Isle of Palms 2013

We spent the first week of June with Pop, Chaz, Katie, Connor and their two friends at the same house in Isle of Palms where we stayed last year.  We were happy to find that Baylor liked the beach and pool more in June than he had for Spring Break in March.


Griffin still preferred the pool over the beach, but we spent plenty of time at both.  Almost daily, Griffin took a bike ride on the beach while I pushed the twins in the double jogger.





I've mentioned before that Hudson is a natural little athlete. Look at the way he is holding this football--his little hand can't even begin to really grip it, but he definitely has the right idea! And it isn't even football season yet--just wait until he starts watching some games on TV and trying out the moves!



And then there's Baylor, ready to kayak around the beach with his shovel as a paddle!

We didn't have great weather in the afternoons and evenings so we spent a lot of time inside...much of it watching Hudson play baseball.  Yes, this 2-year old really can hit a pitched baseball!

Because a trip with 3 boys under the age of six isn't really a "vacation," we decided to take everyone out for a whole day so Pop, Chaz and the others could have a quiet day to kick back. We ate lunch at Cosmic Dogs where Baylor and Hudson rediscovered their love of hot dogs (and they got turns "driving" this red car).

Then we went into Charleston to sight-see.  While Hudson was having a meltdown in my arms, I was still able to capture a few shots of these other two sweet boys holding hands while they walked.  As we walked through the city market, Hudson fell asleep in the stroller. For much of the time, he had both of his hands behind his head which drew a lot of attention and comments from amused passersby. We made a stop at the playground on Sullivan's Island before going to dinner at Shem Creek Bar & Grill..

One afternoon, our friend Collin (who lives in the Charleston area) and his two girls, Bennett and Cason, came by to swim and hang out for a while. 

Everyone surprised Griffin with an early birthday celebration on Thursday night. He really was surprised to the point that he was kind of sheepish at first. But he quickly snapped out of it when he started opening presents and got birthday cake and chocolate ice cream! 

I can't believe this cute boy is about to be six!  I love this picture because it shows off his two missing teeth--he lost the first in mid-May before school let out and then lost the other the first week of summer break.

It was a fun week and we made a lot of special memories.  And the best part is that we are getting into a stage where all three boys can really play together.  It's so great to be able to (occasionally and very briefly) sit back and just watch them all play happily together.  I look forward to many more of these moments in the years to come!

 And here is what two 2-year olds look like after a morning of digging in the sand and swimming in the water.  They fell asleep in my and Katie's arms so we just laid them on the couch to nap.

Two little monkeys turned two!

With Baylor and Hudson always watching and copying each other, it has been "monkey see, monkey do" at our house for a while now so I decided to make that the theme of their birthday party this year.  Inspired by my recent obsession with Pinterest, I ended up going a little over-the-top with the decorations, turning the dining room into a jungle with vines hanging from all corners of the room.  All 3 boys loved the new look!


We kept this party to just family since Baylor & Hudson have enough playmates with their big brother and two cousins. We spent most of the party playing out in the back yard, and then we went inside for cake and presents.

Sticking with the monkey theme, we had sandwiches cut out in monkey shapes, gorilla grapes, chimp chips, tamarin tails (Cheetos Puffs--my kids' favorite!), jungle juice, banana pudding, and monkey cupcakes.

The boys got lots of great presents--a water table, matching Dreamlites, monogrammed beach towels, tons of new clothes, light-up balls, musical instruments, and more--but this giant Elmo was an instant hit with both of them!  The hugged, kissed, tackled, and fed Elmo like he was their long-lost best friend.


We had their party on Saturday, April 13th so we made their real birthday a special day, too.  The mini-trampoline was a gift from me and Matt that was waiting for them when they came downstairs that morning.  I took a ton of pictures of them jumping, but Baylor was jumping so much that he was a blur in almost all of them!  Of course, this is the little boy that acted like his crib was a trampoline to the point that we were afraid he was going to bounce himself right out of it.




We let them have a little time to play with their new stuff before we took them out for a birthday breakfast. It turns out that a water table is pretty fun even inside with no water!

Spring Break 2013

We spent the week in Fort Walton Beach with Mimi, Papaw Al, Aunt Holly, Uncle Jason, Harper and Hollins.  Five kids ages 5 and under all in one condo together definitely makes for a wild week!

Our first day there was very sunny and pleasant so we hit the beach.  Hudson loved it right away, but Baylor wanted nothing to do with it.  He stayed on his towel the entire time.  Meanwhile, Hudson was doing bellyflops on the sand!

The next couple of days weren't beach or pool weather so we went shopping and entertained ourselves in other ways.  Matt and I took the boys to the Air Force Armament Museum.

We found a playground at one of the local elementary schools.  Baylor wouldn't even get down and play because the ground was covered in sand around the playsets.

It warmed back up Thursday and Friday so we were able to get back to the beach and pool.  Baylor's feelings about it hadn't really changed--at least he did get to where he would stomp around in the walk-in water area.   What you can't tell from these pictures is that the water was FREEZING!  The swimming pools were heated, but this walk-in area that was connected to the lazy river was not...but the boys seemed oblivious to that fact.

Mimi's birthday was on Thursday night and she requested a cookout and play night.  We squeezed in a little play time before dinner, but it quickly started cooling off once the sun started going down so we had to move the party inside after we finished eating.

On our last night, we took all 3 boys and Harper to play putt-putt.  Hudson was quite serious about trying to get his ball in the hole--this little boy is just a natural athlete.

We started the week with Baylor and Hudson sleeping inside their pen together.  After Baylor spent one night torturing Hudson by sitting on him, bouncing on him, and who knows what else, we decided to make two smaller sections so they could be separated and sleep in peace (hopefully).  That worked for a few nights, but then Hudson learned how to climb out.  He ended up spending one night snuggled in the bed with me, one night snuggled up with Griffin, and the last night in the floor at the end of the bed (after spending some time exploring the room outside the pen, opening and closing doors and drawers, this is where he finally fell asleep).