Vacay: Stop #2

So after a few days in North Carolina, we finished our way to the beach!

Graham sure enjoyed a big bed to himself + 4 pillows.

I think this is the last year we can squeeze Eden into a pack-n-play for travel!

Breakfast in bed + cartoons, definitely vacay!

 

 

 G & E loved the beach & the hotel pool equally, I think!

 Our hotel had an amazing continental breakfast included and we brought lunch food, so we only had to do dinners out. Found this cute café, Lulu's Café, and all four of us loved our dinners, so we count that as a big hit. :) Of course with all the beach air, the kiddos had great appetites!

 Out on the Boardwalk.

Back to the beach!

 Boy did they love sitting in the surf!

One night we headed to Broadway at the Beach, definitely one of my favorite spots in MB! Conveniently, our hotel was across the street. There were so many family attractions from paddle boats to mini golf to kids rides to museums to restaurants to shopping + more. We let the kids each pick 2 rides to do. Our non-adventurous Graham chose to do this trampoline, which was very surprising. I think he was a little shocked by it, but had fun!

Graham practicing his photography skills.

Eden seeing if she can escape while she has the chance. :)

Balloon souvenirs passed on to us, a big hit! We were thankful our hotel had beautiful grounds and was a great spot for us. Did I mention we ended up adding another day at the end because it was just too short? :)

After a last night stop at Krispy Kreme, it was time to head for home. We drove through the mountains of WV for quite a while, they were beautiful! However, combined with dvd players, we had our first experience with kid car sickness. Both kids threw up once, a couple hours apart. So that was a little excitement, but other than that, it was smooth driving all the way home!

So thankful for God's provision of this time of respite, for providing a way to save money, and a beautiful time away as a family.

Vacay: Stop #1

Ah......summer vacation. Is there anything better? We've been looking forward to our summer vacay all winter! The funny thing is, we just didn't know what it would be. But our plan was to take a week in June and we were keeping our eyes open for the right deal/place to come along. And it did. :) After booking a hotel for our friend's wedding we were offered 3 free nights in Myrtle Beach! Did we have to go to their time-share speech? Yes. Was it worth it for THREE free nights, yes! So we weren't sure if we would pay for some extra days to extend our week or how exactly it would work. But after Andrew's uncle passed away this spring, the family planned a small family reunion for June. So we ended up building that into our vacay week as it was on our way to Myrtle Beach anyways. So since I have way too many pics from both places, first post is for family weekend.

We were excited to have the 7 cousins together! Mama & Papa's house has such a great backyard, everyone enjoyed being outside most of each day.

 The Texas Hughes got to come and Eden & Sarah became buddies. :)

 The big cousins.

 Allison/Eden/Emily

 Jack/Graham

 I started noticing that Graham likes to be the funny boy in pics. Oh dear... :)

I'm starting to wonder if she's getting her mommy's curls....

 Big patio with a huge overhang....perfect for this slightly rainy day.

 

Yep, we packed it all in and enjoyed every second.

We were so looking forward to this past week, not only were our sweet friends getting married, but my sister was coming in to photograph the wedding! On Wednesday as we awaited her arrival, The Call, that seems to come quite often now (although we don't always end up getting new children) came. Would you be able to take a 4 day old newborn and his 2 yr. old brother? Ok! The call came at 3pm, they were dropped off at 4pm, I taught piano lessons from 6-7, and my sister and her friend arrived shortly after. That's a full day! I will say though, this transition with the kids was so much more seemless. We have learned our limitations and what works for our family, what the best sleeping arrangements are, and this time going from 2 to 4 was pretty smooth. We girls had mani/pedis scheduled for that evening (my awaited Mother's Day gift!) and out we went. Trying to explain to the girls that didn't speak English well what fostering was, was interesting. She kept saying, 5 days old? Where's your belly? Believe me, I would not be sitting there if I had just given birth. :) Wow, even though the baby being up every 2 hours was still exhausting, having a newborn without having the physical recovery side is wonderful. So on we marched with our week.....

Btw, most of these pics were taken by my sister or her assistant, Honeycomb Photography.

I don't know when my sister took these, but I had to laugh. For not having much hair, she gets some serious bedhead. :) And she's part monkey.

So Friday arrived and off our 2 bonus littles went to a court hearing where some family members were approved to take them in, so they didn't come back. Although we knew this was a possibility, it still tugs at your heart. Knowing their background, you just pray that those little ones will be watched over and taken care of in the best way. Although, it was providential as we looked to the weekend and knowing how much more interesting it was going to be juggling 4 kids instead of 2. Although the wedding was only an hour away, between rehearsal on friday and events on Saturday, we decided to make a short little getaway out of it. We haven't been away as a family since last fall, and there is something so, so refreshing about little respites, short as they may be. We're so glad we chose to stay over, we had so much fun and the kiddos sure adored staying in the hotel.

Aunt Katie is always snapping away...... (lucky for us.)

 Love the scarf from Brown Eyed Girlies. :)

Rehearsal dinner was in this "castle", Graham loved it.

Eden is entertaining herself by stacking creamers.  

The hotel had an indoor playground (genius, since it was so cold for May!). But they were most excited about the pool. At 6:20am Saturday morning, Graham was standing at our bed asking to go swimming. Lucky for us, it didn't open till 9. And Madagascar was on. :)

Wedding time! So thankful the sun came out and it warmed up a little!

 Yep, that's the 2 yr. old's back end.

So happy for this couple who has waited a long time for this day! Every detail was beautiful.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and it was camping time for the boys! Andrew & Graham have been very anxiously awaiting some warm weather to pull out the tent. We thought the end of May would be good, but it ended up being in the 30's - brrrr. Extra glad I wasn't there. :) But the boys had the best time. This girl doesn't love the idea of camping, particularly with a 2 yr. old in a tent. And I foresee this as something the boys get to do together for many years to come.

So while the boys camped, the girls hit the Strip District and North Shore and enjoyed some nice relaxing down time complete with movie and Pittsburgh Popcorn.

And then our fleeting time was gone..........we love our aunt katie and thankful she could be paid to be here - yippee! Thankful for many blessings of the week and time with our little family.