Sandestin 2013.

Buck has many conferences to attend each year for various work obligations.  One great perk is that we can take the boys with us to family-friendly Sandestin.  This year the boys and Mommy missed the May conference and Sandestin trip because it was right after Fawn's tonsillectomy.  But, we made up for it over a long weekend trip in June.  This year we went just the four of us -- no grandparents, so no extra help.  And while the boys are at somewhat "difficult" ages in terms of the beach, it was a great four days as our little family.

The car ride down was uneventful.  Very little whining and fussing.  Only a couple "are we there yet".  And, the biggest shocker of all, Small Fry only disconnected the portable DVD player twice.  With cords right in front of him, we figured it might be an every-ten-minute occurrence.

Small Fry snoozed on the way down, so when we arrived we decided to forego nap time and head straight to the beach.  Fawn is our beach boy and was absolutely thrilled to be back in the sun, sand and waves.  Small Fry was a bit in sensory overload, but took to the beach right away.  Buck is really just a big kid and thinks building a sandcastle is about the most fun he can have.  In fact, unbeknownst to me, he hauled a real, legit, giant fold-up shovel for heavy duty digging.  The boys were amazed by his mad skills.

Beer and a wood and metal shovel...what more does Buck need for an afternoon at the beach?

So excited for sandcastle time!

Introducing my three sons.

Hard at work.  Though Fawn kept getting distracted by the allure of the Gulf.

Pool time.

My fish Fawn.

After an afternoon in the sand (and a pit stop on the way home to the pool), we headed home for an early dinner and bed for the boys.  We were in for a fun surprise with ducks at our back door.  The boys (and Buck) enjoyed feeding them goldfish and "quacking" at them.  Buck had a welcome reception to attend, so I relaxed while I waited for him to return with yummy take out.

Small Fry spotted the ducks.

Fawn was brave.

Such fun.

Day two, Buck had meetings all morning.  I was a bit afraid to take the boys to the beach by myself.  They both wanted in the water non-stop.  While Fawn is a pretty good swimmer, the water was a bit rough and he's definitely not good enough to be swimming in the Gulf by himself.  And, fiercely independent and fearless Small Fry wanted in the water but did not want to be touched or held onto.  He thought being knocked over by the waves was funny.  So for safety's sake, we headed to a beautiful pool on the Bay side of Sandestin.  I am used to the pool routine with the boys so it was really just like any other summer morning -- except with a gorgeous view of the Bay.  We had a great three hours of pool time before heading home for lunch and Small Fry's nap.  After Buck got home and Small Fry awoke, we headed back to the beach for the afternoon for more sandcastle, swimming, and seashell searching fun.

We had a family-friendly cocktail reception to attend, and managed to get all four of us bathed/showered and ready to go twenty-five minutes after walking in from the beach.  That's a family record folks!  After a brief stop at the reception, we headed to Acme Oyster House for dinner.

Loving a fruit kabob at the reception.

I (heart) this picture.

Fawn is into goofy faces.

Sweet Small Fry was such a trooper on this trip.

Somebody looks sleepy.

Our favorite pack mule.

Buck was with us for all of day three and we bounced  between the beach and the pool all morning, crashed for afternoon rest time, and then headed back to the beach for a beach party as part of Buck's conference.  Another great beach day of fun.  We had beautiful weather the entire time.  After we were sufficiently water-logged, we decided to head into Destin for a trip to the Crocs store.  Fawn had been asking for new camo Crocs and Small Fry desperately needed a pair.  Fawn quickly found some shocking camo/hunter orange Crocs he was set on (y'all they are loud!).  Small Fry totally freaked out thinking that we were taking away his soft, worn-in, totally tread-less Crocs.  He is very attached to his hand-me-downs from Fawn.  He attempts to wear them at all times -- in the swimming pool, in the ocean, first thing in the morning, you name it.  We couldn't even get him to try another pair, so he missed out -- it just wasn't worth the fight!  I think the poor child was just exhausted after such a fun-filled few days.  We decided that we needed to feed them quick, so we grabbed dinner in Destin before heading back to the condo.

Fun in the sun.

A little teamwork.

And some help from the coach.

Matching brothers.

Love a beach baby.

Taking a seat with mommy -- notice the sand-filled Crocs.

They were only still for snacks.

We got up first thing Sunday morning -- which was Father's Day -- and headed back to Birmingham.  Yep, Buck had the privilege of driving us home on Father's Day -- Happy Father's Day to him!  He did get a Bates turkey sandwich on the way home, so he was a happy daddy.  And, we were so happy to get to spend a long weekend with him.

I leave you with grumpy Fawn on the ride home.  Not happy to be leaving the beach.

B is for Baby, and Berries, and Bath.

This baby is growing up way too fast.  I've been taking pictures of the quintessential "baby" shots to remember Small Fry at these last stages of babyhood.

Baby on a rocking horse.

While he hates the high chair, he generally loves to eat.  He's been filling up his sweet tummy with summer blueberries -- and loving every berry bite.

Sweet Small Fry loves the bath.  The problem is that big brother Fawn loves the bath too.  And, big brother Fawn dominates bath time when they are both in the tub -- always claiming the spot under the faucet.  Poor Small Fry!  He's usually pretty agreeable to get pushed to the back.  And, he's also pretty agreeable to play what Fawn wants to play, to get splashed, and to get water dumped on his head.

But a bath by himself?  That's a treat.  Love my water baby!

One of my dear college friend's mother gave me the following advice on raising children: Always believe that your best days are ahead of you.  Always believe that you will enjoy your children and your relationship with them more with each passing year -- even into their adulthood.  While I have to fight the urge to not dwell on the passing of time and the growing up of babes, this advice has been my mantra as of late.  I have found myself looking with joy at the mother with two elementary school aged boys playing in the pool -- thinking "that looks like so much fun!"  And, with that, I'm looking less and less longingly at the mothers of newborns.  Not that I don't love a baby -- I absolutely, with my whole heart do.  But, our best days are ahead -- our most fun is ahead.  Will it be hard to watch them grow up and to let go more and more?  No doubt it will.  But, instead of wishing for days that have passed -- I choose to look forward, to embrace the new ages and stages and the magical days to come.

So, Here's The Plan.

I am so excited it's summer.  Like beyond words excited.  I love the thought of not having anywhere to be at a certain time.  Let's be real, my schedule is by no means stressful during the school year.  Three days a week, I drop Fawn off at school at 9 am and pick him up at 1 pm.  And I work from home.  But, to not be on a schedule with the little ones is so refreshing.  We get ready and head out when we want, and we crash for nap and rest time when we want.

This is the first summer since Fawn was a year old that I haven't signed him up for some sort of school or Mother's Day Out at church.  It was only a couple days a week for month in the middle of the summer -- but it was something.  This year it just doesn't make sense -- I will have Small Fry with me anyway so I might as well have them both!

But, it's definitely required some planning to keep the house somewhat in order and to keep the kiddos occupied.

THE HOUSE:  When Fawn was in preschool, I would take one morning a week while he was there and clean the house from top to bottom.  Small Fry was my slightly destructive, but generally content side kick.  That just doesn't work with two boys under foot.  So, I've made a list of twelve household chores that need to happen on a two-week cycle (some of the chores are repeated if they need to occur weekly).  I've got the order of the chore rotation written in my calendar and they are "scheduled" to occur Monday - Saturday, with Sunday being a day to rest (or catch up if the week didn't go as planned).  The downside is that my house is never totally clean from top to bottom. But, I think the upside outweighs that!  We can tackle a chore at some point of the day for 15 to 30 minutes and move on to the next chore the next day.  We've been at this plan for several weeks and I'm loving it.  Sometimes everything works right on schedule.  Other weeks, we get behind or ahead.  And, that's okay too.

THE ENTERTAINMENT:  My friends kid me that I'm a cruise director because I'm constantly planning outings for the boys and trying to get a group together to join in the fun.  I think its just a carry over from my days of helping with law firm recruiting.  It's no secret that we love to go and do. We very rarely spend an entire weekday at home ... like almost never.  But sometimes we get stuck in a rut and go the same places and do the same things over and over.  Enter, my summer plan.  Sunday is my planning day, and I map out an outing for each weekday.  I also plan for several activities for Fawn that can be done at home.  The activities don't have to be pinterest-worthy, time-consuming, or stressful (that's NOT the goal here).  The goal is to have fun, make memories, and avoid summer boredom.  So far so good.  I can't believe it's the end of June -- this summer is flying by.

I'm not the most organized person, but I am a planner.  I don't really think there is a spontaneous bone in my body.  I know there will be days -- maybe even whole weeks -- where we throw the whole plan out the window.  But, for me it's a good starting point to enjoy these fleeting summer days with precious little ones!

By far the most well received activity: making Gak.

Two bottles of glue.

Plus some Borax, water, and food coloring.  A little squishing and...

Ta Da! Hours of indoor fun.

Photographer Fawn's At It Again.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more fun to Fawn right now than tormenting his little brother with the Canon point-and-shoot.

 Except, of course, perfecting the self photo.

Hold on Instagram.  Fawn's coming.

No Shirt, No Shoes.

No problem.

NOLA.

Buck and I spent four glorious days in New Orleans to celebrate our tenth anniversary.  On the drive down, we realized it was our first trip sans kids since Fawn was born that didn't have some sort of work component for Buck.  It was wonderful -- we ate and walked our way through the French Quarter, relaxed and rested, and attempted to sleep in.  We stayed in an awesome condo on Conti Street in the French Quarter and didn't get in a car the entire time we were there -- bliss!

The trip was more than food and relaxation -- it also had sentimental value.  Buck's fraternity formal was always in New Orleans so we have great college memories from those trips.  Although unspoken before the trip, we both believed we could enjoy Bourbon Street nightlife as thirty-two year olds.  Not so.  We realized immediately we were way too old -- and just in such a different place in life.  But there is much more to that fabulous city than Bourbon Street -- and we enjoyed every minute of our getaway.

There were pay phones -- that actually worked! -- all over the French Quarter.  Don't think I've seen a working pay phone since I've had children.  Maybe I just don't get out much.

Night 1: Bubba Gump's.  Total tourist trap but we went there on previous trips and went again for memory's sake.  We had a great time and a really good meal -- lots of appetizers (craw fish, gumbo, shrimp mac and cheese) and great drinks.

Had to get a picture.  I've got some hilarious pictures of us here as twenty-year olds.

Cafe DuMonde's for beignets and coffee.

Buck inhaling oysters at Felix's.  (He topped off his oysters with some fried alligator.  I went with the more traditional option of a shrimp po boy.)

Anniversary dinner at Revolution.  AMAZING meal.  Death by gumbo (quail stuffed with sausage and topped with gumbo broth), crab beignets, shrimp and grits, red fish.  Great drinks and wine.  The staff was amazing, if not slightly comical to us.  We had three waiters for the evening -- all dressed to the nines and super attentive.  I thought Buck was going to explode in laughter as one of them poured his Bud Light into a fluted glass.

A little anniversary treat from the pastry chef.  We also ordered peanut butter ice cream for dessert that was delicious.  They brought out a chest full of various pastries to end the meal but we were way too full to partake.  I'm sure we missed out on some yummy goodies.

Morning two we returned to Cafe DuMonde's.  We love coffee -- and it can't be beat.

So there was a bit of a work component to the trip -- Buck answered emails while we waited for lunch.  I was really impressed by his ability to enjoy our time and not worry though!

Sandwiches at Johnny Po Boys.  Buck had the alligator sausage po boy and I went with the muffaletta.  Delicious but way too much food.

Do you see the rainbow over the Mississippi River?  What a beautiful sight -- and especially poignant as we celebrated our anniversary.  God is so faithful!

Taking in the calm of the Mississippi River.

Last dinner at Red Fish Grill.  We were stuffed from our culinary adventures.  Buck only had a half dozen BBQ oysters and I had a tomato salad.  We did indulge in chocolate bread pudding.  And, I discovered my new favorite cocktail -- a Tincho.

So blessed to get to spend some uninterrupted, quality time together in such a fun location.  A huge thank you to our parents for each keeping a boy and to Buck's brother for watching our house and dogs.  I'm ready to start planning our next getaway!

Splash Pad 2013.

With four sweet families from church we headed to the Gardendale Splash Pad armed with buckets, shovels, changes of clothes, sunscreen, sunglasses, towels, drinks, snacks and lunches!  Whew -- I felt like I was packed for a weekend at the beach.  But the kids had fun .... though more fun it seemed on the playground than in the water.

After forgetting the buckets on our last trip to the Splash Pad, Fawn made sure I remembered them.

Small Fry didn't hesitate to jump on in there with the big kids.

Fawn was much braver this year too.

Small Fry would have played in the water for as long as I let him.

Fawn was finally strong enough and tall enough to have fun with the massive water guns.

Small Fry and his sweet lady friend -- C.

Gotcha!

Great time with great friends!