Grab an iced tea - this is going to be a long one!
We were so fortunate to be able to spend a whole week at the beach at the end of last month, thanks to my wonderful in-laws!
They allowed us to use their condo to spend the weekend with a group of amazing friends that my brother has been so kind to share with me :) JR & Preston are two of Bret's best friends from undergrad and they have become very dear to me over the years as well, even more so as they have married two of the nicest women I know. And then, of course, there's Bret & Ryan, who are just one of the biggest blessings in my life. Anyway, JR & Lindsay have been in Denver since the summer Ryan was born, doing their residency, and they will be moving to Africa in January after the birth of their first child in September. Crazy, huh? Yeah, we think so, but we love them anyway. SO, we decided that we needed some extra quality time with them on their visit to NC this summer, and what better place than the beach?
We began our weekend with a trip to the aquarium. Ryan loves to hang out with Ava & Eli, and the feeling seems to be mutual, since Ava has already declared that she is going to marry Ryan. Works for us! :) Here are the 3 of them getting ready to explore the aquarium:
Ryan checks out a large fish:
A bunch of the group looking at rays (mostly too nervous to touch!):
Beautiful Ava:
Back at the condo, we were soon greeted by JR & Lindsay, just arriving. Ryan & Ava quickly enticed JR to read to them:
We spent quite a bit of time just hanging out in the condo and enjoyed every minute of it.
I LOVE this photo of Ava:
There was quite a bit of technology floating around the place, and Ryan was drawn like a magnet any time a computer appeared. He spent a good portion of the weekend trying to convince Preston that he needed angry birds on his iPad.
Ryan's favorite toy:
Eli latched on to the computer craze, too, but in a more age appropriate way (and yes, the thumb sucking part of this photo was posed):
Lindsay & Ryan... anyone who will read to him automatically gets Ryan's affections:
Cousins playing. Ryan is an endless source of entertainment for the little ones:
Kaeden tried to give Atticus a kiss... he didn't appreciate it:
Sweet Atticus:
Mischievous Eli:
Trying to get a cute photo of Ryan & Ava... they decided to be goofy instead, but the photos still turned out precious:
... and a little more what I was going for:
Just a sweet photo of my Kaeden:
We did actually make it to the beach a couple of times. We didn't last too long, with all the kiddos in tow, but they certainly enjoyed it!
Here's Ryan, dressed & ready to go, showing off his style:
Kaeden's first time on the beach. He tolerated the wind, sand, etc. much better than I expected:
I just love this photo - all the kiddos with a partner, enjoying the beach in their own ways:
Ryan loved playing in the water with his daddy...
...but he didn't mind playing in the sand, either. Mason decided it would be fun to bury him. Ryan wasn't too sure at first, but he got into it (figuratively & literally):
Even Ava caught the burying bug:
Atticus seemed to enjoy his first beach experience as well:
Beach time on the second day, it was Kaeden's naptime, so he nursed himself to sleep right there on the beach. I kept him under the cover so the brightness wouldn't bother him & he was so sweet snuggled up that I had to take a photo!
Finally, here's the whole group on the beach:
Saturday night, we celebrated the newest addition to our group with a shower & found out what it's like to involve men in a baby shower. Sigh.
The cake:
Us ladies all had milk. The men? Beer.
Playing games:
Presents:
The ladies:
...and the men, trying to flick decorative flowers into a glass:
Men at a baby shower? I don't recommend it. But we sure did have fun :)
Monday morning, some of the group had left, but the rest of us enjoyed exploring Fort Macon.
There are a lot of canons there:
Atticus & Bret
JR & Ryan
sweet Ryan
And lots of fun places to run & play:
We even had a photo shoot! I really wanted to get a good cousin picture. Here are the best:
and the outtakes are just as fun as the good ones:
Mommy & her boys:
JR & Lindsay (and baby bump!):
Once everybody left, I was on my own with the boys for a day before Bunny arrived, which honestly freaked me out a bit. We stayed as busy as possible to keep my mind off of the reality that every support person I had was at least 3 hours away!
We did another visit to the aquarium:
After taking his picture in the crab, Ryan insisted that he take mine, which was a little complicated with Kaeden in the carrier, but we made it work. He actually did a decent job:
I love that Ryan looks like he's trying to avoid the shark in this one. Really, he was just being goofy!
And we found a fun playground on the way back from the aquarium too. Bonus!!
Our week at the beach concluded with a few days of time with Bunny (Mason's mom) & we had so much fun. Ryan adores his "B"!
Some more fun at the beach...
And I finally gave in & let Kaeden explore the sand (even though I knew he would eat it, which he did. Yuck!)
We spent quite a bit of time at the pool, too. It was great! Ryan even learned to swim across it by himself (with a floatie on).
A sweet pj photo of my boys:
Kaeden, enjoying the swing:
Kaeden learned to crawl while we were at the beach. Kaeden attacking his toys was a new challenge for Ryan, and one day, he got fed up & just decided to move his toys to the landing of the staircase. Brilliant! :)
What a leaf blower will do to Kaeden:
And finally, Ryan helped B. clean Grandaddy's boat & he had a blast. I couldn't believe he sprayed me with the hose!
All in all, we had a wonderful week & clearly made a lot of great memories. We are so thankful to live within driving distance of a wonderful beach and to have generous family to share it with us!
We were so fortunate to be able to spend a whole week at the beach at the end of last month, thanks to my wonderful in-laws!
They allowed us to use their condo to spend the weekend with a group of amazing friends that my brother has been so kind to share with me :) JR & Preston are two of Bret's best friends from undergrad and they have become very dear to me over the years as well, even more so as they have married two of the nicest women I know. And then, of course, there's Bret & Ryan, who are just one of the biggest blessings in my life. Anyway, JR & Lindsay have been in Denver since the summer Ryan was born, doing their residency, and they will be moving to Africa in January after the birth of their first child in September. Crazy, huh? Yeah, we think so, but we love them anyway. SO, we decided that we needed some extra quality time with them on their visit to NC this summer, and what better place than the beach?
We began our weekend with a trip to the aquarium. Ryan loves to hang out with Ava & Eli, and the feeling seems to be mutual, since Ava has already declared that she is going to marry Ryan. Works for us! :) Here are the 3 of them getting ready to explore the aquarium:
Ryan checks out a large fish:
A bunch of the group looking at rays (mostly too nervous to touch!):
Beautiful Ava:
Back at the condo, we were soon greeted by JR & Lindsay, just arriving. Ryan & Ava quickly enticed JR to read to them:
We spent quite a bit of time just hanging out in the condo and enjoyed every minute of it.
I LOVE this photo of Ava:
There was quite a bit of technology floating around the place, and Ryan was drawn like a magnet any time a computer appeared. He spent a good portion of the weekend trying to convince Preston that he needed angry birds on his iPad.
Ryan's favorite toy:
Eli latched on to the computer craze, too, but in a more age appropriate way (and yes, the thumb sucking part of this photo was posed):
Lindsay & Ryan... anyone who will read to him automatically gets Ryan's affections:
Cousins playing. Ryan is an endless source of entertainment for the little ones:
Kaeden tried to give Atticus a kiss... he didn't appreciate it:
Sweet Atticus:
Mischievous Eli:
Trying to get a cute photo of Ryan & Ava... they decided to be goofy instead, but the photos still turned out precious:
... and a little more what I was going for:
Just a sweet photo of my Kaeden:
We did actually make it to the beach a couple of times. We didn't last too long, with all the kiddos in tow, but they certainly enjoyed it!
Here's Ryan, dressed & ready to go, showing off his style:
Kaeden's first time on the beach. He tolerated the wind, sand, etc. much better than I expected:
I just love this photo - all the kiddos with a partner, enjoying the beach in their own ways:
Ryan loved playing in the water with his daddy...
...but he didn't mind playing in the sand, either. Mason decided it would be fun to bury him. Ryan wasn't too sure at first, but he got into it (figuratively & literally):
Even Ava caught the burying bug:
Atticus seemed to enjoy his first beach experience as well:
Beach time on the second day, it was Kaeden's naptime, so he nursed himself to sleep right there on the beach. I kept him under the cover so the brightness wouldn't bother him & he was so sweet snuggled up that I had to take a photo!
Finally, here's the whole group on the beach:
Saturday night, we celebrated the newest addition to our group with a shower & found out what it's like to involve men in a baby shower. Sigh.
The cake:
Us ladies all had milk. The men? Beer.
Playing games:
Presents:
The ladies:
...and the men, trying to flick decorative flowers into a glass:
Men at a baby shower? I don't recommend it. But we sure did have fun :)Monday morning, some of the group had left, but the rest of us enjoyed exploring Fort Macon.
There are a lot of canons there:
Atticus & Bret
JR & Ryan
sweet RyanAnd lots of fun places to run & play:
We even had a photo shoot! I really wanted to get a good cousin picture. Here are the best:
and the outtakes are just as fun as the good ones:
Mommy & her boys:
JR & Lindsay (and baby bump!):
Once everybody left, I was on my own with the boys for a day before Bunny arrived, which honestly freaked me out a bit. We stayed as busy as possible to keep my mind off of the reality that every support person I had was at least 3 hours away!
We did another visit to the aquarium:
After taking his picture in the crab, Ryan insisted that he take mine, which was a little complicated with Kaeden in the carrier, but we made it work. He actually did a decent job:
I love that Ryan looks like he's trying to avoid the shark in this one. Really, he was just being goofy!
And we found a fun playground on the way back from the aquarium too. Bonus!!
Our week at the beach concluded with a few days of time with Bunny (Mason's mom) & we had so much fun. Ryan adores his "B"!
Some more fun at the beach...
And I finally gave in & let Kaeden explore the sand (even though I knew he would eat it, which he did. Yuck!)
We spent quite a bit of time at the pool, too. It was great! Ryan even learned to swim across it by himself (with a floatie on).
A sweet pj photo of my boys:
Kaeden, enjoying the swing:
Kaeden learned to crawl while we were at the beach. Kaeden attacking his toys was a new challenge for Ryan, and one day, he got fed up & just decided to move his toys to the landing of the staircase. Brilliant! :)
What a leaf blower will do to Kaeden:
And finally, Ryan helped B. clean Grandaddy's boat & he had a blast. I couldn't believe he sprayed me with the hose!
All in all, we had a wonderful week & clearly made a lot of great memories. We are so thankful to live within driving distance of a wonderful beach and to have generous family to share it with us!
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