Final beach trip of the summer

Summer is over and fall is definitely creeping in but wanted to remember our final beach trip of the summer. As I mentioned before, the summer was rainy and yucky but the end to the summer has been amazing. Sunny days and lots of blue sky and that is exactly what we had the entire 5 days at the beach and knowing this was our final summer vacay, we definitely made the most of the weather. We arrived at our happy place, Seabrook Island, to this. Long beach, blue sky and no one on the beach, perfection!

 On the way down though, we had a little bit of perfection for Mike and I as well. We just got a new car and the new car has a DVD player and Ella can now watch her movies with headphones on while we can listen to XM radio, life is much more enjoyable (now only if Maddie would sleep more than 30 minutes in the car.)

 But once we arrived, we all quickly changed and went right down to the beach. All were happy to be on the beach and out of the car!

 Ella playing the washers game with DeeDee

 E and M loved digging and making sand castles, they would do it for hours under the tent and Daddy was such a good sport and did lots of building as well.

 After cleaning off all the sand, we changed into our Georgia gear to cheer on Uncle Court and Ms Laura's team. Unfortunately, the jerseys were not good luck this time but tailgating on the ocean is definitely the best view.

 The next morning while the guys went golfing, the girls went to the pool. And these two left off from 3 weeks before. Maddie Grace running into the water without fear and Ella jumping off the side.

 But MG also discovered another fun game, filling up water bottles and dumping them all over herself. She literally did this for hours and was happy and content. Remind me again why I buy toys when this is all they ever want to play with?!?!

 That afternoon (after both girls napped, hallelujah) we got all dressed up for a boat ride. Let me tell you some back story on this. There is a marina 5 minutes from my parents house and my Dad has always wanted to rent a boat for an afternoon and take it on the ocean. However, that sounds great but the Lanio's are not boat people. My parents lived on a lake in Richmond for almost 20 years and never owned a boat for a reason. But it was my Dad's birthday so we agreed to it...

 Safe and sound on dry land

Side note, my Mom got the girls these adorable dresses almost a year ago hoping they would fit this summer and normally they would have but little Maddie Grace is so little so her 12-18 outfit was huge on her but since we were going on a boat, they had to wear them!

 Here is how the boat went down. The boat was much much smaller than we thought so we were crammed on there, Ella was so scared and didn't want to even get on, Maddie HATED the giant life jacket and just wanted to walk around and not be held and the wind was so bad we were all blown away. My mom packed cheese and crackers and wine to drink on the boat. We had to hang on for dear life, there was no wine or cheese and crackers.

 Ella finally calmed down but kept telling Papa to slow down.

 She did finally help Papa drive which she thought was more fun. Let's just say that this family will NOT be boating anytime soon. Unless of course it is a huge yacht, I think I could handle that!

 After the boat, we came back to the house to enjoy the ocean and sunset

A rare picture of the four of us!

 Ella loves her Uncle Court so much. She loved to wake him up (very early) each morning and they would make up these silly games together. 

 The girls with their Papa on his birthday. I am so glad that we were able to spend such a fun (and eventful) day with him.

 The next day, we went back to the pool but this time with the whole family. 

Flying with Daddy

 I could seriously eat her up with a spoon, my sweet happy girl with her little teethy smile!

 After two days at the pool, we headed back for a day at the beach and lots of sand castles. It is so nice to have the option between pool and beach. With little kids, they tend to like both and we were able to have the best of both worlds.

 Playing with DeeDee's marsh mellow shooter (yes, you read that right)

 Filling up water buckets with Daddy

 This girl didn't stop much, she was on the move the entire time

 They were building castles for Cindrella, Belle and Ariel, complete with a moat in front of the castles

 This little one was happy to fill up wet sand in her bucket and then dump it out again

 To watch them actually playing together and laughing together just melts my heart. I can't wait for them to grow up together at this beach and make so many memories.

 Our final morning was very sad, no one wanted to leave. We played on the back deck for awhile before heading over to the pool for one last dip.

 It was such a fun and exhausting trip. Maddie was literally asleep within 2 minutes of getting in the car. Too bad, she still woke up 45 minutes later.

The next day was the girls first day of preschool (I need to blog about that soon also) so it was definitely the end of super fun summer and back to reality but I am so glad that we got to spend our final summer days enjoying lots of family time and of course sunshine and sand as well.

Summer Rewind

This is literally flying by! I wish I could do an individual post on many of these things we have done this summer but I just don't have the time and I don't want to forget anything so this post is jammed packed with photos and small stories.

Ella started swim lessons in June with our neighbor/babysitter and she is doing great. Anyone that knows Ella knows, she is more on the tentative side (scardy cat as we refer to her) but somehow Padgett was able to get Ella to jump off the side of the pool without a floatie the very first class. I will saw she has regressed a little and still doesn't love jumping off the side of the pool but she is doing a lot better swimming with just a kick board but still is most comfortable with her pink floatie!

 Venturing off the pool with two small kids and managing naps is no small feat so sometimes the easiest and most convenient thing is blowing up the pool and letting the girls play in the back yard. This particular day, Ella was playing life guard while Maddie played and splashed!

 This is where you can find us a lot of the time, outside playing on the swing set!

 There is a Ben and Jerry's around the corner from us and these two girls love some ice cream. And they get messy so it is usually straight up to baths after the trip.

 Lots of park trips and this little one is happiest in the swing, especially when you swing high (so so so different from her sister! She is going to be wild one for sure!)

 Long ago, when I just had one child, I would take Ella all the time to the children's museum. But with two kids, I hadn't been in a long time, not since Maddie is walking so I was a little hesitant going but they had an absolute blast! Mainly it was following Maddie all around but Ella was so excited that Maddie could do all the big kid things together.

Can you tell both of their parents worked/work for Bank of America. Checking out the bank teller!

 One of Ella's favorite shows right now is Doc McStuffins so she was ready to get to work and make this doll feel better.

 More park trips

 Naked spaghetti nights (also straight up to the bath after this as well!)

 It is funny how you can have two daughters and they can be so different. Ella loves stuffed animals and of course still has her "froggie", her love that she has been attached to from the beginning. But Maddie Grace, she hasn't taken to any lovie or stuffed animals. But recently, she discovered baby dolls and she loves her "baba" as she calls them. Hugs them, kisses them, pushes them around in her stroller, it is so cute to watch.

 Slip 'n Slide fun! (But won't happen again, tore up Mike's precious perfectly green grass!)

 In early summer, one of Ella's best buddies, Caroline had a spa birthday party and Ella had the best time! Dressing up, getting your nails and hair done and wearing tutus!

 Swimming with Caroline

Holding hands under water, these two are so sweet together!

Which one is bigger? Ella's head or the cotton candy? Ding ding, the cotton candy and she ate it all in about 3 minutes.

 Rocking Daddy's hat at the pool

 We had big hopes for a family bike ride...

 Started off strong...

 Lasted about 5 minutes before everyone was whining and we decided to just walk instead.

 Last Sunday, Daddy and Ella had a special day with Caroline and her Daddy. The dads took the girls to the pool first and then they rode along in the cart while the Dads played golf. I think it started off fun and then Mike described it as herding cats! But they had fun.

 She even got in on the action, but I don't think she is quite ready for the LPGA. Doesn't every golfer play in a pink dress? She is only going to play a sport where she can wear a dress so I guess tennis it is!

Whew!!! That was a lot of pictures and I am tired and I am sure you all are tired from reading and looking at them all. But that's a quick snapshot of some of our summer. We are off to the beach on Thursday for one of our two beach trips in August and of course, our big girl is turning 4 in one week. I mean, seriously, how is she 4 already??? So, hopefully I will get better about blogging and catch you all up on August soon. Enjoy the last month of summer, we plan to!