We MADE it!! Day 1 at the Beach!

Without going into too many details our first day didn't start out so great. At 5am I woke to Emery crying because she had rolled over into someone's sickness. I got her and me cleaned up and then we only had a portion of the bed to sleep on hence why they are all so cuddled up!!

Emery LOVED being able to sleep by her bubba!! Love how they are all cuddled up!! So sweet!

We headed down to eat some free breakfast before getting back on the road!!

However, Emery didn't eat much and within about an hr she was getting sick all over herself and her carseat!  Soo sad!! I really thought at that moment in time a stomach virus had hit our family :(

We were on two lane roads with no where to stop so I had to do some cleaning magic with baby wipes and hand sanitizer. Gotta do what you gotta do...Emery thought it was hilarious for me to clean her and strip off her clothes while we were driving. I mean seriously does that look like a face that just got sick?! She got sick a second time so I wrapped her up in paper towels in case it struck again....

Sweet girl wasn't feeling that great after the second time. She kept asking to eat so I gave her one cheese it every 10 min or so. She kept them down and after 2 hrs of dealing with the smell of puke...

WE MADE IT!!!! It was such a wonderful feeling to get out of the car and see this beautiful home we were staying in for a week!! So so blessed!!

The kids were so excited to be out of the car too!! They were running around and checking everything out! Then we got everything unpacked, Emery and I got cleaned up and Mom and I headed out to grab some lunch. We ended up with Subway. We were taking it light since we weren't sure if a stomach virus was going to hit all of us. Thankfully it didn't and we chopped it up to motion sickness because Emery was fine the rest of the day and no one else got sick the rest of the week!! We were praying HARD all week!! God answered our prayers!!

The kids didn't really eat much lunch but they enjoyed playing, coloring, and running around while we ate and got ready for the beach!

Then we made our 3 min walk to the beach for the first time!! It was a straight shot right out of our home. It was so nice!! We weren't right on the beach like we would have liked but it was close enough!!

Max took off down the boardwalk!! He was so excited to get to the water!! 

Emery was cautious and honestly just no sure about any of it.

Max went straight out to the water! I was so proud of him! Last year he was so unsure of the water part. I think swim lessons and lots of pool time have paid off because he just isn't scared anymore!! 

He was running and jumping the waves like he had done it a thousand times!! He was laughing and just having a great time!! It was so wonderful to watch him!! Sitting back and seeing life through the eyes of a child can be so rewarding!! 

Emery walked very slow to the water and actually the first time she ran back from it when the water was coming at her. She just wasn't sure about any of it. She didn't really like that the wet sand was staying on her either. She would try to rinse it off and then realize it was still there. LOL

After watching bubba for a bit she decided she would go further in the water. She did enjoy it a bit. But she was quick to tell us "All done with this!" My little diva!!

We only stayed at the beach for about 45 minutes and then headed up to the pool for a little bit. I really was still worried that Emery could have a bug and I didn't want her out in the sun too much. Plus we wanted to go and pick up some food so we could watch the TN vs FL game!!

We decided to eat in just in case we had any sickness going on and it would be more fun to hang out, eat, and watch the VOLS play!!

The kids were pumped for the game!! They love watching Nana, Pawpaw, Mommy, and Daddy all yell and scream at a TV. LOL

Enjoying some party foods!! Gotta love Emery's "smile" for the camera!! Such a mess!!

The game wasn't too fun to watch as we were ripped apart by the gaters in the second half :( but it was great to be at the beach and with family anyways!!

Little Tiffany wouldn't eat her dinner so Emery hand fed her!! We are staying with 2 spoiled rotten doggies and 2 spoiled rotten kids!! Fun times!!

At bedtime we decided to nix the pack-n-play and just push the beds together in the kids room. It took Emery a min to calm down but once she did all three of my babies PASSED out!! I was laying between Max and Emery but I got up to go to my bed and just had to snap a picture!! Love my sweet family!!

First day was a SUCCESS!! We didn't have any more illness and it ended up being a great day!! Now get ready for lots and lots of beach pictures!!!

BEACH Bound!!!

Beach Bound day...well we actually headed out around 2 pm on Friday Sept. 14th!! Our goal was to get to Pratsville, AL (5 hrs from home and 3 hrs from the beach) in time for dinner and a little run around time for the kids before bedtime! 

Thursday night before we left we hit up the dollar store!! Max and Emery picked out a few books, puzzles, stickers and I grabbed those two sheets of magnets. One is letters and one is coins. I also grabbed a cookie sheet so we could use that as our lap tray/magnet board for our magnets! It worked like a charm!! 

We used the cookie sheet A LOT!! Playing a little game of travel trouble! I picked this up at Walmart because both the kids love playing this game. Walmart sells it for $2.50!! Total bargain!!

Emery is OBSESSED with stickers!! Lately she has loved putting them all over her and everything in site instead of paper. Hey...whatever keeps her entertained for more than 5 minutes is okay by me!

Max was LOVING the letter game!! I put all the capital letters up top and the lower case below and he had to match them up!

Emery moved onto coloring...another favorite of hers!! Max not so much....

So PROUD of himself for making all the matches!! Yay!! Such a little smartie!!

Moving onto the ipad and

dress up!!

The drive to Pratsville went very well!! The kids did GREAT on the way down and we made good time! We grabbed some Dairy Queen for dinner since it was right by our hotel. Plus we figured the kids could run around while they ate instead of fighting with them to sit at a restaurant. It worked out great! We ate and ran around a bit (literally ran around in the room, jumped on the bed, etc.) Then we walked back over for dessert!!

Talk about YUMMY!!

Thanks to our Disney Jr. App we got our show before bed, read a few books, and then lights out!! 

Now to just get up and head on to the BEACH tomorrow!! Whoop whoop!!

last few days...

The last few days...meaning the last few before we left for the BEACH!! That would be Monday Sept. 10-13th. On Monday kids had school and that afternoon Max had his FIRST soccer practice!!

He was PUMPED to be back playing again!! However, very disappointed that a lot of our friends from last season weren't playing or didn't get put on our team. We were really missing our best buddie NOAH tonight!! I still can't believe they put Noah on a different team (but that is a WHOLE other story) :(

Most of the team was there and they had a big time playing together. Coach Grant divided them up and had them play against each other for the last 20 min. Maroon team (Max's team) were all over that field!! They scored quite a few goals with my friend Kristen's boy Liam tearing it up!! That boy is GOOD!! 

Max SCORING a goal!! They did some practice drills at the very end!! Can't wait to see his FIRST game of this season!!

On Tuesday Max had school so Emery and I ran a few errands and then started packing and making lists of what I needed for the trip!! Then that night we had another kickball game!! It was so so much fun but I got my first injury!! I tore my quad muscle and let me tell you it H-U-R-T!! Thankfully one of our teammates gave me a great regimen to get me healing quick!! Ace bandage and ICE!! It worked like a charm!!

On Wednesday (Sept. 12th) the kids and I headed to the zoo!! It was a BEAUTIFUL day!! We decided to venture out to different parts of the zoo that we don't usually see like the koi pond and the snake house where we got to meet and greet with a snake out in the open!!

Headed over to the Once Upon a Farm next...

Kids had fun playing in the broken eggs for a while!!

Cute one together!!

We got a look at the monkeys, cats, meer kats, and a few other things. Most interesting was the gorillas. There was an old zoo keeper that was standing over by them and the male gorilla didn't like her very much. I had a little chat with her and she was explaining that the gorilla has always had a problem with her so they told her to try and come over to him and show him that she was submissive. However, during our little chat the gorilla got very upset. He rared back and charged and HIT the glass window!! It was quite scary!! Made all of us scream!! Then the gorilla picked up his poop and starting throwing it at us!! YUCKY!! So glad there was some very STRONG glass between us and that gorilla!! 

On Thursday the kids had school and I spent the day CLEANING, CLEANING, CLEANING!! I got everything cleaned, all the laundry done, and even embroidered one shirt for Emery for Halloween!! Then I went and picked the kids up and we ran a few places getting our last minute things before heading out the next day!!!