the beAcH

Cousins at the beach...the favorite memory per the boys. 

In May, our family went to the beach with the Phillips side of the family. We stayed in Seacrest Beach on 30A...I loved that we went somewhere familiar with favorites for the boys. The weather was unbelievable and the ocean was full of sea-life...big crabs, string rays and sharks. Yes sharks...like 6-7 foot hammerheads swimming on the sandbar...only one but any shark sighting is wild!

Thanks Pam and Johnny for SUPER week...we really appreciate your generosity!

The boys adored their little cousin...i think they are on "team 3rd baby" with me now!

sand angels

this boy is GOOFY

Is that Tanner standing in that crowd of BIG boys...he's too BIG!

The boys spent hours catching these jelly fish. Whatever kind of jelly fish they were they didn't sting. Sam finally started picking them up with his hands.

We ended up with buckets full by the end of the day.

A cute little girl next to us caught this fish in her net.

Reading one of our "Sundog Bookstore" books from Seaside

"Sundog Books" in Seaside

Tanner is like me...if we are reading a good book we lose our social skills...that's ok I rather him read that have his nose in a video game all day!

Playing ball with Nana and their little cousin

crabbin'

we caught a few...hard to see

yes...the "sweetest place on earth"

proof that mommy was on the trip

showing their cousin how to Bey-Blade

The amusement park-esque activities are usually done with my dad and sister...ie we get a break but 

this year Chris and I decided to take the boys to the amusement park...lots of FUN!

S'mores

A highlight of the mountain vacation was making s'mores! Sam must have eaten 3. Tanner loved roasting the marshmallows in the fire. The boys have a great daddy who went through so much trouble to get the fire going just for 30 minutes of entertainment.

Montgomery Bell

This past weekend we headed to Nashville for a Taekwondo tournament and to see a great friends sweet new baby boy. The tournament was actually in Dickson, Tn which is about 45 minutes from Nashville. 

1st place 

1st place green belt and 1st place blue belt from Midtown Taekwondo

Ace Diner 

This was a really great, modern little diner in the heart of Dickson, TN. The food was excellent and so was the coffee which is much needed when traveling with 2 boys.

Family rule...no phones at the dinner table. 

We stayed at the State Park, Montgomery Bell. It was beautiful. I will admit I was a little skeptical when Chris did not take my downtown Nashville advice and booked a house here instead but it was amazing. Honestly I highly recommend it for a family or a weekend trip with your husband. We stayed 2 nights and we were able to ride bikes, run and go for a hike with the boys.

The villas at Montgomery Bell.

beach days

A friend from Tanner's K class was staying in the same neighborhood as us...Tanner was so excited to have a friend.  

This guy will not sit still...he is a busy bee! It makes for a very busy and tired mama. He is always asking me to do something.

I wonder what all they talk about? Every time I looked over they were like little chatter boxes.

Even though Sam is doing great swimming, he has to have his float at the ocean. He will just run right in the water. He has no fear.

Tanner is getting really getting good at chess.  I don't know how to play but he loves to play with my dad and Aunt Katie.

CANNON BALL!

Running wild before "movie night" at Aly's Beach...we watched Zookeeper. It was a cute movie...more appropriate for Tanner but Sam laughed a few times.

Crabbin...what's a beach trip without crabbin?

It looks like they are beating one another but they are not...just getting some crabs.

a beach date

A date with my 2 sweet boys in Seaside.

Eating dinner at Pickles...no surprise there!

Slushies at Frost Bites...pink lemonade, orange and watermelon!

Ahh yes...what better way to end the night than a tantrum? Where are his shoes you ask? He threw them at a lovely family passing by...luckily the dad said we have 3 boys and then guessed that Sam was 3.  They brought a babysitter...clearly they are smarter than me and their budget is bigger! Another family also passed and we also talked about the 3's...I did not know all of this because by 3 Tanner was great...18months-30months...not so much. Anyhoo when Sam finally decided to get up and walk...we passed the 2nd family getting in their car and their son was having a tantrum in the carseat. The mom was like see??? Then we talked about how many times we had each left Target empty handed due to major melt downs.

Overall...date night was SUPER!