4th of July at the Beach

So the last full day of our trip was the 4th of July. This was the first year I can remember spending the 4th at the beach. It was a lot of fun. Mimi and I woke up that morning before everyone else and decided to walk across the street to have breakfast at a little cafe and watch the parade the town puts on. It was cute and Mimi had fun, but I forgot to grab my camera, so no photos, oops.

Then Katie took Mimi into Seaside with her to walk around and shop and take some photos. The "daytime" 4th of July outift I had prepared for Mimi to wear was too big, so I threw together a last minute patriotic ensemble, and I ended up loving the snaps Katie took of her in it.

Then  it was time for more beach playing. And of course Mimi had to break out her patriotic bikini.

We spent the whole day soaking up the sun on our last day on the beach and came in that evening to get dressed for the night's events in town and to take a few beach photos. We were so glad to have Katie there to do this for us. It's a blessing having such a good photog in the family!

Some of us weren't feeling it.



 But a bribe of some Skittles quickly took care of that.

Someone had dug a giant hole in the sand so we decided to do a "Jolliest Juniors" yearbook photo, ha.

The water was perfect, but a bunch of sea grass and stuff had washed up on the beach. I thought it would ruin our pics, but I kind of like it.

After our quick photo shoot, we went to town for Seaside's 4th of July festivities. Talk about unprepared! It was SO crowded. We totally should have gone earlier in the day and set up our spot in the grass in the ampitheater. There were tons of people there. We ended up sitting at a picnic table in front of my fave air stream food trailer, Barefoot BBQ, and we were able to listen to the band, eat, people-watch and we had a great view of the fireworks. I am still thinking about that BBQ and wishing I had some right now.

 Mimi was just glad to enjoy her Skittles for being such a good little model in our photos. Whatever it takes, y'all. For the memories.

Blurry pic I snapped of Mimi and Katie watching the fireworks.

 

Better pic Katie snapped of Mimi and I watching the fireworks.

I worried Mimi would be afraid of the loud popping, but she loved it. I adore fireworks, and it was the best show I have ever seen. We haven't talked about when we will go back next year, but I wouldn't mind going back for the 4th again for the fireworks alone. Someone was singing the national anthem on the stage behind us, the fireworks were gorgeous, I had my sweet family with me, and I'm not going to lie, I got chill bumps and a litle teary-eyed thinking of how blessed I am. Of course, I had to snap out of it when Amelia announced she had to poop and we had to scurry around to find a bathroom, ha. Nothing like life with a toddler to keep you on your toes.

Until next year, Seaside!

Vacation at the Beach

What a blog slacker I've been lately! Unlike some people for whom summer is a time to slow down, it seems that we are busier than ever. The month of June is a blur with Cliff gone all the time for basketball camp. My job starts getting pretty busy in the summer also, preparing for summer alumni events and Homecoming, which is creeping up quickly. It has been easier not having to get Amelia up and ready for school every day. She has been getting to hang out with Katie at home everyday and they are both loving it! Their days have been filled with swimming, visits to the library, art projects, trips to the splash park and much more. Yes, I believe the word you are looking for here is spoiled. rotten.

We were so glad we had a chance to go on vacation a couple of weeks ago to Seaside, Florida. We stayed at the same place as last year and it was just as great as we remembered. Amelia had been talking about going to the beach since February, and we all had been counting it down for months. I didn't know how she would do this year since last year she was still a little young to hang out on the beach for long so Cliff and I ended up taking turns with her at the pool while the other got to hang out on the beach. Luckily for us, this year Mimi LOVED playing in the sand and in the water, so we all got to spend lots of time together on the beach. Of course we took a million pics, so I will try to narrow it down to my faves.

First afternoon at the beach. Got right to work playing in the sand and water!

Posing just like Daddy while waiting to eat at Louie Louie



Showing off her gymnastics moves at the Ampitheater in Seaside. She wore herself out before the outdoor movie began so we went on home. Maybe next year I'll get to fulfill my dream of getting to watch a movie under the stars in Seaside.

It's not a beach trip without ice cream. Mimi chose "green."

We were pleasantly surprised to find out one of my college friends and her family were vacationing near us and they came over one day to hang out and let Amelia and Brantlee play together.  We had a great time with them.

After a couple of days time with just our family of three, Katie came down and joined us for the weekend. After she got there, I pretty much stopped taking pics, and Mimi saw a lot of this:

From here on out the pic quality vastly improves, ha. Katie got an old film camera at an estate sale recently and she had fun taking some pics with it. She had a roll of black and white film so a lot of these B&W pics were taken with that camera, althought I don't think this one was.

Believe it or not, Mimi loved getting buried in the sand. She was so still while I completely covered her in it.

Then we decided to bury Daddy.

A couple of fun ones with the old camera.

A lot of these are out of order, but I just couldn't deal with moving them around.

Mare and Justin recently moved to Fort Rucker, Alabama (I can't even talk about it), which is only about an hour and a half away from where we were, so they came over to spend some time with us. These are the only pics I have of them that I am brave enough to share because Mare is very pregnant with our sweet baby Jackson, and she would probably murder me for posting pics of her in a swimsuit at 9 months pregnant. But anyway, Mimi was pumped to get to hang out with them, and we all had a great time together.




This pic makes me laugh because Katie told Mimi to give the thumbs up and this is what she did.



One day she came in from swimming in the ocean (on a little inflatable ring) and curled up in my lap under the umbrella and just crashed. Sweet girl.



Katie captured this sweet pic of me and my favorite girl when I wasn't looking. Love it.

Whew, that was a ton of pics. I will have to pick this up in another post. Next up, 4th of July and family beach pics!