Field Trip

Today was very overcast and calling for showers so we thought we'd take a break from the beach and head into downtown Charleston for a fun excursion.  We had decided to take the boys to the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry.

What a neat place this turned out to be!  It had perfect activities for the ages the boys are.  There was a water area where they could play and float boats,

a pirate ship where they could dress up as pirates and look for treasure,

a garden to tend to and water

a huge toddler play area

  and a really cool kids grocery store where they could do their "grocery shopping."

We spent the better part of the morning at the Children's Museum and then headed out for lunch.  Paul and I wanted to take a walk down memory lane so we had lunch at a restaurant called Sticky Fingers.  It's a local BBQ place where our rehearsal dinner was held.  It was neat to be able to tell the boys about why this place was special to Mommy & Daddy.

After lunch we took a short walk down the street to the Mills House Hotel.  Paul and I had our wedding reception here.  The little couch we are all sitting on is one where we had some wedding pictures taken.  I'd post that one but I don't have them on this computer.  Oh well, I'll save wedding pics for another post.

It truly was a fantastic day!  Now back to the beach for more fun in the sand tomorrow.

Happiness is......a beach vacation

YIPPEE!  We finally got to Charleston on Friday and the boys have been thoroughly enjoying the beach ever since.  They spend hours just digging and playing in the sand.   I am happy just sitting, reading and relaxing!  What a great way to spend a vacation.  I'm thinking we'll be making this a yearly event.  I have forgotten how much I enjoy the beach.  The sound of the waves,  the sand between your toes and the beautiful sunsets.  We are looking forward to a fantastic week away.  Here's some of the fun things we've been doing so far.

                   Looking for seashells

Lots of digging in the sand & splashing in the water

                                                         

Walks along the beach with Nana

and plenty of relaxing!

Ahhh-Ice Cream

Well, here is proof that Spring has officially arrived.  Last evening right around dinnertime we heard the bells ringing and the happy music playing. You guessed it- the pied piper for all children- the ice cream truck was driving down our street.   Ahh yes, sugared happiness delivered right to your doorstep.  Fortunately the kids had already eaten dinner and even more fortunate Paul had just arrived home so he could buy.  I never have cash on me and I'm pretty sure the ice cream vendor doesn't take AMEX. 

 So the kiddos made their selections.

Josh and Connor chose the same thing.  No surprise!  What little boy wouldn't LOVE this?!

Spider Man even had gumball eyes except Connor didn't like them so Mommy got to eat them.  Frozen gum is very interesting. 

We didn't forget about Luke.  He got his own treat.  No crazy super heroes here- just straight up chocolate.  YUM!

Here's the boys in all their sticky glory.

Bye Bye ice cream truck.  We'll see you again soon!!

Tim's 40th Birthday Celebration

Today our sweet Tim would have been 40.  We wanted to have a celebration of his life and the beautiful gift he gave us all by knowing him.  There were plenty of tears but also a lot of fun and wonderful remembrances of him.  We miss him so much and not a day goes by that we don't think of him and long for just one more bear hug from him.  Although our hearts are sad we know that Tim is having the most fantastic birthday celebration ever in heaven!  I mean who wouldn't want to spend their birthday walking streets of gold in the most magnificent place you could ever imagine.  I'm pretty sure that God knows how to throw the very best party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!!

A friend of Janey's from work made this beautiful cake to celebrate Tim's special day.



Janey & Dave had been wanting to repot some of the plants that were given by friends and family for Tim's home going service so the boys helped.  Anything that involves dirt is exciting for them.

The boys went for a ride in Uncle Tim's mustang.  When they got back Josh said he saw the most incredible thing he's ever seen- it was the sunset.  He said "Mommy I wish you had been there to take a picture, it was soooo beautiful." 

We sang Happy Birthday to Tim and ate some yummy cake.  Josh said we all had to look up when we sang Happy Birthday because Tim was up in heaven.  That made me and Janey cry our way through the song.

 At the end of the evening the boys all got to release balloons up to heaven for Tim.  The wind was blowing just right and the balloons floated their way right up through the sky and for sure Tim was able to grab them from heaven.

Bunny Cake

Yesterday we celebrated Daddy & Nana's birthday together.  To add in some springtime Easter flavor we decorated a Bunny cake for them.  My Mom used to make this cake at Easter and we always loved helping to decorate it.  Thanks for the great idea Mom!  It was so much fun.  The boys mainly enjoyed eating all the candy as we were putting it on the cake just like when I was a kid.  It turned out pretty spectacular and yummy too.

                                                HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA & DADDY!!

Blocks

Yesterday I got the privilege of spending some one on one time with Josh.  This is a rare occurrence in our household since I'm usually trying to chase down all 3 boys at once.  But this particular day Connor actually took a nap and Luke was down at the same time.  I had so much fun playing with Josh.  All he wanted to do was play with blocks.  We did all kinds of things with them--built a tower, a jail, we bowled into them, we stacked them, we lined them up and knocked them down.  Whatever he wanted to make, we made.  He loves to build and has a great imagination so I got to be his assistant in the building process.  I'm a blessed Mommy and it was a gift from God to have this one on one time with my oldest little guy.  I'm going to try hard to plan some special dates with each of my boys.  You can really learn a lot by watching their imaginations at work.   Here's some of the neat stuff Josh and I built yesterday.

Fun with Family

It's been a while since I've blogged about anything. Lots of fun stuff going on just not a lot of time to write about it. Anyway, this past weekend I got the chance to visit my family down in Atlanta. I don't see them nearly enough and even when I do there's always my kiddos to chase after and nap schedules to keep. Well this time I made the trip by myself. Quite different for sure since I have no idea what to do when I'm by myself. I got a chance to spend some time with my brother Tyler and his precious wife Sarah and little boy Mason. I had brought my camera and was eager to do a little photo shoot with them. Luckily they were patient and willing to play my reindeer games with the photos. THANKS GUYS! Here are just a few of my favorites.

Mason with Mommy & Daddy

The Bolick Family

Getting so BIG!