Cousin Love

Last beach post.  My favorites from the week. 

 

Beach Bums

A few pictures to share that Alison took.  Our little beach bums had so much fun - except one day when Katie decided to "quit the beach."






This is me attempting to look happy on day #1 on the beach.  Fielder had just spent the last hour crying and whining.  He finally decided to give the beach a try.  Then day #2 he LOVED it.  Then day #3 he didn't like it.  I can't figure this kid out!

We also took a few trips out in the evenings - my favorite time on the beach when the sun starts to go down.  Fielder seemed to like the sand more, maybe because it was cooler.  I adore these 2 pictures:

And here are the girls with their Uncle! 

Barnes Topsail Trip

We returned last night from our week at the beach with the Barnes family.  I took very few pictures, so I'll post what I have and then when I get Alison's pictures, I'll post more! 

To sum it up, Claire had a wonderful week with her cousin and just had a blast on the beach.  This year she had no fear of the water and loved to jump waves and swim in the ocean.  Each day she only wanted to wake up when Katie was awake, go to the beach when Katie went to the beach, sit next to Katie at each meal, etc.  We were so sad when it was time for them to go home Wednesday afternoon!  (And we really missed you Uncle Matt!!!)

Fielder spent a lot of time doing this:

And when he wasn't whining or crying he was getting into EVERYTHING:


And every once in a while, he actually had fun on the beach too!  We even got him out in the ocean twice to swim when it wasn't too rough. 



It was great to spend some time with Popa and Abu.  Abu had brought some fun surprises for the kids - I think the favorite was the play dough set.  Fielder was obsessed with Popa and loved to follow him around saying his name.  I wish I had gotten a picture of Fielder and his "roommate" Uncle Jake.  They did pretty good bunking up together even though Fielder snored, and he woke Jake up each morning at 6am saying "hi hi hi!"  (I know the girls really loved playing with their Uncle and jumping the waves with him!!)

The pool on the deck was a favorite place to be.  (And also a good place to clean off from the beach when they weren't in the mood to be hosed down!)  Pretty sure Fielder liked it more than the beach.

Overall, I'd say we had a good week!  Only one injury the whole time - a major accomplishment if you ask me.  (Fielder tried to climb a little table within the first 30 minutes of being there and it fell over.  He had a huge goose egg and a couple cuts.)  I just loved seeing the cousins together and spending so much time with Katie & Alison - we just don't get to see them enough anymore.  As for Rob and I, well....we had fun, but I think we could use a vacation after that vacation!!! 
Thank you so much to Popa and Abu for treating us to a week at the beach.  We are so appreciative!  And thanks to Jake, Alison, and Katie for making the week extra fun (and putting up with us!)

 

Who would have thought?!

I would never have believed you if you told me a couple months ago that Claire would be going on the diving board and slide by now!  She's been doing so well with her swimming lessons and just loves it.  (We're not loving how pricey the lessons are so it's going to be hard to decide when to quit them!)  Fielder loves the pool in his own way - running around like a lunatic, saying hi to everyone we pass, and a little swimming too.  He likes to do "1,2,3" where I hold his hands and jump him into the water - sometimes I make him go under and he doesn't seem to mind too much.


Check it out!  She's not nervous AT ALL....unless there is a bug in the water and then she'll just refuse to do it.  Now we have another battle at the pool - how many times you can do the slide before we have to leave!

Thanks for letting me brag for a minute.  :-)

More 4th of July

 

After the parade, I failed miserably at taking lots of pictures.  And once Fielder arrived, I didn't take any!  But there are some cute ones from everyone's cameras (and I don't have Tara's yet) that I had to post.  Love the family one that Patti took at the top - I think that's the first one of all of us in maybe a year. 

 

Clay had this cool hammock swing that the kids loved. 

The girls coloring with Papa.  Love the red, white, and blue clothes!!





Claire and I got to take a fun ride on the Hobie Cat with Uncle Chuck and Sam.  She wasn't afraid at all - at one point I had to hold onto her life jacket or she would have just jumped in the water.  So much for my Nervous Nelly!  She also got to watch fireworks for the first time.  (I've never been able to keep her awake long enough - or she's been afraid of the loud sounds.) It was a beautiful night and really fun to watch them from the boat.





Daddy and Fielder arrived on Friday morning.  Fielder was so excited about a new place (and saying Hi! to everyone) - he stayed busy looking for stuff to get into.  For some reason, his favorite thing to do was stand on the cooler and play with some candle holders.


He got to take his first boat ride with Clay and Patti.  I think he really liked it!

 

It was a great weekend and lots of fun memories.  I drove home with the kids after dinner Friday night - I'm sure Rob wasn't too sad to see us go!  He got to sleep in and go for a 2 hour Hobie Cat ride!!  THANKS HULCHERS FOR A WONDERFUL TIME!!!!!

4th of July Champions

Lots to post about our annual 4th of July Hulcher/Mason/Barnes weekend!  I took so many pictures of the parade, it gets it's own post.


Claire and I headed to the river on the 4th - Rob came up with a good plan to stay behind and join us on Friday.  (Then I left with the kids so he could have a day to himself.....it was a weird plan, but worked great!)  Anyway, Claire and I had an uneventful drive until about 3 minutes before arrival.  Claire got car sick for the first time ever - all over the ipad!!  Ugh.  When we got to the house, I cleaned her up and we were ready to help with the float.  The Masons and Hulchers had come up with an awesome float this year!!!

  *Not pictured, Chuck and Bradford were driving the float!  (Dad stayed home to watch Wimbledon hold down the fort.)

As we were getting ready to leave, someone came over and told us we needed to go get our trophy - oh yes, we won a trophy!!  We won the Most Patriotic Award!  Can you tell Sam was a little excited?!

 

1st Fishing Trip

We took a short trip to the river over the weekend just to get away and spend a little time with Popa and Abu.  Claire had been asking to go fishing so Popa was all set to take her on her first trip (just to the pier a few houses down.)  She was so excited!  Unfortunately Fielder was not so excited about his life jacket so I had to take him back to the house, but they fished for a little while and Abu took pictures and video for me.

ewww......bait

She came back with a very proud look on her face, but then apologized because she didn't catch anything.  That's the way fishing goes kid!  I remember fishing with my grandpa - bottom fishing in the sweltering heat and we couldn't even jump in the water to cool off because of the nettles! 

Fielder was a bull in a china shop at the river house.  So many new things to get into and climb on.  I don't think he actually broke anything, but he tried really hard.  Oh, he did spill an entire box of orzo pasta all over the kitchen floor.  I was starting to lose it with him so Popa took him for a walk in his stroller.  Then Claire and Daddy went on a jet ski ride - she was nervous at first, but absolutely LOVED it.  She keeps asking if we can go back tomorrow.  It was adorable to see her holding onto her Daddy with a big huge smile on her face.

Thank you Popa and Abu for letting us come and wreck your peaceful, quiet weekend!  I am looking forward to many more weekends at the river as our kids grow up.  (Hopefully by next summer Fielder will be more manageable!)