Outer Banks

We started a post it count down until the day it was time to leave for the beach this year.

It was so much fun watching how excited Case was this year now that he is a little older.

He gets it.

Rhett was excited because we were excited, although he's excited about just about anything these days, that kid is crazy I'm tellin' ya.

 

So we started at 12 days,

11, 10, 9, 8, 7 (ONE WEEK!)

6,5,4,3,2,1...

 

Here we go!

 

This year I got creative, thanks to a lot of Pinterest research.

(I really don't know how we functioned before Pinterest)

I made the boys each 10 "Fun bags" filled with surprises to open each hour on the hour, and not a minute sooner.

I made a little replica of Matt's truck, and with a hole punch and twine, made a make shift time line for the boys, so we hopefully heard "HOW MUCH LONGER?!" a few less times.

...that and of course lots of snacks, books and movies we were ready for the

11-12 hour trip ahead of us.

As I'm sure all parents out there understand, I was dreading it.

I say "I" instead of "we" because my hubby has a specific talent for tuning us out while driving, ha! Which I actually totally understand, it is much easier to drive then deal with the kiddos, true story!

 

We left around 4:30am, and to tell you the truth the trip wasn't all that bad until the last 4-5 hours.

We hit some traffic which is just NEVER FUN, kids in tow or not.

Then the tease is you get to see water, but still have about 2 hours to go, to get the Outer Banks.

There were times that I literally thought the trip would never. ever. EVER. end.

(With bath room breaks, gas, and food it ended up taking about 12 and a half hours.)

But it did end, and we finally saw our quaint little road sign that would lead us back to the beach house we stayed in years ago, and we were so excited to spend a fun filled week with family!

 

So, our family of four, Nanny & Poppy, Mamaw & Papaw,

Eric, Erica and their daughter sweet Audrey,

Chris, Kelli and their sweet daughter Chloe all piled into this beach house right next to the ocean.

 

One of the first days, we played some baseball in the front yard,

we were missing our first week of t-ball back home, so we of course had to bring all of our gear!

 

The first day at the beach, was soo cold!

We packed up and headed out, and with cooler temperatures that day plus the wind and ocean,

we all had goose bumps, but guess who didn't care?

Our crazy boys!

We only stayed out a little bit that day, since the water was so rough, and we were nervous wrecks with the boys running around, but thankfully it was the only day like that!

 

We had lots of beach days, which are always the best.

 

 

 

 

 

We celebrated 3 birthdays at the beach!

Audrey's first birthday, as well as Erica and Chris's birthday.

We celebrated with yummy dinner and a local birthday cake!

We felt blessed to spend it with them, as they live so far away and we don't usually get to!

 

 

During our stay it was so precious seeing all the little ones play together.

Our boys are absolutely in love with their precious, beautiful cousins Audrey & Chloe!

 

 

We all relaxed, went to the beach, and took turns cooking dinner each night,

with all these babies,

 vacation has a whole new meaning, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the entire world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did adventure out on the ferry to Okracoke Island one day.

 

Momma gets a little car sick since having babies, so I mostly stayed in the truck!

 

After lunch in Ocracoke, Erica introduced us to the most AMAZING

frozen key lime pie, dipped in chocolate.

I mean, I know. It was just as amazing as it sounds.

Mmm I can almost taste it now that I'm thinking about it.

 

 

& we were also adventurous and had a bon fire out on the beach one evening!

Mamaw & Papaw graciously sat by all of our baby monitors,

and we all headed out at dark while the littles slept.

Besides the very real fear of crabs, we made some wonderful memories!

 

 

Unfortunately, Kelli, Chris and Chloe had to leave a little early.

We were so sad to see them leave!

We had to get lots of hugs and kisses from our sweet Chloe!

 

The afternoon that they left called for rain, so Matt and I, Eric and Erica packed up the kiddos

and headed to the aquarium about 45 minutes away.

The kids loved it!

 

 

then after skipping out early on a little show they were putting on at the aquarium,

we explored the surrounding area, was just as much fun as inside!

 

 

The rain held off, thank goodness, and spotting a pier,

we took full advantage of a tiny photo shoot!

 

 

SO much fun!

Then we had a delicious lunch, thanks to a quick google search by Matty.

We actually even saw a Pirate Ship tour for kids right by the restaurant, it was adorable!

 

& can't forget, that my boys and I were very adventurous one morning

and took a couple of kayaks out on the sound.

 

 

Um, first of all kayaking is a lot harder than it looks,

and second of all I apparently can. not. steer.

Matt had Case with him,

I had the lighter one of ours sons with me,

and Rhett kept yelling,

"Come on, Mommy! Go go!"

I got stuck in a little area of grass for a few seconds, and Rhett yells to Daddy in front of us,

"DADDY! WAIT! MOMMY IS OUT OF GAS!"

HA!!!

CRACK ME UP!

Was fun though, I would definitely do it again.

Preferably in a 4 seater so Matt can make sure we are actually going somewhere. :)

 

...

 

 

Before the Hamblen's left, we made sure to take lots of family pictures,

which I'm always thankful for.

So much fun to look back on over the years!

 

The keeping it real one above, cracks me up!

 



 

...and the framers. :)

 

 And as all vacations seem to do, ours came to an end.

Thankful and so very blessed to spend a week with such sweet family.

 

"If you want to know how much I love you, count the waves."

 

 

 

27

27 is pretty darn close to 30.

Good thing I had a gorgeous day, and a fun evening planned with my

sweet boys to help me forget about that!

 

I like how my hubby put it,

"Technically 27 is closer to 25, than 30."

I like how my man thinks.

 

During the day, I sat on the back deck for a little while, 

and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

 

 

 

Then it was on to Halls on the River,

to celebrate with my boys.

 

Always been in love with the drive down there as well.

 

 

The boys took a little nap in the car,

which always worries me because you're not sure how they are going to wake up.

(Super happy, or super SUPER grumpy)

Thankfully it was super happy,

and the boys were very well behaved at the restaurant.

(Besides the face Rhett had to go to the potty 1,209 times.)

 

So blessed to have my amazing hubs and two precious babies to celebrate with.

 

 

 



Granny's

 

As I've mentioned before, our sweet feisty Granny

moved into a nursing home, to meet her needs that come with

worsening symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

 

It's been a bumpy road, there has been good days and bad.

Especially difficult for my Mom, and her siblings.

As if that wasn't hard enough, there was still her house to take care of.

 

This house is my favorite place on earth.

It's my sister's favorite place on earth.

Probably safe to say it's one of my brother's favorite places on earth.

This gorgeous home, tucked away in a beautiful neighborhood in Leitchfield, Kentucky

has held so many of my most precious childhood memories.

 

Including my siblings, we have all spent so many summer, fall, winter and spring days here visiting.

Although it's forever summer at Granny's in my mind.

 

The last few months, Mom and Dad have been working very hard,

(along with a family friend that also helped clean Granny's house)

to start the long process of cleaning out and organizing everything that was left

after Granny's move to the nursing home.

Amy and I made a few quick trips to bring furniture home that meant something to us,

along with odds and ends that we wanted to fill our homes with.

Things to remind us of Granny, and her home that we cherished so much.

 

Meanwhile, between cleaning, and distributing pieces of furniture between the family,

the house was on the market.

Turns out, a neighbor behind Granny's house (past the woods)

and a family member of one of Granny's long time neighbors...

who happens to be in construction, and wants to remodel... 

and who happened to always love Granny's house...

and who happens to want to keep Granny's little dog Fidgit...

bought the house.

 

A true God send.

A literal answer to prayers.

We all couldn't believe how that worked out so well.

How much easier it was to hand the house over to someone

who will take such good care of it, and love it as much as we do.

Apparently even with the open invitation for us to visit,

"any time we wanted."

 

That was one of the things that hurt the most,

knowing that we might not ever be able to step foot back in to the house.

To have those memories of playing on the stairs,

playing by the creek,

playing baseball in the front yard,

staying up way too late, and drinking too many beers with our cousins,

come flooding back to us.

We will though, with family still in Leitchfield, and an open invitation,

it will be feasible to still visit every once and a while,

and for that I am so very thankful.

 

 

So one last time.

One final visit before the keys were handed over.

The little boys and I packed up, picked up my niece Avery,

and headed down to spend a couple of days and one last night with Mom & Dad

in the almost empty house.

 

I needed to soak up every ounce of this house, & everything that I love about it.

 

The swing inside the open garage.

 

 

The back deck.

 



The endless gravel driveway.

 



 



The barn.

 



  

How the sprinkler always finds the backyard in the summer.

 

 

 

Baseball in the front yard.

 

 

 An abundance of memories, spent with family.

That I know we will all remember, and cherish for as long as we live.

Thankful for a few new ones made on our last visit.

 

I have to admit, I had a melt down while cleaning up the toys left in the front yard,

the day we were leaving.

I just can't believe that this huge part of our lives has come to an end.

Can't believe it came time for our beautiful Granny to need to be in a nursing home.

Can't believe her beloved house, that she and all of us love so much

will be handed off to the next family to enjoy it.

Just can't believe it is that time.

That's how life goes though,

all things must come to an end.

 

We will miss it, so much.



 



End of the Spring Season, Go Indians!

 We have had SO much fun this Spring/Summer in 4 yr old t-ball.

This was the first season Case got a "real" uniform,

and man, was he eating it up.

 

Matt assisted Coach Chris this season, we were blessed to have such a wonderful coach,

 and meeting more awesome baseball families this Spring.

 

 

I helped out with a few of the Team Mom duties,

it was wonderful being involved, and getting to know all of the sweet kids on Case's team.

 

One of my favorites was the night there was a worm in the dugout...

 

 

So stinkin' cute!

 

Even little Rhetter man got into a lot of the action,

he was a welcomed guest into the dug out every practice and game,

and he definitely thought he was part of the team. ;)

 

 

 

Although, he spent most of the games exploring the creek, woods and practice fields behind the t-ball field, followed closely behind by our neighbor and his buddy Joe. ;)

 

We were so sad to see the season come to and end,

we had an awesome team, and loved our weekly practices and games.

We all truly looked forward to each one.

 

 

We never have to drag him out of the house if we mention the word, "baseball."

 

The boy got 2 game balls this season,

you cannot even begin to put a price on the smile after each one.

Absolutely priceless.

 

 

 

Come on, fall ball!