Myrtle Beach 2009

Alrighty. Moving right along to summer...

We had so much fun last year that we headed back out to Myrtle Beach as soon as school was out. It's a great time to visit because most schools haven't finished up yet but it's still warm enough to play in the water. We tricked the Galan family into coming with us and were also joined by Boone's parents because they invite themselves on all of our cool trips:) Which we love, because then we don't have to work as hard.

Pretty obvious/generic playing in the sand pictures, but my kids are in them so I think they're just smashing. If you don't agree...well...a pox on you!

Okay, so it's no secret that I love me a good meal. So when I read the reviews for Rioz Brazilian Grill I knew we had to go. Turns out it was Ray's birthday so we had an excuse to indulge, and indulge we did. The food was divine, the service outstanding (they even forgave Sarah for stealing their bread-stuffed napkin and rewarded her for returning it by making her more bread).


See how happy food makes me? Happy, and also a bit unstable from the looks of this picture.



The kids ate for free and were treated so well! They all got chicken nuggets delivered to them on a sword, and their own silver platters of mac and cheese and fries, plus they could eat any meat they wanted and anything from the salad bar. Awe. Some.



Keaton and his Nana enjoying the night. No picture, but the Key Lime Pie was embarrassingly good.



That kid inhaling Red Vines? That is my son. Amen.



Ahhh, the "crab-itat". So Rylan is frolicking in the surf one afternoon and catches a hermit crab. I take the above picture to document the event, thinking it was pretty lucky that she caught one alive. Boy was I wrong.

The kids continued to successfully hunt for hermit crabs in the low tide, eventually opting for buckets to hold dozens at a time. (Do you see my little buddy in the upper left? I love this picture because of that little hidden Keaton).

After an hour or so, Keaton gave up to focus his energy on river building. It's important work, especially on beaches. But while Keaton was digging his rivers, our "beach neighbors" caught our crabitat vision and joined in.



I am not exaggerating when I tell you that ALL of these people were finding crabs to bring to our masterpiece, which Boone and Perry worked on for hours -- first digging the pool and then reinforcing the inner wall with mussel shells. Those two were like little boys digging in the sand all day long, but I'll admit they had everyone impressed more than once!

We ended up with well over a hundred crabs in the pool and I have video proof, but it takes too freaking long to upload videos so you'll just have to trust me. Or come to my house and I'll show you in person. At which point I'll know you don't trust me and I'll quit speaking to you. Just keepin' it real.

Branik missed all the excitement when he decided to put himself down for a nap on the beach. We draped towels over his head to shade his face, and he slept like this for over 2 hours.

And yes, I am actually posting a picture of Boone and I in bathing suits. Why? Because although we gross ourselves out now (cue Boone saying, "I look like I have a boob!"), in 20 years we'll look back and say, "Dagnabbit! We were youngin's back then!"



Pretty much the whole trip went beach, eat, then beach again, then eat again. Sounds like heaven, doesn't it?! It was. Even Avery agreed that food was cause for extreme happiness.

Then I flipped the camera and took this one of me and Branik. Have I already mentioned that I have an amazing talent for taking pictures of myself at arms length? Because I so totally do. This photo has not been cropped in any way. I just rock like that. Jealous?

Ray and Keaton braving the waves. These two would stay in the water all day if we'd let them. Well at least until the sand castle construction began.

Once again, the boys had passers-by snapping photos of their handiwork. We actually stood on the balcony of the hotel and watched the tide eventually wash this monster flat. I swear, boys don't really change, they just get bigger toys and more patience.


The Ripley's Aquarium has like a 75% discount for military members, so we spent some time there again this year. Here's Keaton with his Nana again (still).



And the 3 amigos of Myrtle Beach...




...and a pretty funny shot I got of a sting ray. Say cheese!







Branik kind of looks stoned in this picture, but I promise he wasn't. Maybe hung over from all the Red Vines. We all played with the horseshoe crabs again and had a smashing good time.

We loved Myrtle Beach but we had to hit the road for the second leg of our trip. Can you believe your luck that I still have 10 whole days' worth of pictures to post? And that's just until the first week in June! I have about 7 more events after that! Are you starting to grasp why this has been such a daunting task for me to undertake? Sigh. I am so great to appease all of you by blogging every last second of my life for you.

You're welcome, friends. You're welcome.

Spring : The Season Before This One

Uh, so you're pretty much going to want to wish I was still healthy enough to be doing other things any minute now. I am trying my best to crash the internets by clogging it full of family photos. Once I am caught up with the photo obligations, I fully intend to do some of the e-complaining/observing/hypothesizing that you all love so much.

But I'm not even close to being there yet, so here's the fam doing some spring-y things way back in like, spring.

I wish it hadn't been the "Month of the Military Child" festival, because I really wanted to hold that snake. Seriously. I kind of like snakes, especially big ones that I am expecting (not so hot on the little "where did YOU come from?!" variety).




Reason #376 I am glad I am the woman: I don't have to do the slide with the smallest child:) Thanks Boone!


Free pony rides! All you have to do is wait in line for 40 minutes in the blazing sun with 3 whiny children! Who wants in?


Bonus offer: if you actually wait that long in said blazing sun, your 3 year old will decide once he is ON THE PONY that he doesn't feel like it after all. You can see how much we cared. He rode with a pouty lip the whole way.


I want one of these swing rides for my backyard, because I am pretty sure my kids would ride that thing all day long. I, on the other hand, can hardly stand to look at the photos before I get nauseous. Anyone else that used to be able to spin forever and now gets sick rolling over in bed?



I love him. (All 3 hims, but that middle one in particular).



Playing with the Galan kids in the backyard, before the frogs opened a brothel in our kiddie pool and the tadpole invasion of 2009 began (pics to follow).


Post swim party movie night in our living room. It's amazing what a blanket on the floor can do to make kids hold still. Okay, the swimming may have helped a little too.

This concludes the "random spring pictures" section of our semi-annual picture dump. Stay tuned for more (or run far, far away and never look back).

Branik's 3rd Birthday -- Better Late than Never!

(Insert excuses here.)


So Branik turned 3, which still doesn't really make sense to me until I think about how he behaves now versus 6 months ago. The kids in our family sort of skip the whole "terrible twos" thing and dive head first into the "I want to sell you to the gypsies threes".

Anyway, here are some photos to document Branik's passage from innocence into, well, being 3.



Trying to sneak a peek at his presents.



LOVING that we let him have a big boy paper cup (notice the drips all down the front? Branik didn't.)


Okay, now that's just plain adorable. Just photoshop the gobs of food out in your head.



My baby boy, stuffing his 3 year old face with pizza in the backyard. I have a feeling I will be able to put a series of photos like this one together in a few years.



Birthday boy and his daddy. Awww.



Making a wish. For whatever reason, all 3 of my kids opted for "regular" cakes this year. Maybe they're trying to drop subtle hints about my cake decorating skills. Fine by me -- the other cakes take 6 hours and end up not tasting as good because there is so much frosting (I don't love frosting so much. Not in gobs, anyway.)





The Leapster (thanks to Nana and Big Poppy) was really as much for the rest of the family as it was for Bran. Listening to him whine and cry about not getting to use his siblings' prompted us to put one into his hands earlier than we might have otherwise. He just wants to do everything they do.

And Mom, this one's for you. He spent (and still spends) hours on some days driving cars into and out of his Mack truck.

I think he had a fun day, and we are so happy to have our Branik in our family! We love you buddy!

P.S. Somehow Keaton is not in any of these pictures, but I swear he was there.

My kids are cute, my kids are spazoids

Remember like a million years ago when I used to blog? And remember that one time I said I had this post nearly ready to go? Turns out I didn't feel much like blogging for a while, but now I am stuck in "no weight bearing activity land" for another few weeks so my goal is to sit on my (ever-expanding) looong fanny and get the freak caught up.

Without further ado...

MY KIDS ARE CUTE



Awww. Just look at how darling they are, walking together (way back in February) by the Savannah River. There must be all kinds of harmony in our home, right?




And what a darling daughter I have! So feminine and delicate -- carefully leaning down to smell the non-fragrant-even-though-Rylan-swears-they-smell-like-heaven flowers. What a doll!



And doesn't your heart just melt when you see these two boys being best buddies? They'll probably hate this picture in about 5 years or so, but I will post it for the world to see because I am mean like that.


Oh you silly Keaton! Look at you playing peek-a-boo through your hands! (This is starting to nauseate me and I'm the mom-- how are you holding up?)



My baby boy. So sweet, so playful, can't do anything wrong, love him to pieces!


And now, ahem...

MY KIDS ARE SPAZOIDS



Seriously? What is that face? Rylan, you need to work on your "I'm thrilled to be pigging out" look. I have mastered mine.



Sigh. How do I explain this one? Okay, so Rylan loves to dress up, and so does Keaton. The problem is that Keaton likes to dress up as a witch, and this ^ is his witch costume. At least in part. You'll see it in it's entirely below. This was dress up meets dance party. Wow.


Correction: dress up meets dance party meets gym. Nothing like a dude lifting weights in a dress.


Okay, so maybe their spazziness has a genetic link. Big thanks to Boone for this flattering shot.


No comment.



The full witch costume: lacy gray dress, princess wand, and sombrero from San Antonio. Oh, and Rylan pumping iron. This is how we wind down around here.



Also no comment.


And this isn't really spazzy, just messy in a 3 year old + tub of yogurt kind of way.

So there. Nothing major, but maybe a good start to my backlog of blogs. You MAY actually see what my children look like currently if I keep this up for about the next 12 days or so. Wish me luck!