Emerald Isle 2010, Part 2

The Aquarium was one of our favorite parts of our vacation. This is Todd, Justin's cousin's husband, who works there and took us "behind the scenes" to show us how things stay up and running and the holding tanks for some of the animals. He even let the boys touch a lagerhead sea turtle and an aligator. This is the only picture we have of the four of us from the whole week. Dang!These just make me laugh :)

This was during the bird show that Todd helped put on. Cole wasn't too sure about being so close- I'm with you buddy! Birds are definately not my thing. Kellen, on the other hand, loved the bird show. Everytime they would take a bird out of the room he'd say "where'd he go?" and then "there he is" when another one flew out. I was nervous about whether or not we'd make it through the whole show because it was 30 minutes long and they said if you have to leave you can't come back in because of the risk of the birds escaping. It was definately worth the $8 because both boys were mesmerized the whole time.

They were so intrigued by everything that I couldn't get them to even LOOK at the camera, let alone smile for it.

Hard to see, but they are in front of the huge shark tank. We even got to see the divers swim with the sharks!

My cousin Cassidy ("Cassie" to the boys) is one of Cole's favorite people. He just adores her.

I know this looks like I staged this picture, but I really didn't. Isn't it precious!

Kellen loves when my Aunt Suzi sings to him. He had her sing "Playmate" about 15 times in a row! "Again! Again!" She sang the same song to me when I was a baby and says I loved it just as much as Kellen does.

There was only one person more tired at the lunch table than this sleepy guy after a morning at the beach...

Here he goes...


Still sucking on the bite of food in his mouth...


And he's OUT!!



He didn't even wake up when I swiped the food out of his mouth and carried him to bed. He slept for almost 4 hours that day!

Kellen and uncle Van having a serious conversation no doubt.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!! Cole said he wanted to sit with "both Nina and Pops laps"... so that he did!

Kellen and aunt Jen have a very special bond. He chases her with trucks, she lets him run over her face with them, ya know, the usual stuff :)

Playing in the sand with Cassie

Cole and Nina being silly with the rubber snake

Kellen could sucker anyone into reading him a book, especially the ladies!

The boys doing what they did best... filling up the bucket with water, then putting their toys in it, then filling it with sand, then dumping it out....repeat.

Digging holes and letting the waves fill them up. It's the little things that excite toddlers!

Justin took the boys out into the ocean to "swim" every single time they asked. Such a good Daddy! They loved being out there with him and chanted "my turn! my turn!" as they waited with me for their chance to go. None of my pictures came out any good of them out in the water because I didn't bring my bigger zoom lens. I can't imagine why... everything else managed to make it into the car!

Oh the infamous kite! Justin asked me if I wanted him to pick up a kite from work when they were having a big sale. I said sure thinking it would be a fun thing for us to do in the evenings with the boys. I'm picturing a little pizza box sized thing with streamers and bright colors... Funny thing is (if you know my husband you are laughing right along with me) he just grabbed this kite without reading anything about it on the label. I never even saw it until he brought it out of the car when we got to the beach but as soon as he pulled the mammoth thing out I just started shaking my head. He bought a double handle kite that is bigger than both of my children combined that is made for tricks and expert kite flyers (if there is such a thing). It's all aerodynamic and shaped in a big V so it can dive and spin and go like 100mph! It took a good 20 minutes to put the thing together and then it was so big and hard to maneuver that the boys couldn't even hold onto it by themselves. Nonetheless, everything Daddy does is super cool, so they thought it was the best kite ever! Maybe next year we will get a kid kite and save the mammoth kite for when they are older, like say 15 ;0)

What a great vacation! Is it time to go back yet?

Emerald Isle 2010, Part 1

Our beach vacation this year is one I know I will always remember. Both boys truly adored the sun, sand, and waves of Emerald Isle, NC. For 7 days we had nowhere to be. We played in the sand, the boys swam in the ocean, we went to the Aquarium, we flew kites, we stayed up late, we napped (ALL OF US!), we had special snacks and ice cream, and we enjoyed each other's company. There were no coupons to clip, no errands to run, no jobs to get to, and it was rejuvinating for all of us to break our routine. The first 4 days was just the 4 of us, and then we spent 3 amazing days with family. It was perfect. My boys are absolutely, without a doubt, the luckiest kids in the world to have so many people that love them and genuinely love spending time with them. I adored watching them play with everyone, especially my brother and sister-in-law who we don't see very often. I have so many pictures that I'm going to break them up into 2 posts. I'm trying really hard to get caught up on posting all our fun adventures this summer, but wanted to skip ahead a little to get these beach pictures up. Here's Cole ready to go to the beach the first day. The farmers tan progressively faded :)

What would boys be without trucks?


I've had several people ask me how Kellen liked the sand. Last year he was so young that he never really played much in the sand, but I'd say this year he made up for what he missed! He would literally just roll in the sand. I am still pulling sand out of his hair 5 days out from our last day at the beach.

Check out that hair!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the week. So simple, but it makes my heart smile.

The boys had fun one day catching those little sand crabs when the waves washed out. I'm surprised Cole actually touched one.

I am such a sucker for this little guy! Notice he is covered head to toe in sand.

I can't believe I didn't get one single picture of all four of us on the beach, but here's Mommy and the boys, and Daddy and the boys. Notice the position of K's right hand in the pic with Daddy- I guess he feels the need to constantly check that it's still there ;-)

Sweet Cole kisses. That boy has a heart of gold. As you can see we left the boys in regular diapers the first day on the beach because I figured we could put their swim diapers on when they wanted to go swimming...BAD IDEA!! Trying to take a wet and sandy diaper off a wet and sandy kid in order to pull a clean swim diaper over wet and sandy legs was pretty miserable for all those involved. Lesson learned!
While at Uncle Van and Aunt Gail's cottage (thank you, thank you, thank you!) we read lots of books, had lots of snuggles, and more than one dance fests! Justin was so nice to take lots of pictures during the week so I could be in some with the boys! I am NOT tickling Kellen in this picture to get him to smile... how DARE you think that :)

This is another one of my favorites from the week. My cousin Kevin is in the middle, his girlfriend Erin to his right, and of course one of my favorite people in the world is my cousin Kristen on the right.

My Little Artists

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, and the boys decided to show off their painting skills. If anybody is looking for some good toddler paint, this crayola finger paint is awesome! It rinses right off and comes out of clothes easily.

Kellen got a little distracted following a bug :)