Life's a Beach

Oh the beach.  So much happiness wrapped up in one word "beach."  We just got back from a wonderful trip with Matthew's family ( I started writing this a month ago). This trip has been in the works since the spring, but it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.  Thankful that in the Lord's provision he new we needed this trip at the end of the summer.   I have come to the conclusion that September might be my favorite month to visit.  It's not as hot, crowds have gone home and it's just calmer.

The only guaranteed time that all of Matthew's family is together is Christmas morning, and as families grow,  I know that's not always going to be a guarantee either.  It had been since Christmas since we had all been together.  What a great trip.  The house was beautiful, the company amazing, beach was perfect and the food was great too!

Anna Caroline wasn't a fan on the pool.  I think it has something to do with her being contained.  She's a free bird for sure!  The beach suited her perfectly.  She could romp around to her delight.

Mary Stewart loved it all.  Mainly ALL the attention from her aunts and uncles.

I walked away with a couple of things from this beach trip:

1.  I am ready for someone else to start having kids!!!  We need cousins!

2.  If we are going to get Dee Dee out of the kitchen (we all divided up meals, but she didn't listen) we are going to have to tie her up!

3.  I want a house in Watercolor.  Not too much to ask right?

Thank you Pa Pa and Dee Dee for a great trip filled with sweet memories!

* Sadly the only photos I ended up with were from my phone- forgive the quality*

 

Spring Break!

My oh my how "spring break" has changed for me the last 10 years! I had the sweetest spring break this year with 3 of my dearest friends from college and their husbands.

Brad & Virginia

Katharine & Phelps

Alex & Suzanne

We average about once a year when the four of us are together (I won't complain since we are scattered throughout the southeast from Shreveport to Charlotte) so I savored this time on the beach in Destin. I had to laugh as we all were lounged under umbrella's on the beach at one point. I guess the days of "bathing beauties" are over! Ha!

It's so nice because our husbands look forward to their time together just as much.

We had a lot of down time and a lot of good food and drinks. I loved our outing Saturday night to Grayton to Red Bar (the 85% crab cakes are a must). What do you do when you have an hour wait? Take pictures of course..... I guess some things never change. So thankful for sweet friends and memories!

I had to throw this one in, look at how cute my honey is!

Thankful for my sweetheart!

baby goes to the beach......

Last week we had the joy of going to Pawley's Island, South Carolina. It is about half way between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. Matthew had business during the week so Mary Stewart & I kept ourselves busy (thanks to my friend Erin & her recommendations) shopping, going for our walks and pool time of course! We stayed on through the weekend so we could have some family time together. It was such a great weekend.

On a side note, Pawley's Island is a great family spot. It is not commercialized and seems very family oriented.

I have been so excited at the thought of Mary Stewart with her toes in the sand. The beach beckons to me, it's in my blood. I love it. Then there is Matthew. His idea of a good beach trip is laying on the couch reading a John Grisham book. The fair skin and sun just don't mix well. Well I have to say he was such a trooper and just as excited as I was. He even bought Mary Stewart some sunglasses the day before! Mary Stewart didn't know what quite to think of the sand at first, but then did as all good babies do, and tasted it.

She liked it!

The water was a little cold for me, but that didn't stop her and Matthew. She loved the waves and didn't mind getting wet at all! Matthew even granted us some time to lay in the sun (Mary Stewart was quite entranced with eating the sand and Matthew quite determined not to let her....I already see the power play here). What a sweet day full of memories!!!

There is but one tragedy with this trip. For some reason my computer won't upload the super precious pics of Matthew and Mary Stewart in the waves, Mary Stewart with her glasses and hat, and her toes in the water. I have a call into my IT guy (Matt) so hopefully I can update with the really cute pictures.