Before I begin, I must give all the credit to my photographer. . .Courtney
Windley. For those of you who read Jackson's blog, you may feel like this is
deja vu. All of the below pictures were taken by Courtney. Thank you friend! My camera's battery died when we arrived in South Carolina and I had neglected to pack the charger
.
Though we had every intention of making it to Surfside Beach by 10am on Wednesday, we ended up not leaving Wake County until after 10am. As Matt walked out the door to pack the car at 7am, he realized that his car and house keys were missing from his key chain. We searched for about an hour and a half before giving up (thankfully, our neighbor found the keys in our front yard while we were away). Then, as we were about to head out the door, Ryan catapulted himself off the couch. The back of his head landed with a thud on the edge of the coffee table. Blood immediately started gushing. Because of his hair and the pain he was feeling, it took a LONG time for us to get a good look at the wound to assess whether or not we needed to make a trip to Urgent Care (thankfully we did not). At 9:30 we finally made it out of the house, but because we were down one set of keys, we had to visit our neighborhood Lowes Hardware store to make copies of our house and car keys.
Once we made it down 95 and arrived at Southside Beach, we had a wonderful vacation. Sweet Vera was a joy to be around and Jackson and Ryan were as happy as could be spending day after day together. Like Courtney said in her blog, the best part of the trip were our times of fellowship. Once our little ones were in bed we were able to play games, chat, and laugh together as adults. Though Matt and I knew we would be exhausted for staying up late each night, we determined it was worth every yawn and bout of exhaustion we would face the next day. We are so grateful for good friends.
Here's a little aside. . .it has been a long time since Matt and I have gamed together and unfortunately, our competitive spirits got the best of us in the 3rd round of Chinese Rummy on Friday night (Bobby and Lanie, you know how it is!!! :)). A
contentious "buy" sparked the "spirits". In the car on the way home, we re-visited the "buy", and though the conversation began with much tension, we quickly moved on. It is funny that that which attracts us most to our spouses can also be that which causes us the most tension. I love Matt's competitive spirit and liveliness. . .BUT not when he attempts to steal a buy from me in a round of Chinese Rummy. :)
As an aside, the food was great! Boy did I learn a lot about Southern eating habits. Who knew that people SALT their watermelon,
cantaloupe, and honey dew? Have you ever heard of a PIMENTO-CHEESE sandwich??? Did you know that people eat zucchini and okra fried? Forget that, do you even know what okra is? And all I can say about boiled peanuts is. . .DISGUSTING (thank you Mike for this experience)!
My sweetie enjoys a pool of water dug by her Daddy. This little girl and her daddy spent special time together at the beach. Two days in a row they hit the beach while Ryan (and I) napped. This girl might be a beach bum like her daddy. Don't worry Grandma. . .she was well
SPFed the whole time. :)
The two buddies enjoy the sand. Actually, more than enjoying the sand, they enjoyed showering each other with sand.
The boys loved playing in the water. Jackson is so fun to watch. He loves the water washing over him and easily recovers when his head goes under. It is a joy to watch these boys play together, enjoying friendship at such young ages. And their enjoyment of the water allowed Courtney and me to have some good fellowship.
Really, this picture is uneventful, as I'm pulling Madeline on a boogie board. But since I'm rarely in pictures with the kids, I thought I would include this one.
Jackson graciously shared his
floatie with Ryan, and Mr. Mike taught Ryan how to ride the waves. As you can see from the look on his face, Ryan LOVES wave riding.
Madeline was brave in her attempt to ride the waves, but she decided that she would rather collect sea shells and dance along the water line.
How funny is this??? Ryan is attempting, with all his might, to pull his friend Jackson. Though the picture is a still image, this activity produced NO motion (I don't think Ryan understands the laws of physics and mass, combined with the fact that Jackson weighs a few pounds more than him).
The beach is never complete without a trip for ice cream! The memorable part of this ice cream trip is that we drove in a golf cart to get there. Though I love sweet Jackson, he really put a crimp in my ice cream "style". I am usually able to sneak at least a quarter of Ryan's ice cream onto my own spoon, but not on this trip. Each time I made an attempt to "help" Ryan, Jackson informed me that it was Ryan's ice cream, not mine.
I cannot get enough of this sweet face and smile. I love my girl.
Jackson and Ry enjoy some down time at the end of the day.
Isn't it sweet how they sit together!?
Oh, I almost forgot. . .our first night at Surfside we went miniature golfing. Courtney and I golfed with the kids. If I had known this would have been an aerobic activity, I would have skipped my run that morning. We ran after their balls, chased them down rocks, coaxed them away from ledges, and ran from one side of the hole to the other, supervising their shots and keeping them from going to the next hole, where people were playing. Though exhausted by the end of 18 holes, we had a great time. The kids were so cute with their plastic clubs.
One of the greatest things about our church is the love, interest and care everyone shares for the children. It is so special and unique and such a great earthly demonstration of God's love for children. Matt and I are continually overwhelmed and overjoyed by the love that our brothers and sisters at the Bridge shower upon our children. It is a great earthly blessing. We love that our children are growing up influenced and shaped by these special "family" members.
