Grandma's and the Beach

It has been about a year since we've seen Grandma Great so with a holiday weekend and the kids having an extra day off of school we made a trip down South.

We left Saturday around 9am. The kids did surprisingly great. We put the 8th seat in so Clara had someone to entertain her most of the time. On our drive down I texted Hollie and told her to pack her bags and meet us in SC. Great minds think a like, she was already there. So we got to enjoy the company of Hollie, Cris, and baby Xan all weekend too.

We spent Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa Larry. Larry introduced us to his honey butter biscuits,  a special secret recipe. He also took me for a ride on his motorcycle. So fun. I totally get it now.
We enjoyed the morning swiming in their pool before heading to Sheley's BBQ where we met up with Grandma Riley. We ate ourselves sick!

Playing at Grandma Riley's (we enjoyed her traditional Root-beer Floats)

We drove to Blythewood and spent the night with Grandma Great. The next morning the kids fished in Uncle Harold's pond and drove the golf cart for hours! This was the first time Jake got to drive all by himself. He loved it. Couldn't get enough of it. Actually he told me he wants a golf cart for Christmas.

Cook'n in the kitchen. Love these ladies.

It was a really quick trip. Too quick. Everyone was complaining as we drove out of Grandma Great's driveway. Thanksgiving we want to spend 4-5 days with our Grandma's.

At 2pm we left to drive to the Outer Banks.  Some friends from our new ward, the Rohns, invited us to stay at the beach house they rented for the week. We could only stay for one full day but we made the most of every minute.  The home they rented had 8 rooms, an elevator going through the 3 floors, a game room, big kitchen/eating area, a pool with a kiddie area, and a hot tub. AWESOME! Dan and I had a king size bed and our own bathroom. Then the kids had a king size bed and a bathroom right next to us. 

Here's the not so fun part of our beach stay. We drove in at 11pm and were in bed as quickly as possible. We had the pack'n play set up at the end of our bed and decided to put Abby on the floor beside us. As I cuddled up to Dan on our comfy king size bed I had the thought, oh this is so nice! a comfy bed and a really nice place right on the beach....Dan and I slept all of about 20 minutes when Abby started to cry. Dan took her to the bathroom to get a drink and realized she was covered with red bites. We put her in between us in bed but she was so uncomfortable itching she couldn't sleep. So, at 1am Dan drove around until he found a drug store to buy Benadryl and itching cream. We think there were fleas on the floor. Poor girl. So the next two nights Dan and I got to sleep on a big king size bed with a 4 year old kicking us, hitting us and hogging all the bed all night long. To top it all off, the second night Clara woke with a fever. Poor girl. Poor Dan headed back out to get infant motrin. (I had packed it but we used it up when Jake had a head ache.) Vacation with kids. Not really a vacation, ever. But still fun.

Now on to our fantastic day on the beach...

Lots of playing in the sand.

Jake was on the boogie board the entire time. 

 That's me, riding the waves with Jake. So fun!

We spent hours in the ocean and then headed to the pool.

Then back out to the beach. Collecting shells and eating donuts.

We spent all day Wednesday on the beach. Than after hours of beach fun on Thursday we had to head back home. We ate lunch at a fun sea food place on our drive out.