Beach Days 3&4

Years and years of friendship right there...love you Em :)

It is so fun that the kiddos are getting older and enjoying wiffle ball and fishing and bike riding...crazy how different than it was the first year we came!  (And p.s. I'm addicted to instagraming my pictures. :))

One of their cheerleaders:

I even got a little time to put my nose in a book...and as mentioned a couple of posts ago, this is good stuff.  Tough but g.o.o.d.  One that needs to be revisited often in this faith walk we travel.

B thought it would be a good idea to rent bikes this year for the first time.  Although there were some skeptics (me, Randy, Dormans, eg), he was right on.  We rode every day and had so much fun going to Coligny or just for ride or calming the babies on the beach or entertaining the bigs on our street.  It was great and worth every penny.  We went days without even getting into our cars.  My kind of vacation :)

Just as lovely and relaxing as it looks :)

Rode down for ice cream after dinner that night and then some evening time on the beach...sad that day 3 is already gone!

Unintentional matching :).  Love the Evans love...

The weather was interesting this year.  Nice temps in the mid 80s and lots of periods of good sunshine, but some portion of threatening rain or storm almost every day.  We watched a funnel cloud form over land one day, a tough storm over the water another day and then crazy sand/wind storms that we've never seen...but it only rained on us once.  All in all, we were thankful that it wasn't in the 100s with no relief and enjoyed the little bit of cloud cover without having to be inside too much for rain like last year.

Digging, building and catching fiddler crabs :)

Our hangout every day...with the addition of bikes this year :)

Cooper fam...super cute and sweet!

Serious wiffle ball playing...

Meanwhile, girl time at the tent :)

Papa helped us out with some fishing gear after we enjoyed it so much this spring at Jekyll...B and the kiddos loved it :)

After naps, Greer sweetly spent some time reading and teaching Garner & Callie at the house :)

Cutie Cooper bike pic...this time we decided to head to the splash pad for a little while and it turned out to be a ton of fun!

Heading back to the house via the beach...indescribable beauty, Lord!

Gehr and I ended up together for most of the mile back...I love time with him :)

Finished the night with a little swim...

...and some bribery for Garner's affection.

It worked!

Amazing!  And so much fun :)

Beach Days 1&2

This year, we had a rare couple of days at home hanging out leading up to our beach trip.  It was lovely to have a less hectic time to pack and not go into vacation stressed and tired already.  It made it super easy to make the full transition into vacation mode on the trip down :)

We stayed in a new part of the beach this year and loved it.  Our house had an adorable pink door with happy welcome sign.  Hard to go wrong with that :)

I think the kiddos liked their room!

The Coopers had some baseball to finish up and this was the Dormans' half-week year, so we were there by ourselves for a little while.  We took a quick peek at the beach before making dinner.  It was a super short and even cute walk...and of course, we couldn't help but get in the water a little...

The next morning, we took a walk to Coligny.  It was only a mile, but seemed like a long way with 3 small kids!  We decided to use a stroller, bike or car the next time.

I love these huge beaches with so much room to play and even more, I adore my fam and was in heaven watching them so happy :)

That afternoon, our kids were glued to the screen on the porch, watching for their Cooper buds.  I would say they were a little excited when they saw their car!

We took it easy the rest of the day and didn't take many pics, but loved watching these cuties walk down to check out the beach.  

Off to a good start!  Happy to be there with them again and much aware of how blessed we are to have this time.  Thanks God :)

Annual FCA Camp Week Visiting

We've enjoyed an annual tradition of visiting with the Aultmans and Papa on Wednesday of FCA camp week.  Usually we head to the local water park, but since it fell on July 4th this year, we decided to change our plans when we saw the crowds there!  Thankfully, the beach was closeby...

Aultman fam...with Papa in the background :)

The water was so still...almost more like a lake than the ocean...

Sweet, sweet friend!

We were creative making shade for the babe...first in the shadow of the stroller and then using Dada's shirt too!

Greer and Anna Leigh (along with some help from others) made a fun and very shell-decorated sand castle...love their enthusiasm :)

The shells are awesome there!  And many times, the welch inhabitants are still inside...

Beach tree climbing...hard to resist, even when you're big :)

It was so great to visit with them and have a little more relaxed time this year, even if it was too short!  We love their family and are grateful for the effort they make to meet up with us each year.  Thank you guys!

On our way home from camp, we stopped for some more visiting...first to just eat at the Links, then ended up napping (from all that lack of sleep at camp) and finally just stayed over for the night.  :)  We sure are thankful for how God stationed them right on the way to/from so many trips so that we can see them that way!

And to leave you with these cute pics...we kind of had a couple of hard re-training days with Garner in the sleep department.  She wanted to stay with us instead of her own bed after staying in the room with us all week and not going to bed until completely exhausted.  There was one particular night of sad crying for a little while, but then she was back on track.  I know it is best for all of us and our sleep, but it's also so fun and sweet to snuggle with her!  Love watching a sleeping baby :)

Starting to feel right at home in the Savannah-ish area....love y'all!  :)