mock senior pics at the beach.

welcome to the 4th installment of photos from our beach vacation!! (hope i'm not boring you yet....)

on friday night we went to ft. macon for a picnic dinner and live music. we got to see the Unknown Tongues.... a Cajun Zydeco Band.
very fun. i LOVE live music!! id almost share the video that dave taped of the kids and i dancing, but lets just say that dave's video did not capture my best side ;)

here are some pics of the fort...

this was the walkway into the main grassy area...

it was a beautiful setting and i said to dave... 'this would be a great place for senior pics!!'

so... off he went, one by one, with the kids for some fun pics :)

transportation at the beach

besides the 13 hour car trip... here are some transportation pics from vacation :)

the coast guard flew right along the beach... with guys dangling their legs out the back.

the kids rode the kmart carousel.
remember those?

cohen rode the cooler.

because that's what he does.

and lastly... jammin in the odyssey.

rockin out to the most current of cohen's favorite songs :)

happy 4th

-pig roast with fireworks.
-breakfast, parade, and cookout for lunch (with bubbles and water balloons!).
-bday party and cookout for dinner.

we should sleep well tonight...

happy 4th of july from us to you!!

food at the beach :)

installment 2 of our beach 2009 pics = FOOD :)

each day we made and ate breakfast in our little suite.
and either lunch or dinner at 'home' too.
the other of the two was 'out to eat'.
which is a VERY big treat in our household.

first stop.
smithfields.
we stopped here before checking in on the 1st day.
we got a huge 'family pack' whose leftovers lasted us at least 3 days.
we were introduced to vinegar based BBQ. pretty tasty :)
the kids were introduced to hush puppies. yum.


next stop.
rucker john's. pretty good.
not sure that we'd go back though.

they had turtles outside in the pond/canal/water.
kind of like we have big nasty carp swimming around here in ohio.
turtles are much more fun :)

the best part though...
dave asked for water with lemon.
(as we always do... to make poor man's lemondade.)

they bring out this lemon flavor crystal stuff... in a little packet.
like sweetner.
ha.
of course dave had to play it up by hanging the packet over the side of his cup like a REAL lemon.


ooh, now to the BEST place we ate.
i miss it already. have missed it since the day we left.
(till lilly reminded me that i still have my favorite restaruant back home)

The Sanitary (i know the name isn's to lovely, but who cares!!)
we went twice. i would have gone a 3rd time had we planned things better.

2 words. (or is it really 1 word? no matter!!)
hush puppies.
the best EVER.


then... they bring us butter.
butter on fried food?
at first i was thinking... that's kind of nasty.
then i realized. hush puppies are pretty much fried cornbread, and i DO put butter on my cornbread.... sooooo, it must be ok :) (let's just say it's a good thing i don't live near this place.)


their seafood was delicious as well. dave had 2 types of fresh fish. clam chowder and some other corn clam chowder. homemade. delicious. the kids and i ate shrimp and clams. when the shrimp comes out in all different sizes you know its right off the boat :) delicious sides as well... boiled potatoes, beans, sweet potatoes, squash casserole... mmmmmm.... cant wait to go back!!

one more treat.
a treat because we don't ever buy them at home.
that's what vacation is all about ;)

strawberry shortcake ice cream bars.
these are MY favorite ice cream treats :)
the kids liked them. even though they were melting faster than they could eat them! can you tell i love food?
sadly, a bit too much.

(ps. cohen got that bruise on his cheek within the 1st hour of checking into our villa. the dishwasher door was down, he did a graceful "back into the dishwasher door, sit down on the door, roll off onto the floor and land on your face manuever" that left a pretty nice bruise for most of the week. what can i say? he's a boy. with my coordination.)

beach share #1

we are finally back to the real world after our WONDERFUL vacation to Atlantic Beach, NC.
it was awesome... our 1st official family vacation.
just the 4 of us. we had so much fun.
it was just what we needed.

enjoy the first installment of beach photos :)
of course we took tons of pictures, so ill share them spread out through a few different posts to spare you from a billion pics in one sitting.

this first set will be beachy swimmy pics!!

here are the kids all ready to go to the beach the 1st morning!
im sure it was before 9:00 am :)
we are early birds.

cohen LOVED digging in the sand.

we dug a huge hole each day :)

i took a pic of lilly on the beach in each of her 4 swimsuits for a fun scrapbook page someday. (i tried to do the same for cohen but he wasnt as interested...)the little man... running to the water.

another favorite thing to do at the beach :) LOVE this one ;)

sporting her 'surfboard' (and another swimsuit)hunk-a-hunk-a-white-belly man :)

the boys.

getting some sun.

in the pool.

so nice to have the ocean AND a pool! (3 pools actually!!)

cohen made it his job to rinse the sand off everyone.

we LOVE the beach!!

can't wait to go back :)

coming soon... more beach vacation 2009 blog posts.... food, transportation, signs & art, mock senior pics, beach life, and family portraits :)

{belated} happy father's day :)

our father's day was spent driving home from the beach :)

we actually celebrated father's day 2 weeks ago... with carrot cake and a new cooler for daddy. and a promise to daddy that he gets to go on a mini fishing trip. and a baseball game. and chipotle and ice cream :) a few of the things daddy loves.

we taped these messages well in advance, but are just now getting to share them. just a tad late.

we love you daddy :)

xoxo, L & C

busy.

summer is busy.
life is busy.

lilly had safety town this past week.
another wonderful program that makes us very happy to live where we do.

cohen got his first 'real' haircut.
i know i'm his mom, but he is so stinkin cute.
i can barely stand it.

hidden treasure.

you'd never even know it was there...
though we've driven past the sign dozens and dozens of times.
my aunt even told us (a long time ago) that there was a waterfall close by.
we just never got around to visiting.

but we finally did.
and we couldn't believe that we hadn't gone before.
and we were so sad that we just now went after 6 years of living here.

now we know.
and we will be back!
many times.

Cohen shows off his pants right after he 'fell' in the water :)
next time, lilly and i will wear more appropriate shoes.

wedding weekend

we had the pleasure of attending the most beautiful wedding and reception this past weekend.

meet evan and amanda :)

evan is the oldest son of jan and carol.

jan is one of dave's greatest friends.
jan was dave's mentor in college, and they have remained close ever since.
jan was an usher in our wedding.
jan and carol's wedding anniversary is may 26th, the same as ours :)
we love them.


dave and the boys :)
lilly dancing with the groom :)

here's one of me and the little man on the dance floor.

it's not a secret that i LOVE dancing.

particulary at wedding receptions.

i don't think i'd get tired of them even if i got to go to one every weekend.

while mommy enjoyed a few cosmopolitans (Thanks Jan!!)... the kids were in love with this amazing candy buffet.

Ok, so Dave and I loved it too :) SO FUN!! it was absolutely gorgeous (and delicious!)

nothing like a few handfuls of candy at 9 in the evening for a 5 and 2 year old;)

the kids were SO good.

even hours past their bedtime :)

we all had so much fun.

one last photo... a family picture right before we headed home.

jan kept us laughing with his tripod-like stance and potty humor :)

big thanks to evan & amanda, jan & carol for the invitation to share this special day with them!! we had a wonderful time and we continue to be honored to know this family :)