Beach Vacation Day 5

This is how every morning of vacation has started...I wake up around 6:30, crazy I know.  I come out to the living room, with my book and the laptop, take my morning meds, fix a cup of coffee and then sit down to blog.  There is something about waking up without an alarm clock AND starting slowly...it has been such a blessing!  Uncle Greg and I typically leave for our walk around 8:00.  The beauty of this place never gets old.  Always quiet and peaceful! 

This morning Andy and Caroline had a daddy daughter day.  They needed to return some shoes to Marshalls so they made a day out of it.  As they were leaving, they called us outside.  They spotted an alligator in the lake behind our house...thankfully she didn't seem interested in us!

If Maggie has a choice, she is a pool girl ALL day LONG!  She will tolerate the beach but definitely prefers the pool. She hung out at the pool with Joy while I enjoyed some time at the beach.  Then I came to join her at the pool.  Teresa's love for all things 90% saved us this trip as I forgot the pool toys!

I attempted to read my book while she played.  However, she preferred that I toss the pool toys to her.  Since I was further back than an arm stretch, we created a game where she tried to toss the ring onto my foot for me to catch.

This kid loves to ham it up in front of a camera!!

I brought her home around 3:00.  By this time Andy and Caroline were home but chose to stay put instead of coming to the beach.  So I went back to the beach and enjoyed a lovely afternoon with my book!  It was such a sweet blessing!!  I love the beach in the afternoon.  

Andy and Tomi Jean went to visit a cousin who lives at the beach.  The girls and I stayed home.  After I showered, we went for a golf cart ride and to play at the park...Caroline was generous to stop by the park...Maggie loved it all, Caroline preferred the swings!

 Tonight we enjoyed left overs for dinner.  We have so much food from previous meals.  It was a quiet, low key evening.  We started working on our second puzzle and played a game "25 words or less."  I'm definitely not catching up on sleep but I am so thankful for this fun way to start summer.  

Beach Vacation, Day 4

Today was the prettiest day so far.  We reached a high of 78 and honestly I couldn't imagine it being any warmer.  It was perfect.  We got warm a few times but overall it was truly just a lovely day.  I started the morning with a walk with Uncle Greg, Christine and Robin.  Today's walk turned out to be a rather long walk.  Which I guess is ok when you really don't have any responsibilities or anywhere to be at a certain time.  We left our house, walked to the furthest point south, then walked the beach front road to the furthest point north and then back to the house.  It was wonderful!!  I've decided that if I lived at the beach, had no set time to be anywhere, no household duties, I would be in the best shape of my life!!

Towards the end of our walk, Tomi Jean texted for a ride to the house from the condo.  I was about a mile from the house.  So I asked Caroline to please bring the keys down for the golf cart so that I could hop on quickly to grab Tomi Jean...cause today is her birthday!  As I came up to the house, I noticed not only did she bring the keys down, she parked the golf cart by the road so that I didn't have to come all the way up the drive way.  I was so excited and thought 'how sweet.'  However, when I got one, there were no keys!  That stinker went back in the house to do something and didn't want to miss the ride so she took the keys with her! :-)

Aunt Tomi Jean requested scones for her birthday.  Caroline made them this morning.  They were so good!

Happy Birthday Aunt Tomi Jean!

Our daily numbers are slowly dwindling...Jack's friends left early this morning to head back to Knoxville.  So we only put up two tents today.

Mags wasn't thrilled about the beach yesterday.  We had a long talk BEFORE we left the house today about our expectations.  She did much better and actually enjoyed herself.  The water is extremely COLD but your body adjusts as you linger...

It's day two of reading this book and I've only made it to page 8! :-)  Guess the company is really good and I'd rather talk than read.  :-)

Of course, our girl is always super excited to enjoy the pool!  She loves a handstand more than anybody I know!!

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen????  It's a little watering station for dogs on a walk.  You can turn on the faucet and the water goes into the bowl below.  There are also poop bags in case you need them also.  

Today I happened to look up from my book and noticed this little lady...what happened to my baby?  She grew up really quickly!

Tomi Jean and her crew went to Frank's tonight to celebrate her birthday.  Our house stayed home and enjoyed a delicious meal that Trisha brought.  We completed the puzzle!  Woo hoo!  It's only our first puzzle of the trip. We got a lot of work to do!  Maggie helped Teresa make Jack's favorite, peanut butter pie.  Then we played "Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza."  It was a hoot!

 

Beach Vacation, Day 3

Uncle Greg and I started the morning with our annual walk.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Typically we try hard to dodge the sun and find the shade.  However, today we were able to stay on one side.  This is such a gorgeous place to walk.  I think if I lived in a place like this, I would be more motivated to walk daily...maybe? :-)

This is our house this year.  It's a nice house with lots of space for everyone.  The only downer is that it's a .5 mile from the condo and there isn't a half bath not attached to someone's bedroom.  Otherwise it is working out just nicely.  

Mags had a meltdown as soon as we got to the beach. She was struggling to overcome it and Andy and I were both extremely frustrated.  After a minute of cooling down, he asked her to go with him for a walk on the beach.  She wasn't happy about going but thankfully she came back all smiles!!

I saved this book for this trip.  It's a beach read by one of my favorite authors.  Sadly I think I made it to page 4 today. Obviously not too much reading happening on the beach today.  

So thankful for the blue skies.  We had a few clouds here and there but thankfully it didn't last too long.  There were actually moments of chills but never getting overheated.  I thought it was perfect!!

  

Mags and Andy thought they were boogie board in the ocean but that didn't work out for them.  They both agreed that it was too cold.  So they headed to the pool instead.  The water was pretty cold there as well but Mags had fun.  Sadly Maggie isn't a beach girl.  The sand wigs her out.  It typically takes a few days for her to get use to it. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Mags and Andy headed back to the house early afternoon to nap and chill.  Caroline and I stayed on the beach with the girls.  We took a walk and enjoyed chatting about nothing really.

Tonight was seafood night.  We have a large group.  The largest our group will be all week.  I thought the restaurant did a wonderful job serving so many of us.  Caroline and I shared a grilled seafood platter. The flounder and shrimp were delicious!

After dinner, we came home and worked on our puzzle.  We were hoping to finish it tonight but we got to a stopping point and didn't make much progress.  So we decided to call it a night and work hard to finish it in the morning before breakfast.

Beach Vacation, day 2

We woke up to more rain this morning.  Even after the rain finished, there was a heavy mist until well into the afternoon.  The temps are amazing!  Love the coolness in the air just very different from typical vacation weather.  Today was a pretty low key day.  We puzzled, drank coffee, enjoyed a delicious breakfast thanks to Andy, golf cart rides and a little shopping.  As the old saying goes, a rainy day at the beach is better than a rainy day at home!!  Thankful for this slower pace with family!  We are so blessed!

The house we are staying in is absolutely gorgeous!  I'm thankful we didn't stay here when the girls were younger, I would have been a nervous wreck! :-)  The kitchen appears to be recently renovated.  Sadly, it took watching a YouTube video, several times, to learn how to work the stove, which is all digital AND has a safety lock on it.  Even after using it last night, we still struggled trying to figure it out this morning. :-)  Tomi Jean and Andy eventually figured it out!

The college kids put together a puzzle but didn't ask for our help!  SO we started our own.  We don't have a great puzzle table but this one is working.  Next year, Tomi Jean will remember her specific puzzle table for us.  

I found this picture of Caroline's breakfast in our camera roll...so yummy!!

As I mentioned yesterday, the girls have been getting along extremely well!  If you are reading this, please pray that it continues!  This morning Maggie found a picture on Pinterest that she liked.  You can see the video on Caroline's phone.  It looked amazing!

Because we aren't as close to Tomi Jean and Greg's condo, we rented a golf cart this year.  The girls have loved taking rides.

After breakfast, we decided today would be a good day to check out the Hammock Shops and visit the candy cottage.  The girls got their yearly anklets, I got a few stickers to add to my cup, and Andy and the girls got a few of their favorite candies.  I love having the girls take pictures with these things.  I thought this one turned out great.  

 Once we got home from shopping everyone sort of did their own thing.  Lots of naps, reading, puzzling, etc.  Caroline and I went down to the beach for a little while.  The ocean was so peaceful compared to yesterday which had huge white caps.  We had spaghetti, salad and bread for dinner.  After dinner, we played games and worked on the puzzle.  To have such a lazy day, we were all pretty tired.

Beach Vacation, day 1!

Family Beach Vacation 2023 is currently underway.  This trip will go down as the coldest start to Beach Vacay EVER!  We were loading the car in a cold, rainy 52 degrees while wearing leggings and a sweatshirt. Our local weatherman said that it was 30 degrees below average for this time of year.  I believe it!  We packed every inch of the van.  We are responsible for picking up groceries for the week for the house.  Everyone chips in to cover the cost for family meals-mostly breakfast and then 3 or 4 meals at night.  Walmart pick up makes this so much easier because I don't have to pack a huge cooler with ice for cold stuff and we can pick it up on our way, about 15 minutes from the beach house.  We typically have to unload the van and then someone else has to run out to grab groceries.  This year we decided to pack well and grab them on our way in.  We were quite a site but we made it work!

We were so grateful that our house has a garage.  We were able to pull the van in to unload in a dry space.  We did this several times until everyone in our house was here and unloaded.  We had a little downtime to organize everything before it was time for Andy to start cooking hotdogs and Hillshire sausage.  Again, we were thankful for the large garage which allowed him to cook protected from the rain and wind.  The girls joined us downstairs.  They played darts for the first time. It was so sweet to see them actually play nicely together, laughing and joking.

We played a few games, Jenga and Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and decided to wait on starting a puzzle until tomorrow.  Everyone was pretty tired and ready for bed early.  It's supposed to rain early tomorrow morning but hopefully move out around 10:00 am.  No morning walk for Uncle Greg and I but hopefully we can start on Monday. 

 As always, we are so grateful for this trip!  Thankful for the time away, in a gorgeous neighborhood with lots of family.  This year we are missing Grace who is currently in Ireland for a 3 week summer English course.  She sent us a picture from her day on the beach on the other side of the Atlantic...just not the same.  But we will have a fun week and think of her!

First Professional Mani/Pedi

 Anyone who knows Maggie knows this girl LOVES to paint her nails...often several times a day.  Today she got to enjoy her first professional manicure/pedicure thanks to a gift certificate from Granny and Mr. Archie for Christmas.  She loved every single minute of it!!  She is so very proud!!

First day vs. last day

It's so hard for me to believe that another school year has come and gone.  This has been a difficult year in many ways.  This is the first year where we had struggles with teachers for both girls.  However, we made it through.  The girls did really well.  Maggie qualified for a book club as she loving referred to it.  She was pulled for 60 minutes 3 days a week to work on reading skills.  We are so thankful for Mrs. P who helped our girl grow leaps and bounds!!!  Caroline enjoyed all middle school had to offer.  Sports, drama club, etc.  She too took advantage of the after school tutoring her math teacher offered once a week.  

Physically both girls have grown so much since the first day of school.  As I've said before, my babies aren't babies anymore!!  

Summer 2023 we're ready for you!  Ready to make memories and enjoy all that comes our way!!

 

End of the season pool party

 The girls had so much fun at their end of the season pool party at Coach Natalie's house.  They played in the pool, jumped on the trampoline and enjoyed pizza and cookies for dinner.  Instead of trophies, Coach Brooke purchased little wooden ornaments with each girls picture on it.  It was absolutely beautiful and such a thoughtful gift!!  

Middle school awards day and field day!

Today was Caroline's last middle school awards day and field day!  So hard to believe how quickly these years have gone by.  She got a picture with her favorite Social Studies teacher Mr. Clark.  She sent me the picture of the two and said "Momma he made me cry today!"  When I asked why she said "Because he told me what a great student I was and that he was gonna miss me next year." :-)