Family Photos on the Beach

In my first blog of the trip, I let you all know that we had professional photos done on Friday morning.

This evening, Sunday evening, we got a sneak peak to those photos and they are AMAZING!

Worth waking them up before sunrise during vacation.

We only have about half of them so far, but they will be great when we get them all. Best thing to do during a vacation yet!  :-) 

Good Kids

Phil and I decided to take the boys to the beach this morning. It wasn't very crowded and the jelly fish weren't as bad as they could get in the afternoon.

As we were walking to an open spot on the beach, we were walking toward an older couple that had already been sitting there for a while. I'm pretty sure they gave us a look like, "Oh.My.Goodness. They are NOT sitting by us with all of those boys, are they??"

Yes, we did.  :-)

Phil and I marked our spot with the towels, the boys took off their flip flops, and then made their way to the water.

We never saw them again in our area after that.

The boys played in the sand or played on their body boards. Every now and then we would call each boy up to the towels to drink a bottle of water.

As we were walking out, we walked towards the older couple again and the man stopped us and asked, "Are all of those boys yours??"

To which we said, "yes".

And he said, "We just wanted to tell you how good your boys were!"

The lady next to him agreed, "They were so well behaved!"

THEN, we went to the pool this afternoon. 

While we were at the pool, we asked Jake* to find the twins for us, we were ready to leave.

Jake said, "Ok, I'll find them."  And he found them and brought them over.

The man next to us at the pool overheard the request and asked, " HOW did you do that??"

Phil and I looked confused and asked, "Do what?"

The man said, "How did you get your boy to listen to you and do what you want??"

:-)   I don't know... He just does!  He's good!


*name changed for the story

Beach fun

The last 24 hours have been fun!

1. Phil and I flew for the first time with five boys!
2. Our airplane ride was the 2nd time the boys have flown some where.
3. The boys had a BLAST at the beach yesterday.
4. We went to a 50's diner for dinner last night.  :-)
5. I made them all go to bed very early last night for pictures this morning.

A couple days before we left town, I got this wild hair idea to have our family pictures taken during sunrise on the beach. Well, you can't really do sunset in Myrtle Beach, because they're not on the West Coast.  :-)

So this morning, we woke them up - on vacation - at 5:50am. I know they're not happy with me for that.  BUT, I did give them the option to go back to sleep after breakfast at the hotel... And they all went to the POOL instead!!

So, here's some photos:

Just chillin.... waiting for hotel check-in...

Digging holes after boogy boarding.

"I don't know! I just kept digging!"

SUNRISE

NOT one of the professional pictures!

Locked and Loaded

We are ready to go!

Phil and I packed the boys (and us) this evening. Can I first say Thank You to Janette for referring the vacuum sealed travel bags??  Because these things worked like a charm!

Two boys' worth of clothes in there.

How many suitcases did it take to pack seven people???  Two large suitcases, two small suitcases, and all seven of us have backpacks.  PHEW!  :-)  lol... 

And how does this all fit in the car??  Well... it doesn't...  

Phil says HI!!  :-) 

After a whirlwind 2016, we are ready to hit the beach!!  WOOHOO!  

Myrtle Beach

On Thursday morning, Phil, the boys, and me leave to Myrtle Beach for a week!  :-)  YAY!! Can't wait!!

I'm so excited, that I went to Target to do some last minute shopping for anything we might need. 

Lately when I've been going to Target, I've been wandering to the clothes section for boys. You know what I love about it? Getting matching, awesome, shirts for the twins.

Today's shirts are perfect for a trip to the beach!  :-) 

How long do you think the twins will let us dress them the same??  :-) 

The Ice Cream Truck!!

After dinner this evening, we told the boys to go play outside for a while.

A few minutes later, the youngest runs inside the house, "The ice cream truck! The ice cream truck!"

Sure enough... Phil and I were able to hear the familiar music.

I grabbed my cash (and iPhone to take pictures of course) and ran outside also.

We did have to run to the street behind us for the ice cream truck, but we found it!

YAY! We found the ice cream truck!!

We three boys order snow cones, one order an Oreo ice cream sandwich, and another order a chocolate chip ice cream. 

And of course, I got a push-up pop for "old time sake"... 

I mean, when was the last time
I had a push pop???  lol...  Yum!

Laundry

We did laundry today. Like ALL day. The "throw up clothes" came out of the laundry this evening.

As I folded my clothes, I watched Phil fold his clothes also. Then, when I was done folding my clothes, I watched Phil fold the twins clothes.

Their little shirts.

Their little shorts.

:-)

So cute.

Sometimes, when we don't have the boys, I don't think about him being a dad... A father... and then I see him folding clothes and it touches my heart.

Trip to Target

Phil and I took Jake* to Target this past weekend.  None of the other boys wanted to go, so we thought it would be fun to have "one kid" for the grocery trip.

While we were at Target... I might have wandered into the shoe department. Ok... I did wander into the shoe department.

Anyway... I picked up some high heel shoes... For work!

If you know me at all... I hate high heels... I'd rather wear running shoes. Or sandals.

I met back up with Phil and Jake with the box of shoes.

Jake asks, "What did you get??"

I said, "Oh, I just got some shoes for work."

"What kind? Can I see them?"

This is what they look like. 

So I show him the new high heel shoes and he STARTS LAUGHING!!  Hey, what's so funny?

He says, "You're gonna fall down!"  And walks away.  Awesome... Thanks Jake.  :-)



*Name changed for story.

Out with a BANG!

Well... A different kind of "bang"...

Phil and I had this wonderful idea of taking the kids to the park and then taking them for ice cream. Anybody see where this is going?

Well, the kids did this spin swing at the park the entire time. Even I did the spin swing!

Now do you see where this is going?

So, we still went out for ice cream anyway...

And THEN... on the way home in the minivan... In the minivan... One twin puked all over himself.

And THEN... the other twin puked all over himself.

I couldn't help myself... I just started laughing. Just. Started. Laughing!... And then, of course, I took a picture...

Puke all down themselves... 

Then, comes the cleanup...

I'm seriously in the back of the van with the twins... Cleaning throw-up. And the neighbor walks over to say Hi and Happy 4th!

Phil explains what I'm doing in the back of the minivan and the neighbor says to me, "Oh man, I bet you had no idea you were signing up for this!"

And we all laugh...

Then he continues to say, "Now THAT [me cleaning the twins and the throw-up in the minivan] is true love right there!"

Yes... Yes, it is...   :-)

Our Weekend So Far

Typical 4th of July weekend!    :-)    It's been fun - kind of like camping but not.

Top Left:  Our own Alfalfa.
Top Right: More crack.
Bottom Left: Shootin' guns.
Bottom Right: Playing with fire. 

4th of July Weekend!

Oh my goodness... I haven't blogged in over a week!! 

But, I've been a bit busy. I got a new job that I am so super excited about!  :-)  

And this evening, when I came home at 6pm... Yes, this job has me working later evenings now... All five boys greeted me at the door, or at least in the kitchen (of course), and at least one of them asked how my work day was. 

It was so great.  So great to come home to six boys saying hello and asking how I was doing. 

On that note, let the three day weekend begin!!  :-)