Beach Week 2010

I'll start by saying that I've added an obscene amount of pictures from our trip but I'm the worst at "weeding out" the ones that don't deserve some love so I apologize in advance for making you look through a million. We went with my parents and brother and sister in law to Holden Beach for a week of fun in the sun. We couldn't have asked for better weather as it only rained once and that was at night. It's been ridiculously hot around here so the beach was the perfect place to spend the week and that's just what we did. We stayed at a house close to the inlet so low tide was the perfect time for the boys to play in calm water without getting knocked down by waves.

Carter loved it and was a beach bum through and through. He was so grown up and happy to just play alone or to help Coop with whatever he wanted to do at the time. We still have a napper at almost 5 years old but let him stay up for the week and hang out on the beach for the afternoons. He and Cooper would wake up around 6:30, which is way earlier than their normal routine at home, and play hard until 9:30 or so when we would finally decide to put them to bed. They were honestly so good that it was a nice treat for us to throw out our routines and just go with the flow. Despite the 50spf sunscreen Carter now looks like my little Indian child while little brother was left with the "white" genes. Carter has never been a very modest child but he must be getting to that age where he's becoming more and more concerned with who sees him in his birthday suit. He would go into his bedroom to get dressed and only let me and Jamey help him if he needed any help with his clothes. It was so sweet and honestly a little bit nice for me because I don't get the chance to help Carter that often because he does so much by himself now.

Cooper was too funny and had some of the quotes for the week for sure. His go to phrase was "so, so happy" whether he was talking about being so, so happy to be at the beach, the beach house, or his big boy bed. He told us the 1st day, "These waves love me, Mommy," and was about as brave as they come. He wanted to "swim" in the inlet without his wings and had no problems venturing out with no one out there to be his final destination. He was his typical unpredictable self too in that he'd be so independent and brave one second and then want me to hold him the next. He was great with everyone and much more open to letting other people play instead of just me, which was a great break for me! He slept in a room with Carter in twin beds and they had me and Jamey cracking up at 6:30am with there little jokes and conversations. My brother told them to say, "Save the neck for me Clark" from Christmas Vacation one night and the next morning they were both saying any body part they could think of in place of neck and laughing harder than I've ever heard them! They are so funny together and loved sharing a room for the week. Coop was happy to get back home to his crib but is well aware that his days in it are numbered and he seems just fine with the plan to move across the hall pretty soon!

We really had the best time enjoying the company of family and didn't want the week to end. Carter told us on the last night that he had a great idea - we could just stay one more week instead of packing up and heading home! If only it were that easy we would've done just that! I don't mean to sound like a lush but being at the beach and with fun people makes me miss alcohol all the more. Sarah and my parents took care of me and bought me O'Doul's and made me fun La Croix drinks that made it much more enjoyable to be amongst the drinking crowd! It's hard to believe only 3 more months to go until we meet this sweet little boy. I can only imagine just how chaotic our beach trip will be next year with 3 little ones but I'm honestly already looking forward to it! Thanks Mom and Dad, for yet again another awesome week - we already miss you all so much!



Cooper LOVES Uncle B and doesn't pass up a chance to be silly with him.




Cooper and Pop playing chase on the beach.
King of the Mountain!


Deer right outside our door that Carter went to check out.
Coop splashing away while Nunu swam across the inlet by herself in the background.

Carter attempting to catch minnows - it's so much harder than it looks but we did find several hermit crabs and a conch to bring home as souvenirs!
Cooper styling and profiling after Pop brushed his hair getting ready to go out for dinner one night.




Family photo attempt number million! It was too bright for us to all really look so I took what we could get!



Not the best picture of them but I just love their sweet little faces, smiling or not.






Bribery works wonders when you're trying to take 50 pictures of two busy boys!








Almost 6 months or 26 weeks pregnant, where does the time go?!