St Simons Island Beach Getaway

Ahhhh, if I look at these pictures and close my eyes, I am back there again. We went to the beach with my family to St Simons Island, GA for a couple glorious days! This year was different since we normally always go to Mom and Dad's beach house in Seabrook but unfortunately for us and fortunately for them, it got rented all summer long. We knew we still wanted to have a beach vacation though so my parents rented a fantastic house in St Simons. We actually went there 13 years ago when my parents first moved to Atlanta but have not been back since so it was fun to go somewhere new. The drive however, all 5.5 hours was not as fun, we are definitely spoiled having Seabrook less than 4 hours from us. 

The house we rented was right across the street from the beach and had it is own pool which was HUGE! We haven't rented a house with a pool before and it was so fantastic. The picture below is from one of the decks that we sat out on ever night looking to the beach!

Ella checking out the view before bedtime

I have to brag for just a minute because I am so proud of my little fish. Mike and I used to joke that Ella's own kids would be swimming before she was. Not because she couldn't do it, because we knew she could but because she is our cautious child and boy did she love her floatie. But the rule that now she is 4 is no more floatie and we happened to take swim lessons from the most amazing swim instructor in Charlotte and after only 4 lessons, she had Ella swimming and diving on her own. The below sequence is what she did literally all day, every day at the pool. Get to the side, do a jump/dive combo...

And into the water she went. She would then usually swim to the noodle or one of us and then swim to the side and repeat. Literally, all day long she would do this. And then take amazing naps because she was so tired from all the swimming which was a real treat for us!

And this little one was a swimming machine also. I am so happy that Ella's old floatie finally fits her this summer. Last summer, I bought every single floatation device on the market but because she was so petite and tiny, none of them worked but this summer it fits and after some hesitation, she loved it and would also jump off the steps in the pool and float around.

This face kills me, this child is so expressive with her face! This is her "I'm so excited to go swimming" face

Just kicking and swimming around the pool on her own. So much better than holding her all last summer like I had to do.

Then, after all the swimming, it was time to relax. This is the life!

This is the deck where we spent every happy hour enjoying the nice breeze and amazing views. These two girls adore their Uncle Court! They love to play with him in the pool and cuddle up to him on the deck and we were excited that we were all together for his birthday.

Ella and her godfather

And of course, this little getaway was made possible by my parents and they sure enjoyed their time with the girls as well.

Someone loves to suck her thumb, like ALL.THE.TIME

We went out to eat for Uncle Court's birthday and while eating out is always a little crazy (ahem, MG, I am talking about you who won't sit still), this time was no exception but the girls did show Uncle Court the love.

The sky one evening, the picture doesn't do it justice but it was so pretty

One night while we were making dinner, Mike and my Dad took the girls to run on the beach and captured these sweet images that I love.

father/daughter selfie

My hope is that these two always remain close because right now they are best friends and it warms my heart so much.

Umm, can we talk about this little lady will be 5 in less than 2 months. Insert Mommy tears, stop growing so fast sweet girl.

And this wee one continues to make us laugh everyday (she was our comedy for the trip, making everyone laugh the entire time) with also a dash of some 2 year old stubbornness.

Off the beach in our hats and sunnies

The water at the ocean was pretty warm and shallow and Ella had the best time just digging and playing by herself. Wow the beach will be so different in a couple years when Maddie is her age and they can both just play like this.

Before we went to dinner for Court's birthday, we all got cleaned up early and attempted some family photos. Below are some good ones we were able to capture.

These girls sure love their DeeDee and Papa! Each morning, they would both get in bed with my parents and all we could hear was sweet laughter.

My parents will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on June 29th and unfortunately we won't all be together on that day but Court, Mike and I planned a little surprise for them while we were together at the beach. We got a bunch of signs to hang and made them breakfast in bed. Then that night, made them dinner and I put together a video of old photos and then got all their friends and family to send in short video messages congratulating them or telling funny stories and put it in the video. It was complete surprise to them and they loved it. A lot of friends were ones we grew up with in Richmond who they haven't seen in many years so it was nice to hear from them. My parents and Mike's have both been married for 40 years and they are both such great examples for Mike and myself. I loved being able to celebrate with them!

Cheers to fun little getaway! We were all sad to leave the beach but I am glad we made such amazing memories that we will have for a long time to come.

10!

I am slightly behind with blogging now that the kids are out of school but Mike and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on the 29th of May. I can't believe it has been so long that we have been married and known each other (dating for 15 years this August, yikes!) In some ways it feels like we were married yesterday and in some ways, it is hard to remember life before him. We were such babies when we got married and I can't believe how far we have come since then. We literally got married, went on our honeymoon and then moved right to Charlotte so our whole married life has been here. We have bought 2 houses, seen each other through ups and downs with jobs, got one crazy and out of control puppy (who is still nuts 7 years later!) and of course our greatest accomplishment is having two amazing daughters. Through it all, we have been there for each other and loved and supported each other along the way. I am not going to pretend like we never had a fight in 10 years (although I am pretty sure every one I was right!) but even when we were mad, it never lasted too long since neither one of us are ones to be mad for very long. Mike is an absolutely amazing father and always puts me and the girls first. He is there at all their preschool events, sporting events, ballet recitals and most importantly in my mind, home for a family dinner almost every night. I love to see how far we have become and where we will in 10, 20, 30, 40, years.

May 29, 2004 - Christ the King Cathedral, Atlanta, GA

Due to the timing with work and a beach trip planned, we are taking our official anniversary trip the end of July to Maine for 5 days (kid free, woohoo) so on the actual night of our anniversary, we just cooked dinner with the girls and had some really good wine. After searching pinterest and google for 10th anniversary gifts, I did 10 presents for 10 years and wrapped them all in aluminum foil since the customary gift for 10 years is tin and aluminum. Most of them were small things like a new football for the beach, a new cooze since we like to collect them and then a couple big things like a new golf driver (and it was close to aluminum.) What is funny is Mike got me two gifts and actually had them wrapped in aluminium foil also, great minds think alike! One of this gifts is an amazing new ring that is being designed and made now and the other was an aluminum frame and inside the frame was the date 5/29/04 (our wedding date obviously). But each of the numbers were different and they were all significant in our lives so far. The 5 was from a sign outside the church we got married in, between the 5 and 2 as a spacer was a calla lilly, the flower I carried on my wedding day. The 2 is from our address sign at our new house, the 9 was from a sign outside of our favorite winery in Napa, Silver Oak. In between the 9 and 0 was a tulip, my other favorite flower. The 0 was the arch in Cabo and the 4 was from a sign outside our hotel in Positano, Italy (my favorite place on Earth). I just loved that he took the time to research and find all these special places that have meant so much to us over the years and make this all on his own for me. That is something I will cherish forever and is already displayed in my bookcase.

My ten gifts for ten years

Cheers to 10 years and can't wait until July 24th when we fly away to Maine!

School's Out for Summer

Right before Memorial Day, our preschool finished up and the girls are officially on "summer break." I truly can't believe how much they have grown this year. When they started back in September, Ella had just turned four and now she is almost five and such a big girl. And my baby, sweet Maddie Grace started preschool for the very first time and look at her now!

First day and last day collage (where did my babies go?? tear...)

 This was our crew every Tuesday and Thursday. We were so lucky to have good friends that live around the corner from us so we would take Wyatt twice a week and then Catherine would take Ella the other two days when Maddie didn't go. It worked out great and the three of these kiddos cracked me up everyday with their conversation.

 Maddie had the BEST year. Her teachers, Ms Lisa and Ms Julie are truly saints that were amazing with a bunch of 1 and 2 year olds. They had endless patience and each morning, Maddie would literally run into her class and give each of her teachers a huge hug. Then at the end of the day when I would pick her up, she would run and hide from me because she wanted to stay and play more. Not sure what that says about me but at least I know she loved school!

 The final day, they had a pizza party and got "graduation hats". She loved all her little friends in her class, especially the little boy next to her, Loren. He certainly is a cutie and a great first boyfriend!

 MG with her teachers. We love them so much and will miss them next year! (She still asks for them everyday, she doesn't quite understand that school is out yet.)

 Then we quickly ran downstairs to Ella's party for her 4 year old class. I am so glad that we decided to put her in TK (transitional kindergarten) next year so she will have one more year at her preschool before starting real school the following year. 

 Ella had such an amazing year also. She went four days and I am astounded by how much she learned this year. They kept a journal throughout the year and by the end of the year, she was sounding out and spelling words. The spelling wasn't always perfect but very close. Ella loves to learn and is such a good girl in school. I hope she always has this same love of learning that she does now.

 Ella with her best buddy Caroline (above). C and E have been together since they were two and will be together again next year and are as thick as thieves. And below with her sweet boyfriend Lucas. He is the sweetest little boy and they had such a fun little friendship this year. Sadly, he is older and go to kindergarten next year.

 And I said a lot about how wonderful Maddie's teachers were but Ella's were just as amazing. We had the best year for teachers for both of them. Ms Mande and Ms Dempsey were both so loving and kind but also taught the kids so much. Ella adored both of them so much!

It was a fantastic year and one we were all sad to see end but now it is onto summer. We were only off school a week before we went to the beach but now we are back and slowly starting to settle into a routine. I am happy for lazy mornings and no scheduled activities for about a week before I start going crazy so we will continue to stay busy for everyone's sanity. The girls have a couple camps scheduled and a couple more family trips but a lot of the time will be spent at our pool, library story times and probably lots of trips to Target and Harris Teeter. How many more days until school starts again??? Hehehe, happy summer!

Tiny Dancer

Right now, Elton John's song is playing in my head as I write this post. Back in the middle of May (yes, I am a little behind), Ella had her final dance recital. She has done dance camps before but never a full dance class and this year she was ready. Or maybe I was finally ready. Growing up, I never went to dance class and it is a little foreign to me. I had an older brother and grew up watching him play sports so naturally I wanted to do the same things he did and immediately starting playing sports instead of dance. My little girl though, oh, she is all GIRL. She is a girly girl and was dying to try dance so we gave it a whirl and she loved it. They did tap and ballet and she loved going every single week to the class but the recital is what she has been waiting for. She knew they got a costume and she couldn't wait.

Her class had a "sailor" theme and she looked so adorable! I snapped a couple pictures on Friday before her dress rehearsal just in case we were too busy on Saturday. 

 They invited the Moms into the class so we got to see her practice and Ella loved it but I was still nervous how she would do in a huge theatre on performance day. 

 Well sister owned it! She is the one in the front middle (sorry pictures are blurry) but she came out with so much confidence and smiled and knew all her moves. I have a feeling that Mike and I will have a lot more dance recitals in our future.

Her class with their beloved teacher, Ms Meeghan

Rocking it on the tap dance

Hands on your hips!

Post performance with flowers from Daddy

 Immediately after her recital, we quickly changed and went right to soccer for her final game. Ella really enjoyed soccer but she is not competitive and preferred to stay on the edge of the action. Mike nicknamed her the "orbiting moon" because she was around all the action and the ball but never got too close!

 But she had a blast and always had a smile on her face so I am glad that we are exposing her to lots of different things and then once she gets older, she can decide what she enjoys the most.

It was a busy and fun day but it was a blast and loved seeing my big girl shine!