fil-A Chicken Minis:



Our lunch was a quick one, and when we arrived at the beach, we stopped at the grocery store first to pick up everything we'd need for the week. Then we headed to our condo to get unloaded. I put the groceries up, but we left everything else in the van and headed to the beach. Here is Elise, after her first look at the beach:


Here are our babies taking their first steps on the beach for 2011:



When we went out on the beach, we saw some friends we'd met last year, John and Lee. They were excited to see us, and we felt the same way about them. Throughout the week we got to know them better while we were all out on the beach everyday.

After our time on the beach, Steven and I took turns unloading the van while the other watched the kids and unpacked. We stayed in the same condo where we've stayed for the past three years. The only thing that had changed was that the condo now has full cable, which to me meant the preschool on-demand channel. (YAY. Sesame Street was available in case of emergency!) To Steven, that meant the primetime on-demand channel. (YAY. Blue Bloods, NCIS, Hawaii-Five O, and NCIS-LA were available whenever we had alone time during naps or after the kids went to sleep.) ;) A week at the beach, here we come!!

This is Isaac, modeling his Epi-Pen tester:

Steven got this picture on his iPhone when Isaac was playing with his Epi-Pen tester (which is just a "practice" Epi-Pen that doesn't have any medicine in it.) Looks like he's trying to take his temperature with it, rather than practicing the injection!

Notice his belt. Isaac LOVES belts. He loves to help Steven put his (Steven's) belt on and take it off. It's one of the highlights of his morning and evening routines! He loves to wear his own belt, too, even if he doesn't have any belt loops! :)

Elise modeling her new sunglasses!

Our babysitter, Morgan, took this picture a few weeks ago while she was watching Elise. Isn't she CUTE?!?

First Garden Harvest of 2011!

Here they are...






What beauties!

Beach paper chain

It's that time again... VACATION!!! In preparation for our beach trip, Steven and Isaac made a paper chain like they did last year. Isaac loved making it, and each night before our trip, he's enjoyed cutting a link off. Here are Steven and Isaac cutting the first link...


We *HEART* the beach!

Playing Together!

While we still have to referee most of the time (and I'm thinking that might continue for, oh, say 16ish more years!?!), sometimes our kids play so sweetly together. Here's one of those moments, when they were playing Mr Potato Head together...


Sweet!

Vacuuming in Mommy's shoes...

He still LOVES to vacuum! And we ALL love Crocs! (Well, all of us except Steven, but we'll win him over soon!)

Weekend Beach Getaway!

A couple weeks ago, Steven and I were able to take a long weekend trip to the beach by ourselves. We'd saved up and planned to go to a Bed and Breakfast at Sunset Beach.

However, when our van needed a new transmission ($$$$$) and Elise had to spend some time in the Urgent Care ($$$) and Isaac's hospital bill came due ($$$) and my eye swole closed due to an allergic reaction and I had to go to the doc ($$) - we have a new high health insurance deductible plan, by the way - and then to top it off, I ran into some garbage cans with Steven's car and broke his passenger mirror off ($)... well, by then all of our trip savings was re-allocated. (and yes, all of this happened within one week.)

We thought we'd have to call off our trip, but thanks to some awesome family friends who have a beach house that they made available to us, we were still able to spend some much-needed time away. We had a wonderful time resting, walking on the beach (so much that our feet were really sore!), reading on the beach (I read The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers and Steven read The Shack), playing in the water, laughing, talking and eating yummy food (which included Jersey Mike's Subs two days in a row - we're easy to please!) It was a GREAT time!

On our last day, though, after two perfect days full of beachy wonderfulness, we were in the ocean and a huge wave took us both under. As well as Steven's glasses (gasp!!), which went quickly to their watery grave. Ahhh! Steven can't see too well without his glasses and he didn't have a backup or any contacts. We knew he'd be getting a severe headache soon and also that he wouldn't be able to drive or even work when we got home, so it was imperative that we figure something out - fast! We called Steven's eye doctor in Charlotte (who is affiliated with Lenscrafters and therefore open on Sundays from noon - 3PM; Steven lost his glasses around noon.) We left a message asking them if the doctor would extend Steven's out-of-date contact lens prescription just long enough for us to get one pair of contacts. We didn't know if we'd hear back from them, so we started calling around the Myrtle Beach area to see if there were any places open on Sunday that could fill a contact lens prescription... or any eye doctors who would see Steven, do an exam, and fit him for a pair of glasses. Whew! Most places were closed or not helpful. We finally called Visionworks, and the person there directed us to the Lenscrafters at Myrtle Beach Grand Coastal Mall. When we reached someone there, she was very helpful and said the doctor could see Steven at 1:30 and then he could get fitted for a pair of glasses. We were elated that Steven would be able to see again! Unfortunately they don't take out-of-state insurance, so we were expecting that we'd pay $79 for the office visit, plus the outrageously high cost of a pair of glasses. (Thankfully, though, Steven's glasses were three years old, and he was scheduled to see his doctor the next Saturday to get new glasses anyway.) We were still on the beach when we made all these calls, so we hopped into the golf cart, headed back to the house, rinsed off, changed clothes, and hopped in the car. We made it to the mall right at 1:30 with some sand still on our faces. (I guess we didn't rinse quite that well...) We went in and Steven started filling out the paperwork. As he was doing so, his phone rang. It was the receptionist for his eye doctor in Charlotte calling to say she'd gotten our message and that the doc approved an extension on Steven's contact prescription. We were elated! This meant Steven wouldn't have to get an eye exam and buy a pair of glasses! After about an hour or more of faxes back and forth from our eye doctor to the Myrtle Beach Lenscrafters, we got the prescription. However, when we got it, the Lenscrafters gal said "Oh no! He wears 8.8 and we only keep 8.4 in the store!" Ahhhh! So she called the eye doc and asked for permission to give Steven a sample of the 8.4 lenses just for him to wear until his appointment, which was a week away. The doc gave the okay! So we walked out of the Lenscrafters with a sample pair of contacts, having spent no money, and Steven could see again! Wow! God is SO good! As it turns out, Steven found an old pair of glasses in his cabinet when we got back to our house in Charlotte (the glasses he wore when we got married. Yeah... they're old for glasses!). He was able to wear those all week and now he has some hot new glasses that we got at Lenscrafters this past weekend. And he has contacts. Which he will most definitely be wearing the next time we go to the beach. ;)

We didn't take many pictures on our trip because we were just resting and enjoying each other's company. The ones we did take, though, were fun couple shots... so here are a few we really liked:




We think this might have to be an annual thing! ;) (oh, and a BIG shout out to my parents, who kept our kids the whole time we were gone. THANKS Mom and Dad! We love you!)