One last beach hurrah for the year

Before the official end of summer, we had one last beach hurrah.



Adam and I took Thursday and Friday off of work, packed up the kids and my mom, and headed down for a nice long weekend of sun and sand.



Well, there was lots of sand, but the sun decided to hide for half the time. Clouds and rain be damned, we still had a good time.





It was a great way to say goodbye to summer and kick off our three week fall break from school.





Luckily the weather was still warm, despite the clouds. But we did have our fair share of chattering teeth and blue lips after playing in the water for a while. The water was actually pretty warm, too.




I find such peace and joy, just sitting on the beach, watching and listening to the waves crash while the kids squeal with laughter.



We saw dolphins in the distance and pelicans diving for fish. A kind fisherman down the beach showed the kids his impressive haul of bluefish.



Adam and I were talking, and we got to wondering whether people who live at the beach take it for granted. If that's what happens, then I'd never want to actually live at the beach. Because it would be such a shame to take for granted something so beautiful, powerful, calming, dangerous, peaceful, fun, scary and exciting.



For the record, Adam was totally on board with my whole "never living at the beach" thing, because he doesn't exactly share my appreciation for it. Four days was more than enough at one time for him. :) I on the other hand, cannot wait to go back next summer for another long(er?) weekend!



And now I can officially say "bring on fall!"

Making beach memories

I have fond memories of going to the beach every summer. Building sand castles, diving in the waves, catching sand fleas (we always called them sand diggers), and soaking in the sun. I'm so excited for my kids to make those same memories, summer after summer.




We're beyond fortunate to have a house to stay in, and an extra set of hands (that belong to my wonderful mom) more than willing to come and help with the kids. Let's face it, vacations with young kids aren't truly relaxing. Especially at the beach, what with the possibility of them getting swept out to sea and/or eaten by Jaws.



Obviously that didn't happen. :) And even though we may not have laid on the beach, tropical drink in hand, relaxing to the max, we did have an amazing time running on the beach...



Catching some waves...



Playing in the sand...



Splashing in the water...



Enjoying a nice ocean breeze...



Finding sea shells and sand fleas...



And we even managed to get some family pictures, including this framer. Although it was hit or miss getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time (wave! bird! whatever!)





Until next time, when we'll make even more memories. Only a few more weeks to wait, actually. :)

Lorelai says

Lorelai, 3 years old.


Shortly before her birthday, I caught her sitting on the potty "talking" on her phone (I told you she does it all the time), asking for presents. "Hi Ms. Kim. Yeah, hi. You gonna get me presents? Grandma, you're getting me presents. Yeah?"

She was holding her potato head toy from the treasure box at school when she fell. She scream-cried "My 'tato broke me! You're a mean boy, 'tato head"

For dinner one night, I took off her shirt since we were having messy spaghetti. While pointing at her chest, she said "look, boobies!"

And of course the potty talk continues. Tonight she said "Bless you! I just farted out my butt!"

I'm hesitant to admit this one because it shows how crude we can be (go ahead, roll your eyes), but it was seriously hilarious(ly wrong). Lorelai started saying "sack and crack" over and over again after overhearing the boys, who were repeating after Adam. #parentingfail

She also says sunscream and bathing soup and it's too cute to correct, so now that's what we say, too.



And this is one of my favorite exchanges, which happened in Old Navy when Lorelai started throwing a tantrum and was on the floor taking her shoes off.

Mommy: Lorelai, get up. You're being rude.
Lorelai: Complicated order.

Apparently we quote the infamous Bon Qui Qui a bit too often. :)

Since she said this a few months ago, it has somehow morphed into "complicated Lola" which she says regularly and completely randomly now. Love it.


Side note: I'm STILL working on the beach pictures little by little. One of these days I'll post them...

(Check out more Lorelai-isms here.)

Salt in the air, sand in my hair

"The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea." -Isak Dinesen

We picked the sea. :) I'm currently vegging out in total vacation mode after a long, wonderful day at the beach with my family.




Not a thought of work is crossing my mind (dreams don't count, right? ugh.), and I'm trying to leave the stress of last week behind me. We leave tomorrow, so I'm just trying to soak up every single second of my time away. The sun, the sand, the breeze off the water. Every wave, every splash, every smile, every squeal of excitement, and every exhausted baby snuggle. And to top it off, every birthday wish for my almost-9-year-old who we're celebrating this weekend.



Life is good.

Yeah, beach!

When we were down at the beach in July, we had such an amazing day, it just wasn't enough time. I told Adam that next year, we should go down for a long weekend and spend 3 full days out on the beach instead of just one. He totally shocked me by suggesting that we should plan to come down in September when the boys had their first break from school, which I hadn't even considered. This is a big deal coming from someone who dislikes the beach as much as Adam. :)

Yeah, BEACH!



I don't really have anything new or earth shattering to say about our trip that I haven't already said (here and here). Honestly, we have been so incredibly lucky with amazing beach trips--well-behaved kids, great weather, tidal pools that are perfect for the kids, lots of fun, and even some relaxing. Not to mention, photos out the wazoo.








When planning a trip at the end of September, I was really worried that we might have chilly weather which would make spending quality time on the beach difficult. I actually didn't even tell the kids we were going until the week of, because I was totally prepared to back out if it was going to be cold or rainy.

But as I mentioned, our first day out there (Friday) was simply gorgeous. Low 80's, mostly sunny, and the water was not cold at all.







Lorelai loved jumping around and looking for shells. I came home with a whole bag to use next summer in my apothecary jars on my mantle. She was not very picky about them being broken or ugly, so I had to downsize some of her collection :)




The tide going out left what looked like trees in the sand; Lorelai's tiny footprints; Adam wrote A+B=3 in my heart; one of the shells I brought home.


Lorelai wasn't the only one jumping around, either. It certainly looks like Adam's having fun, no matter how much he professes to hate it. :)



And look, I was there, too!



I had to beg my kids to sit still for a picture. I told them that one day they'll be glad I made them do it so they'll have pictures to remember me, and know that I was actually a part of all of these fabulous memories they're making. And then I just saw this article today. Too perfect.




We spent several hours in the water, then headed in for lunch and put Lorelai down for a nap, because the little stinker refused to lay down on the beach under the tent my mom brought. I wish she understood how crazy it is to pass up a chance to nap on the beach!

Like last time, Adam stayed in with her so my mom and I could bring the boys back out, so we had a full day of beach awesomeness, which made me SO glad we decided to come a day early.





I really went photo crazy, trying to practice in manual mode. Adam just walked by and asked what in the world these pictures are for. I was being "artistic"!


I was hoping for more of the same on Saturday, but unfortunately the weather was a little less cooperative. It could have been worse though, since my obsessive weather report checking told me that there was a 30% chance of rain throughout the morning. It was not quite as warm and much cloudier, but it didn't even matter--I still found myself marveling about how perfect this trip was. Until the winds picked up and the rain clouds moved in, making our lips nice a purple, that is. But it was time to eat, anyway.

We packed up and headed in, hoping things would clear up, but no such luck. It started to rain during our junk food run and we were stuck inside the rest of the day, which sucked mostly because it meant that we couldn't go out to watch for sea turtles to hatch. There was a nest on the dunes that was apparently ready to hatch any day now, so the local turtle rescue group was out there on watch. How cool would that have been for the boys (and me!) to see something like that?! That's something they probably would have remembered forever.

Because we had to know if they hatched, we headed back out for a walk on Sunday before we left, while Adam stayed behind to pack. Thankfully, I don't think we missed anything, so I don't feel too bad.



Short vacations can be tough because before you really have time to settle and soak in all the fun, it's time to leave again. But the fact that it was low 60's and cloudy on our last day made the goodbye a little easier.



We had such an amazing time.

iPhone photo dump {week 31, beach edition}

It was a short week for me because we headed to the beach on Thursday night for a long weekend!

The beginning of the week seems like so long ago, but it involved an awesome braid Lorelai's teacher did, lots of legos, and some dress-up in Mommy's clothes.



I brought my phone and my dslr down to the beach, so I've got a TON of pictures, as usual. These are the ones I instagrammed (I'm @alazycrazylife if you want to follow) and some that I just processed through instagram without sharing because I felt like I was reaching my share quota ☺.

Day 1: We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day! If Lorelai didn't have to nap and we didn't have to eat, I could have literally spent all day out there.


Day 2: Much more cloudy, but the rain held off until after we headed in for lunch (and by that time we were ready because the breeze picked up and lips started turning purple). We even managed to get a pretty cute family pic.

Day 3: My mom, the kids and I headed out for a quick walk on the beach while Adam stayed behind to pack up. It was really cloudy and chilly, which made saying goodbye all that much easier.


The kids played so hard all weekend, they were exhausted. Even though Logan insisted he wasn't tired, I went in to check on him yesterday and found him conked out on the chair next to the bed. Lorelai was out like a light for the car ride home.


And of course I'll have to share my other pics just as soon as get them off the camera. But for now, I've got to tackle the laundry mountain. One load down, only 4 to go...