Thursday, July 24, 2014

Beach Vacay 2014~ Part 3

My final recap of our week at the beach is mostly pictures. We did our traditional white and khaki pictures again and I thought they turned out pretty wonderful. We've done these pictures 6 years in a row now and I know I'll always treasure them. It may be a big ole chore getting everybody ready and back out to the beach and sandy again, but for now it's worth it. I'm in love. =)



Other than one crazy fast thunderstorm that blew through one morning later in the week, we had really, really great weather. The big boys swam at the pool, played in the sand, ate tons of peanut butter crackers and cheez-its on the beach, floated in the ocean, and watched way more tv than they get to at home (since they had one in their room) while grown-ups got ready or cooked. They had a ball.

Layton mainly hung out. He was held on the beach lots, played and rolled around on his beach blanket, slept, and ate. Haha. I think he did great considering he was away from home and how thrown off his schedule became due to central time and "beach life". Terrell and I were so grateful for all the extra help!

This picture looks Hawaiian to me with the paddle-boarder in the background. =)




Our very last night at the beach we went to a place in Grayton Beach called Pandora's. It was a tad fancy with dimmed lights and interesting menu choices and no sweet-tea, but it was good. Yum-O. AND, my children were basically perfect. A vacation miracle! It was such a great dining experience for the whole fam to enjoy (without any crying, fussing, or drama) and the perfect way to wrap up our week at the beach. Afterwards we even went into Seagrove for hand-made popsicles... a dessert I could enjoy!

I'm sad this picture didn't turn out so great but still thankful to have it. We loved sharing our vacay memories with Granna, Papa, AnAn, and Frankie. It was a full, fun, blessed week!

Favorite memories from our last days at the beach: Grilling out burgers at the house, getting Austin out in the ocean on his float and seeing him actually enjoy it, searching for seashells with Garrison, Layton's good naps, watching tv-hanging out-laughing hard (we laughed a LOT all week) with the grown-ups after the kids went to bed, an awesome out-to-eat experience, hand-made popsicles with the fam, and experiencing this vacation with my sweet boys. So fun and SO thankful for a break from packing and moving and running ourselves ragged. Our 2014 vacation was a timely blessing for sure and we are especially grateful for all the fun memories we made. =)

******************************
 
Moving day is almost upon us. As our house becomes more empty by the hour and we prepare to transition to a smaller house and a smaller town (we won't make a trip to the grocery store without seeing someone we know =)), we find ourselves overwhelmed, stressed, and kind of down. As I've said before we are SO, SO, SO thankful to be moving home and amazed at how God has worked out every single detail. But, a lot of change and a lot of sacrifice are coming with this move. At least until we can sell our house. We'll be facing some financial challenges (we'll still have a mortgage, upkeep, and some utilities for our house in Covington) and some day-to-day 5 people are living in a tiny house challenges. We know and trust that God has a plan and we know He will continue to be faithful. His grace is sufficient. I'm totally confident of that. We are praying hard for good attitudes and a smooth transition and fast adjustment to a much smaller, older home. And that our house will sell soon to a family or couple who loves it just as much as we did when we bought it.
 
I'll update next week after we're settled. Let the adventure begin!

No comments: