On Saturday, July 12th, we took an early morning flight from Newark to Myrtle Beach. Then we got a minivan rental and made the drive to Long Beach. The ride was made incredibly more fun with the Kidzbop CD we got at Sonic as you can see in the video. Oh yes, we listened to this again and again and again...
The beach was beautiful for our arrival and we couldn't wait to hit the beach!
Chris headed out to the grocery store and I took the kids down to the beach. I wanted a more traditional family picture... but our kids were wild and crazy so I had to settle for this crazy pose. You can't say my kids don't have personality.
The Summer of 2014 will go down in the books as the year we followed Nelli Beach Week with a crazy road trip to Connecticut for Kate and Patrick's wedding. What were we thinking? Sure, Isaac at 4 months was pretty portable... He still slept a lot and wasn't too much trouble. We could do this... right? 4 kids and a crazy road trip... Well we did. (with stories to tell!)
Travel Plan: Houston to New Jersey flight (July 11)
Wedding in Greenwich, Connectivut - driving (July 25-26)
New Jersey to Houston flight home (July 27)
So, we were excited to start our trip with a flight to New Jersey. As you can see, the baby was content to nap and nurse most of the way... not too much trouble.
Our plan was to stay the night in New Jersey and fly to Myrtle Beach the next day on an early flight. We did this to maximize our frequent flyer miles as the round trip Houston to New Jersey flight was free. :-)
1st problem: Our luggage arrived in New Jersey but the car seats did not. We didn't need our car seats to take the shuttle bus to our hotel but we would need them the next day as we traveled to Myrtle Beach and drove to Oak Island. Luckily, I had grabbed pizza for the kid's dinner in the terminal so they were able to eat while Chris sorted things out... and yes, that took forever. Thank goodness for the pizza because the kids were starving! Did I mention it was like 9:00 at night? The car seats ended up being on some other flight but they would be waiting for us at the airport for our early morning flight. (which they were)
So by 10pm, we were on the shuttle bus to our hotel. By 7am we were back on the shuttle bus to catch our next flight to Myrtle Beach. Yup... that was fun. Note to self: Let's not do that again.
I think Isaac's 15th week portrait could be my all time favorite. It was such a pretty day outside and the combination of his sweet smile, little duck and the patio pavers for the background just made a great picture. His 'I'm a Big Deal' romper was also one of my favorites. I was sad to see him outgrow it!
Our buddy Travis had some fun with Isaac's portrait. Here you have a cigar smoking, business formal, pirate baby... Ha!
I'm glad we got this picture of Isaac in the bumbo. The bumbo is really awesome when baby can't sit yet but our chunky monkey's thighs were so big that his time in there was really limited. To get him in, we basically had to stuff his bottom in the seat and then pry the leg openings apart to wedge him in there! Oh, Isaac. No need to use the safety buckle... this kid would not be getting out on his own. :-)
This one pretty much melts my heart. And he's wearing his Mommy Loves Me onesie.
And some sillyness... Look at Isaac's face!
And more sillyness... Isaac is punching his brother. This game is sure to continue as he grows.
Also from this week: we had a dentist appointment for the big kids and I noticed they were all in blue. The reflection shows I was the odd one out in purple. It's too bad I didn't get the baby in this picture because he was in his royal blue polar bear hugs onesie and blended right in. We all thought it was funny since we didn't plan it.
A little summer boredom... I mean napkin origami.
And summer isn't complete without time at the pool... and "take a picture of me!"
Isaac was one of those babies that wanted to be held all the time so this sling was a life savior for me to get things done and not have to hear him cry so much. Besides, I kind of liked having him close to me so I could give him more kisses. :-)
I don't think they noticed my 'No Solicitors' sign....
.
It's really fun to live by a pond with ducks. Even though you're not supposed to, the kids love to feed them and everyone is completely delighted when they have ducklings. It's fun to count them, watch them grow and follow their Mama around. This brood of ducklings really liked to make the rounds. Apparently, not enough kids were coming to the pond so this resourceful Mama duck took to making house calls. Seriously, I looked out the window one morning and saw this! She didn't ring the doorbell... but I think she would have if she could. But no, even as cute as they were, I didn't feed them. Duck poop is pretty nasty and I wanted them to go away so I just took a quick picture. Mama duck didn't stick around too long once she figured out she was only getting her family's picture taken.
The Woodlands really knows how to celebrate the 4th of July and we love having the Smiths come to celebrate with us! Between our two families, we now have 8 children! How crazy is that? And how did that happen? Well, it is certainly fun getting the kids together and we now have the "routine" down for all the festivities. On July 3rd, we go and listen to the symphony at the Pavillion. This year, it rained all day on the 3rd and we really considered skipping it. However, the kids were getting really cooped up at the house and the rain stopped, so we decided to go ahead and go. It ended up being beautiful weather and no crowds... which NEVER happens! We strolled in at the beginning of the show and were able to grab seats in the covered section. The kids still decided to sit on blankets in the grass but we were able to keep an eye on them and everyone really enjoyed it. We got a group shot too! Look at the empty grassy area... hard to believe.
Early on the morning of the 4th of July, we get everyone out of bed and pack it up to see the parade! This is difficult because we stay up late for the symphony but I'm always glad we do it once we get there. The kids get all kinds of freebies and I always love to see all the school marching bands. It is usually HOT... but this year wasn't too bad. Another group picture of our 8 kiddos too!
This year, Emily enjoyed saluting all our military folks. The tanks are always a big hit.
So if you are paying attention at this point, you may be thinking, how do you transport 8 children and their parents around this great town of ours? Well, it just so happened that this weekend, Chris had a rental 12 passenger van so that he could entertain the Chinese visiting his office. Well that worked our well for us! And yes, the kids LOVED the 12 passenger van. So fun!!! Isaac, as you can see in the video, was also well entertained.
The Woodlands pools are open to the public on the 4th of July and have lots of fun activities planned for the kids. Everyone voted to go to the water park and brave the crowds. We got really lucky and scored some chairs in the shade as someone was leaving so we had a great home base for everyone to come and go from. Our oldest children were able to enjoy a little freedom to come and go as they please and I think everyone had a really fun time. Isaac was cool in his sailor suit and partied as much as he could... and passed out in the pool chair when he couldn't take it anymore. What a trooper.
And finally, we headed to the Waterway for the fireworks on the night of the 4th. We thought we had a great spot staked out and really enjoyed running around the koi ponds near Chris's office. I love these pictures of our kids hanging out together. Unfortunately, we picked a viewing location in the fall out zone. The fireworks were literally right above us but due to the way the wind was blowing all kinds of ash and debris fell on us during the show. It was not the best... but we managed to find shelter and stick it out. Lesson learned though.... we'll do better next year!
And of course like most visits, some of the best times are had just relaxing at the house. Baby Isaac provided quite a bit of the entertainment. The children LOVED him and he really enjoyed all the attention. Babies are so much fun. Till next year!
Emily's standardized test scores were high enough for her to be invited to attend DECATS, a 3 week summer enrichment program for academically talented scholars. She attended school each day but got to take fun classes like origami, crime scene investigation, and desert island survival skills... along with morals to manners and some other good stuff. From the outside looking in, I saw a lot of high-energy singing and dancing going on each day... so lots of fun to be had, I'm sure. It was a great experience for her and we hope she will be invited back next year. I was very blessed to have a friend drive her to and from school each day since I was caring for baby Isaac... talk about being spoiled! Emily enjoyed this time with her girlfriend Rebecca so it was a wonderful arrangement for us both. The pictures below were taken on the last day, July 3rd, after the students performed in an assembly for the parents.
See if you can find Emily in these two videos... She's in the front row on the left side of my video...the very exuberant child, of course.
