Football Come Quickly

Every year in August we are so ready for the football drought to be over. I think a certain Daddy was especially missing it this year. Because when the girls and I got home from church one Sunday morning this is what we walked into...

Only a few more weeks to go boys!

Another Half Birthday

8 and 1/2?!?! Collins Fork stop growing up so fast! Each time we eat at Howling Cow to celebrate another half birthday, I have to remind myself we have six months before she turns another year older. It's just going by too fast!

New Shoes

When we were at Figure 8, Addie and Mimi started planning Addie's Halloween look. The original idea was for Addie to go as a Dalmation (with Luke as the firefighter). Pinterest yielded a polka dotted tutu with white teenie pumps to go with it. So Mimi gave Addie an array of white shoe options, and of course she chose an official pair of cheerleading shoes with a star on them.

And then the Halloween costume naturally morphed from a dog to a cheerleader. Now this was something Addie could really get excited about!

So Mimi ordered the coveted white cheerleading shoes, and Addie began to ask every single day after that if they were already at her house in Raleigh.

FINALLY the shoes arrived on her doorstep, and never has a little girl been so excited for a delivery. Behold the cheerleading shoes!!!

 And turns out they go with all other kinds of outfits as well... :)

Obviously a good purchase and plenty of inspiration for Halloween!

Movie Party

The kids were invited to Adair's movie birthday party at the Rialto. What a neat idea! They watched "Finding Nemo" on the big screen, ate a load of popcorn, and came away with a giant blowup fish. Saturday morning fun with neighbors!

Friday Night Friend Swim

The Camps invited us and the Moores to join them at the pool for a Friday night swim and dinner. The kids were thrilled! They got to do a million laps on the huge slide, eat sliders and cupcakes (Allie made them for us), play with their friends, and stay up way past their bedtime. A fun way to start the weekend!

Marbles Visit

I'm a bad Mom because I never take my kids to Marbles. It's such a cool museum, but I am always worried about the germs there. Luckily, Donna always offers to take them so they can get their Marbles fix in. They had a great morning at the museum, and then we had a tasty lunch at Big Ed's afterwards. A fun summer outing!

Moore Square is newly opened and revitalized. Luke doesn't look too thrilled about it in this picture, but it's a great green space now with a cool water feature and a little cafe. A nice addition to downtown!

Reading Challenge

The summer slump is a real thing. We didn't want the girls to get behind on their school progress during the summer so we started a summer reading challenge. I made a chart, and they were expected to read/work on their letters every single day for at least 30 minutes until the day we went to Bald Head (the end of our summer). And they did it! They were really proud of themselves and thrilled to receive the coveted reward at the end of the challenge- a new doll from Target. Each girl came home with a new friend, and I felt like they were prepared to take on their next challenge...kindergarten and third grade!

Slumber Party

Talk about the best day ever! After getting to have "Collins Day Alone with Mom" in the morning, she got to have her bestie come over for a slumber party that afternoon and night. Collins is really into slumber parties these days so she was thrilled to host Reeves for a night of baking...

 

fancy tea parties...

 silliness...

movie watching...

and makeup! All of her favorite things in one day...what a lucky girl!

Collins's Day

At the beginning of each summer, the kids and I make a bucket list of what fun things we want to do during their time off. This year, I had a new idea for the list- let Collins and Addie each have a day alone with Mom and they could make up the itinerary. They loved this plan!

So Collins went first, and she chose to go see a movie (Hotel Transylvania 3 in the fancy recliner seats), get a pedicure, and eat a cupcake. If that's not Collins, I don't know what is! It was super fun and felt very special to spend the morning together just us.

No doubt "Day alone with Mom" will be on the summer bucket list from now on!

Summer Things

Back at home we jumped right back in to some of our favorite summer activities...making tomato pies, roller skating, and the park!

Spa Day

Because two straight weeks at the beach wasn't relaxing enough, the girls felt the need to create a spa in Collins's room as soon as they got home from our trip. They offered massages, manicures, and even hot bubble baths for those family members who really needed to unwind. Seeing the mountain of laundry that awaited me upon our return, I booked an appointment immediately! :)

Beautiful Figure 8 Island

We drove across the bridge, and all I could see was water and marsh. Turns out that besides beach houses, there's not much else on Figure 8 island but beautiful water and marsh. And that's precisely why we ended up loving it. 

As first time visitors to the island we weren't sure where the best place to stay was, but Mom ended up choosing a great house. It had awesome ocean and sound views across the entire top floor which is where we played games, cooked, and hung out. And then the beach was only a few steps away.

Look at these pictures of an empty beach...I took these the Saturday afternoon we got there! If there was no one on the beach over the weekend, you can imagine how private it was during the week. It was really cool having a beach pretty much to ourselves- especially when the sand was soft and wide and clean and the water was green and clear. We have always loved Kiawah's wide empty beaches, but honestly this was even nicer. It made a really good first impression.

Our first night there started with a low country boil...

and ended with the most spectacular welcome sunset.

We rocked and hung out on the porch with chocolate peanut butter bars in hand. That's pure happiness right there. :)

Luke eased into his second week of beach life with some fishing...

and some aggressive swinging in the hammock. 

He even let his sisters take a turn.

On Sunday, we explored the beach...and marveled at having the place to ourselves.

This is a first...Collins reading by herself on the beach! You can tell our little girl is growing up with this picture.

Luke loved when the tidal pools formed, and plopped himself in one and didn't want to get out.

The next day, we decided to explore the North end of the island. This turned out to be my favorite place on Figure 8. 

It was a bit of an adventure getting to the beach when the tide was up....especially when we noticed the first crab walking around beside us. Turns out there were many! Natalie and Hannah helped guide the way.

But we forged ahead, and the view at that end of the island was completely worth the wading.

Time to hunt for shells...(and figure out what celebrity was on this over-the-top yacht.)

Success! We have never found such good shells at a beach before. Guess it's the lack of people on the island that helped our little shell collector rake them in.  

Collins and Luke preferred the tidal pools to the shell hunt.

Al found the first sand dollar (which turned out to be one of many)!

A trip to the end of the island turned out to not only be good for shelling, but was also a spectacular location to watch the sunset. We just rode our bikes down for the evening show.

  

We got greedy for good shells and went back for more the next morning.

Love these sweet shots of Brian and Luke wading over...

Love how clear the water is...

Addie's dreams came true- we found whole conch shells! By the end of the week, you should have seen our collection.

 

This was cool...one afternoon on the beach, we heard a rumble that quickly turned into a load roar. Then all of a sudden we saw this line of military helicopters come into view and fly right over us!

And we even managed a decent group shot!

The coolest thing we did on the trip was rent a boat for a day. This was Brian's dream come true...he adores boating in this area. We split into groups and took the first group on a tour of the waterway. 

I get Brian's boating obsession. To be on the open waters, to feel the breeze rushing past you, to see dolphins swimming beside your boat, and to gaze upon nothing but coastal scenery- it is really the coolest thing.

We anchored at Masonboro Island, the big uninhabited island next to Wrightsville. I love this place. You are literally alone on an protected natural island.

But a crazy thing happened when we were got out of the boat and walked ashore. The mud beneath the boat ate Addie's flip flop! She was wading to shore and then all of a sudden couldn't find her shoe- it had sunk into the mud never to be found again!

First, our girl lost her shoe and then came a traumatic swimming experience. We all attempted to go swimming in the ocean together. Then a big wave came up, and I was holding Luke. I was worried I wouldn't be able to reach over the wave with him so I handed him off to Brian quickly and took Addie (who he was holding). I thought we could jump the wave together, but my timing was too late. So my only choice was to swim under the wave with Addie. It scared her to death when I pulled her under because she had never done that before. She came up screaming. Ugh, I hate it happened like that and that she got scared. We need to teach her how to dive under the waves soon. She recovered quickly, but we definitely had to stay in the tidal pools after that! 

A souvenir from the island...which made her happier. :)

Next stop? Lunch at Dockside. We arrived a bit bedraggled- wet with windblown hair, and Addie with no shoes. But we enjoyed a beer and some seafood by the water which was fun. And it's always more interesting to drive a boat to lunch instead of a car. :)

Then back to Figure 8 to change up crews. 

It was so funny, after spending all morning whizzing across the water in the boat exploring an island, Addie and Luke got to ride in Mom's Hyundai back to the beach house WITHOUT car seats. Addie was giddy with happiness getting to ride with just a seat belt and announced that this was the "most thrilling moment of her life". 😆

I think Collins might take after her Daddy because she wouldn't get off the boat. She stayed on that thing the whole eight hours we had it. She loved being on the water.

Brian took me and Collins out for one last joy ride before it was time to turn the boat back in.

One of my moments of pure happiness that day was laying with my girl on the front of the boat as we soared across the water. I think we might have even held hands. :) It just doesn't get any better than that!

The next morning, Luke was up with the sunrise. This normally annoys me, but I quickly realized we could make it to the beach in time to see the show so I was grateful to him for getting me out of bed.

A nice man walking by on the beach handed this conch to Luke...

It was a spectacular show that morning, and we even got to enjoy it with Mimi who was walking back down the beach.

Later in the day we headed back to the beach for some playing...it's not always easy to get the kids to go out in the afternoon after they've come back in the beach house for lunch and relaxation. But on this day we were successful.

Pretty sure we completed at least three if not four puzzles during our week at Figure 8. Our team of puzzle specialists is strong. :)

 Love the time Baba gets to spend with the kids. It is so special to me and them.

Our last day there, we felt like we were in the Caribbean. The water was so green and clear and shallow! We sang songs and swam around where everybody could touch the ground, and it was so much fun.
   

 Caught from behind...sweet sisters.

 Dance party on the coffee table...

and then dinner out. Love how they are each a head taller than the other!

Sadly, we did not get our Mexican dinner (the Tower 7 sister restaurant we were so excited about was way packed), but we did get a night out together all cleaned up.

It was a week of pure relaxation at one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. It was competitive Monopoly games with Collins leading the way; it was Luke sleeping pretty darn well inside a closet; it was showering exclusively outdoors; it was eating way too many chocolate peanut butter bars; it was extremely comfortable living chairs perfect for a very pregnant sister; it was fun and special in every way. Will always treasure the happy memories from our first trip to beautiful Figure 8 Island!