Beach Part 3:

Here is the highly anticipated 3rd part of the Hilton Head saga. This day was Monday the 16th. The day started of relaxed and slow as usual. We had decided to take Carson (and Elli) to the Sandbox which is an interactive children's museum. First though we had to get a new camera. Our old one was really a pain to operate and it fell in the sand at the beach and stayed broken for a few minutes.



So off to Wal-Mart we go. In our Wal-mart experience we decided that Wal-Marts are all about the same no matter where you go. There are a few helpful people but in general the associates look at like you have just ruined there day by asking them to help you. Thankfuly the person helping us was nice, but not the other people around her. The poor woman had to help a man, before she got to us, who thought that maybe she had a degree in digital cameras and was asking her questions that almost no one could answer (except her, she rocked). We did eventualy get our camera and were able to head out for fun.



The word museum really doesn't fit the description of this place. It was more like a huge playroom with different stations. There was a place to play in the sand, a building room where you could play with pvc pipe and other things, a dress up corner, a pirate ship, climbing wall, store/kitchen, cockpit, bank/post office, toddler-infant room, art area, and a whole area upstairs geared toward older children. It was a lot of fun. I thought that Carson would never leave the building area, where he made me and alan wear hard hats, but eventually he did. When we got to the store/kitchen he made me wear a chefs hat with him. My hat was pink and his was blue. Carson did almost everything. He did not want to play dress-up (big surprise) or climb the wall, but he did enjoy everything else. We stayed there for 2 hours. The cool thing is that it did not seem like we were there for that long.

Later that evening we went on a date because hubby's boss and wife kept the kids for us. So, we decided to go to another Hilton Head hot spot called Harbour town and eat at the Crazy Crab. Crazy was the appropriate name for this place. Not only were the portions crazy big but it was also crazy busy. Alan kept calling it the crusty crab (sponge bob ref.) just to be funny. Also, because I tend to say things wrong once I here them wrong like saying Crusty Crab instead of Crazy Crab. In other words Alan did it on purpose to hear me trip up all night and laugh. After dinner we walked around and looked in the shops and eventually made our way back to South Beach Marina to look at those shops as well. All in all it was a fun day and a nice and relaxing evening. Although in the back of my mind I keep dreading the trip home. More of that for later!

Beach Part 2:

Before I start about the beach here is something ironic. I get home from my MOPS night out and both of my kids are asleep and my husband has to study for his final exam. Oh well.

Day 2 was Sunday and it was a whole lot better. It was also Father's Day and I realized that ever since my husband became a father we have gone out of town on Father's Day or the weekend after for Father's Day. We have gone nowhere for Mother's Day. I digress. We went to the beach for a few hours which was very interesting to try to get to. I did not realize how much you have to pack for 2 kids for the beach. You need toys, diapers, drinks, bottles, sunscreen, towels, and 2 kids. Then you have to lug all of this down to the beach which is not bad until your 36lb. 2 year old wants to be carried by mommy who is already carrying 2 bags herself. When we finally get to the beach my darling son starts whining about how he does not want to play in the sand he wants to go back to the house, which is code for he wants to swim in the pool. He finally got happy when hubby showed him what all he could do with his sand toys. So they spent their whole time like this, hubby would build son would destroy like he was King Kong and give the most evil laugh after he stomped the creation to bits. My darling daughter spent her time sleeping and eating. We only spent a couple hours at the beach which was enough for them. When we got back to the house they took naps and we just rested. So much work for so little time spent at the beach itself. Son would not even go to the ocean. I think the vastness of the ocean scares him. I can fully understand that.

That evening it started to rain. Everyone at the house was going out to eat that night together, which consisted of 6 adults and 2 kids. Hubby's boss wanted to take us to South Beach where the infamous Salty Dog Cafe was to eat that night. See not only was it Father's Day but it was boss' birthday. So we could eat wherever he wanted, a good note too was that he was paying for it on his birthday which was very generous and sweet. So we get to the Salty Dog in the rain and it is going to be an hour and 20 minute wait. Boss said we could shop and they would buzz us when our table was ready. Shopping in the rain is not possible with 2 kids, it is hard enough when it is not raining. So thank goodness for portable DVD players. We just played a movie while we waited. Actually, hubby let me go shop for souvenir shirts while they watched the movie. I made the mistake of calling him one time and all I could hear in the background was crying. When I got back to the car hubby said they freaked out when I left. When we did finally get seated my darling son just wanted to go look at the fish tanks and lobster tank. Which was really funny because he called the lobsters crabs, but he was so excited to see them that we did not have the heart to correct him. He would also go around to people in our party and tell them that he saw crabs and would proceed to show them where they were as if he was giving tours to the crab tanks. So very cute. The food was good at the Salty Dog and as I said before hubby's generous boss payed for our dinner. After dinner it was still raining so we went back to the house and had ice cream and put the kids to bed.

So ends our second day at the beach. It was allot less stressful, and full of new experiences.

A crane that was in our yard at the beach house, or as Carson called it a big duck.

Some of the creations before they were destroyed.

This is how Elli spent her time at the beach.

Fun

Tag....

Where were you ten years ago?

Dating hubby, living in Shelby

Five items on your to do list today:

1.Elli 2 month well check
2.Nail appointment
3.Laundry
4.Dishes
5.Pick up around house

Snacks I enjoy:

KC Masterpiece chips, brownies, mt. dew, dr. pepper, cold fruit

What would you do if you were a billionare?

Buy a house in Hilton Head, share money with church, friends, and family, pay off debt, and buy a new car exactly the way I want it, buy brother-in-law plane to fly us to Hilton Head.

Places I would live:

the beach (used to be any beach but now I have fallen in love with Hilton Head), and here just in a different house

Bloggers I am passing the challenge on to:

anyone who reads this

Have Fun!

Beach Part 1:

My next few posts are going to be about our recent trip to Hilton Head Island, SC. So, here it goes.


We left on Saturday, the 14th at about 10a.m. Thankfully we were able to get everything we needed packed into the back of our Dodge Stratus. My hubby atributes his success to all of his years of playing tetris. The trip was to take about 5 hours. Well little did we know that traveling with 2 kids makes the trip go longer. This was our first long trip with 2 kids and a 2 month old, so I think we did good getting there in about 7 & 1/2 hours. Part of that was spent at a Chik-fil-A in a town I can't remember. We happened to be there when all the other beach goers were headed home. There was so much traffic that it took us at least 10 minutes to get in the parking lot. Let alone the fact that the place could barley handle the amount of people there. The cool thing is a gentleman struck up a conversation with my hubby because he was holding our beautiful daughter while getting us drinks and we ended up with a free chicken salad sandwich. How awesome is that! We stayed there for a whole hour, but it was worth it because my son got some energy out and my daughter got her poopy diaper changed in a nice restroom. Most of the trip I spent in the back seat with the kids in between the 2 car seats, because my darling daughter was high maintenance or just being a 2 month old on a long care trip. I don't know. If you don't know a Stratus is not very roomy with 2 car seats in the back. It is a midsized 4 door car, but sporty. I am 5'8" with the hips of a woman who gave birth 2 months ago. Not such a comfy ride. Hubby and I started talking minivans really quick and somewhat seriously. We made to Hilton Head safe and sound though, and we all loved the big room that hubby's boss graciously let us have because both kids were going to sleep in the same room with us. Our room had a fire place, jacuzzi tub, and a king size bed. Can we say Fun! I wish we would have taken pics of the room but we didn't. Well, that is it for day 1. Stay tuned for the next instalment of The Beach Chronicles.

OUCH!!

Yesterday our pastor preached on Daniel 3:1-8, 13-18. This is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. During the sermon Pastor Spargo touched on the fact that these 3 guys were going to stay devoted to God wether or not He saved them from the furnace. I thought wow, I want to be devoted like that. In the sermon outline there was one last point which read, the idol I bow down to is called:(blank). I thought this is where we would take time and search our hearts to find what we bow our knee to. No, Pastor Spargo did it for us and hit the nail right on the head.

The idol I bow down to is called: ME. OUCH!! At first I thought how dare he say that. Then the Lord opened my eyes to how true it is. When things are going great and there is no trouble in my life I am completely devoted to the Lord. When things start to go wrong or not my way I bow my knee to the golden idol of myself and become to devoted to me. I become so self-centered and whiney. I start to throw pitty parties and wonder where is God in all of this. Why is He doing this to Me. When instead I should be seeking Him out for strength and become even more devoted to Him. I do seek out the Lord, but is to yell at Him and throw a fit. Now there is a time for that, and I feel it is ok to yell and scream and ask why, but I don't stop there. I wollow in selfishness.

As a matter of fact it happened this weekend. I let one little situation darken what could have been an awesomly fun weekend. I let circumstances get the better of me and take my focus off of my Heavenly Father. I was whiney and ugly, and I let that spue out onto others. So, the Lord has really been showing me alot in the past 24 hours. Which praise His name that with a repenting heart I can go to Him and confess and He will love me and wipe me clean as snow.

Thank you Father for showing me the idol I kept hidden. My goal is to stay devoted to Him no matter what. Friends and family will let me down and money won't always be there, but He will be. That is so comforting to know because I have felt so alone the past few days. I am glad this is out in the open because know I can focus and bow my knee to the Lord. I know I won't always get it and I will definitely bow to myself again, but it is so comforting to know that my Father is there and He loves me and He alone will get me through it.

The Adventure

A couple of Saturdays ago we took the kids to get their pictures taken. Elli needed her 1 month done and I thought it would be a good opportunity to get sibling pics as well. We made an appointment for late in the afternoon wich started out promising. Carson took a great nap. Alan actually had to wake him up. He was in a great mood until we tried to get him dressed for the pics. He decided he did not want to wear the blue polo shirt that I picked out for him. Instead he wanted to wear an orange one. This is when I thought that it was going to be a rough afternoon. Things settled down though. We got to the photography studio and there were people everywhere and again I thought this was not going to be good. To my surprise they went ahead and took us back because we had an appointment and the other people did not. Carson was still on the fence with good behavior though.

When we get into the little studio (I really mean little) Carson starts getting into Everything. The photographer did not care though, she was great. We took pics of Elli first in her dress. Then Carson starts turning on the charm and saying "cheese" so cutely that I have hope of their sibling pics turning out ok. He could not wait for his turn in front of the camera. As a matter of fact he got to take pics all by himself because the photographer fell in love with his cuteness and "cheeses". So while sissy was getting ready for her first (and ONLY) naked pics. (You hear that Hef? Only naked pics ever!) The photographer gets some great candid shots of Carson.

Now it is time for the nakie pics. The poor girl would not turn her head the right way. Everytime we tried to postion her the way her head was going she would look the other way. Also, she kept sliding around on the black velvet background. She eventually pooped all over the background wich just added to the fun and drama of the day.

Well, we finally pay for pics and head out to the car when we notice that someone has taken our nice, sweet, fun loving boy and traded him for a two headed, tantrum throwing monster. What just happened? From the studio to the car he completely changed and not even a trip to McD's would calm him down. That is the tale of one of our many trips for pics., but it was worth it. Here are some of my favorites.

Argh!!!!

I love my darling daughter. I really really do. She is just really testing me right now. She is 7 weeks old and will not take naps in her bed. She will take a short catnap in her bed, but to get her to sleep along time I have to hold her or wear her (put her in a wrap). Most of the time I don't mind holding her or wearing her because I know that this time is fleeting, but the past 2 days have been so tiring with this that I feel like I am about to snap. My hubby says that sometimes we might just need to let her cry. Easy for him to say. He is not here so he doesn't have to hear it. I know he means well and doesn't like to see me tired or frustrated, but her crying just makes the situation worse. We have tried all kinds of things to get her to stay asleep too. Oh well, she is just going to be my spoiled princess. I do love her so very much. Thanks for listening!