March Celebrations

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Around here life has been moving along at a pretty good pace. I spent a good long time posting and recapping our Spring Break vacation. The reality of the everyday has prevented me from posting on the boy's birthdays and Grandma and Grandpa Moorlag's visit. So here is a little slideshow from March. It is so very hard for me to grasp that the kids are 2,4, and 6 right now. I vaguely recall the fogginess of Christian's newborn months, adjusting to life as a family of 5 and everything in between. We are in such a good stage (most days). The boys play so nice together more often than not and with all the excitement and promise of spring, the little buggers conk out so quickly each night. Ahhh, I love how running, playing, exploring and sucking in all the fresh air knocks them out. I've also noticed they get along better, seem to be growing and requiring a LOT more food these days. All good things ! We've been busy, as usual and I have lots of April posting to do. CRAP! Next weekend is May- I better get busy! We are anxiously awaiting our trip to Indy to visit our newest niece/cousin Elyse and sister Josie!

Hours of beachfront fun!

During our visit to Myrtle Beach, the weather was perfect! It wasn't too hot, but always warm enough to be on the beach. The breeze was a breath of fresh air. We were outside most days from the time the woke up (breakfast, coffee on the balcony) until their little heads were ready to hit the pillow. They were completely entertained to dig and build in the sand for hours. It was fabulous! Here are some more beach shots! The morning walks were a bit chilly at times!
One of Carter's many massive projects

We played Frisbee and football too!

carter was so proud to dig holes and bury dad and Ella...up to their knees!

on another morning walk, Ella discovered how fun it was to draw and write in the sand.

Christian LOVED splashing through the shallow water and chasing the pesky seagulls!

Enjoying the view

Scott and I even fit in a couple of runs on the beach, purely breathtaking.

Crab Hunting

Oh what fun we had with $5 worth of flashlights and a wide open dark beach. We spent one night of vacation scouring the beach after dark to see if we could uncover any of these elusive crabs. We had no such luck, but LOTS of fun in the process. It was a beautiful night ! "Hey mom, you are going to let us stay out here, in the sand, at night? Cool!"
Enjoying the windy conditions down by the ocean. the kids thought it was cool to see the tide coming in.

.....still loving the experience

Even though it appears Carter is choking Christian, I still love this one of the two of them.

Prepared with their flashlights!

melting

Today it is sunny and 80 degrees. The kids and I just enjoyed a celebratory ice cream cone on the deck in shorts and tank tops. Elle looked over at us and said, "this is just like Myrtle Beach except without the beach and ocean." Carter's replay: "W-ife is d-ood!" I couldn't agree more!

We love the beach!

I love this one of the boys! We have Cautious and then Not-so-cautious

Much time was set aside to enjoy important jobs like throwing rocks into the ocean...priceless

The waves were too great! Carter couldn't resist and was soaking wet...then so was I because I couldn't let him stay out there by himself they were TOO big. (think 'over his head' huge)

The little guy, loving all the wide open space

" We love playing on the beach, yeah!"

Carter turns 4!

This year Carter got to celebrate turning four in his glory. The boy woke up and spent the entire day outdoors, took a nap, went and played, dug sand, and swam more then ended the day at his favorite restaurant, Applebee's for dinner. Once I get caught up on S.C. pics i hope to go back and put the boy's bday party on the blog too. Only, that might not happen until this summer the rate I am going now. :)

Dinner At Applebee's

My aunt and Uncle live in Spartanburg, S.C. so they were sweet enough to make the trip to Myrtle Beach to visit while we were here. The kids loved hanging out with Uncle Randy and Aunt Sue. They are expecting their first grandchild this summer, we are so excited for them. They proved they could handle the duties of grandparenthood with our three...their jobs will be much easier with their ONE granddaughter come June!

We even managed to pack a gift so he had something to open on his birthday. A Hot Wheels track ...for the....bathtub. Carter + cars+ water = huge fun

Thrilled with the gift Ella so appropriately picked out.

The boys spend many hours playing cars together, they thought it was "awesome" that the ramp launches the car into a boat! Brilliant!

Enjoying the view

Photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Day One- sunny with a chance of sunburn!

While on vacation, we took over 500 pictures so I couldn't quite decide how to post them. I did a few highlights on the last post and now I will try a few posts of day by day. That way I can manage a few posts in smaller time slots.
We left on Thursday, drove through the night and made great time. The kids traveled so well! We were playing on the beach before lunch on Friday. We were highly motivated since it was sunny and in the mid 80s. Unfortunately, Scott and I were so focused on getting the kids prepped for the beach and all that entailed, we failed to administer sunscreen efficiently on ourselves. Our white Michigan backs were FRIED! Unfortunately, Christian got a bit too. He was a trooper.

Here he is with grandpa, experiencing the ocean sand and waves for the first time. He loved it

Stripped down to his swimming trunks in NO time.

Carter rushed to the ocean and didn't think twice about heading for the waves. He was totally in his element.

No time to stop for dinner, we played until there was only a little energy left. Then we ordered Pizza Hut and had it delivered. Pizza on the balcony, overlooking the ocean...what a way to end the day.

Of few of our favorite things...

Playing in the Pool:

Flying our Kites:

Playing in the sand:

Opening Birthday presents:

Whew! What???

"We have to go where? Home? But I like vacation here. at the ocean. I am not going home! Do you understand? We are staying here. Because I said so!"

Needless to say the kids had sooo much fun and NO ONE (including the adults) wanted to leave. Who wants to return to cold rainy MI when vacation is sunny, warm and oh-so-entertaining!

We have had a whirl wind last two weeks. We had Grandma and Grandpa Moorlag stay with us for 5 days, celebrated a double birthday party for the boys. Gallivanted off to Myrtle Beach for a week, celebrated Carter's 4th birthday there, then Easter, and made MANY wonderful memories here, there and in between. I have over 500 pictures I am sorting through between all the events, how will I possibly put them all together? Plus, after we traveled all night long, I can barely keep my eyes open. I will try again in the morning.