first night at the beach...6.13

as. soon. as. we got to our condo, the big kids got into their swimsuits and headed down to the pool with uncle andy and daddy...

the whole scene was a little overwhelming for the kiddos at first. the pool area was HUGE and beautiful!

we stayed at the villas at seacrest beach for the 2nd time...its perfect for a family with young kids! seacrest beach is nestled on 30A between seaside and rosemary beach...not too crowded and not too touristy!!! its about a 30 minute drive to panama city and about 30 minutes to destin! what more could you want?!?

baby jake tagged along for the inaugural swim as well...

he didn't love his ring according to daddy (although he was perfectly content in it the rest of the week with mommy...hmmm!)...

my big kids were fresh off two weeks of swim lessons and eager to show off their skills to uncle andy...

andrew and andrew...my kids adore their uncle andy!

the kids had so much fun...and mommy had a little time to get all the clothes put away and get all our other gear organized. i know, i'm a party pooper...i just wanted to make it as easy as possible for the rest of the week!!!

our travels to the beach...6.12 and 6.13

what a wild wild week we had! the second week we had swim lessons was also vacation bible school week! AND as soon as vbs ended on friday, we jumped in the van to head to the beach!

we were totally cracking up at drew with his leg crossed reading the "paper"...where does he get this stuff? we don't even get the paper...

this is pretty much what sweet jake did the whole way to florida...just played and looked out the window...he isn't much for the long naps in the carseat, but at least he didn't fuss!!!

we split the trip down into 2 days. uncle andy was in montgomery, alabama for 4 weeks for some military training thingy, so we met up with him on friday night for dinner. the next morning, we hit the road again to get to seacrest beach, florida to start our real vacation!!!
the above pic is once we could see the beach...the kids were a L.I.T.T.L.E. bit excited about it!!!

jake was excited to be there too! notice all the messiness on his chin, pacie, and shirt...what a boy!

the FOR REAL parents' day at swim lessons...6.11

well, the weather held out and we had another parents' day at swim lessons! so fun to see them perform twice!!! the kiddos really did learn a lot this year! i was really excited that the timing worked out that we headed to the beach right after swim lessons were over...lots of time to practice their new moves in florida!

surprise parents' day at swim lessons...6.10

for the first time in our 3 year history of swim lessons, there was some inclement weather during the two weeks of our session...

since the forecast was questionable for thursday, the ever important parents' day at swim lessons, miss aggie invited the parents to watch on wednesday just in case the weather didn't cooperate on thursday! how sweet!

thankfully, i had my ever present "diaper bag camera" and my flip available to document the event...

if i had known i was going to be taking so many pictures, i would have put a little more thought into the kids' swimsuits and hairdos :)

isn't it completely horrible that their swimsuits don't match :)

the kids had so much fun showing off their new found swimming skills. this was drew's first year to take. both the kids are fearless in the water...

even with the last minute notice, mimi and poppy were able to run over to be a part....we are so blessed to have them close by and always on call for grandchild centered events!

jake's first french fry...6.3

this post is absolutely hysterical to me in light of a recent post on my friend danielle's blog...

so jake is a little fussy one night when the fam makes a quick run to mc donald's for a super healthy dinner...

so, what do these awesome parents do to calm him? well, of course, we give him a french fry...at 7 months old.

i seriously don't think sarah or drew had mcdonalds til they were WAY over 2 years old.

boy, if i had a 4th, 5th, or 6th child, would we go straight through the mcdonald's drive thru on the way home from the hospital to grab a happy meal?!?

anyway...as you can see, jake LOVED it. he is little mr. independent to begin with...he would much rather self feed than be spoon fed...

so, thus continues our attempts to ruin our 3rd precious little one...(and give my family in louisiana something to talk about!!!)

hangin' in the minivan after swim lessons...6.3

love the above picture of the kids...look at ava's "i'm too cool for this pic" face :)

the kiddos being silly!

jake just chilling, chewing on his toy, oblivious to the craziness going on behind him :)
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after swim lessons on wednesday, mary and i were trying to decide if we were going to caravan to sonic for ice cream cones or not...so all the kids piled in the back of the van to watch movies.

these pictures are so funny to me...first of all, the back seat of my van is NOT big. the space that sarah and ava are occupying is T.I.N.Y.

also, drew looks completely naked. he has on his swimsuit, but you seriously can't see it!!!

i'm so happy my big kids have such fun friends which with to do such mundane things like sitting in the back of a van...

first day of swim lessons...6.1

can you see how close to hysterically giddy my kids were about going to swim lessons? sarah's eyes are wild :)

the kids were so happy, yet these pics kinda gross me out...i've never realized how greasy you look when you are covered head to toe in sunscreen...

after a few normal, smiling at the camera pics, the kids decided to start practicing some of their swim moves...

then, they had to take the practice rounds to the floor...they were a hoot!!! (and still so greasy looking!)