The best week of summer

 It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago Lily did a dance intensive so she was gone from 9-3 every day. It was exhausting for her but a good experience and she enjoyed it overall. We just found out her ballet placement for next year and she has also moved up a level so that was exciting and made the hard work worth it. I'm really proud of her and her dedication. She is now in level 5 and the next level is studio company, which is by invitation only. So she may stay here for a few years, which is good with me. Every level up means more time and more money and Emma also got moved up so it was a bump in time and money for her too. Lily will now be dancing four days a week and Emma two days, plus the boys are playing baseball and have different practice days so it is going to be a busy, busy fall. 

That week was also busy with vacation prep and a trip to the orthodontist and we did go to the spray park one afternoon and the library. Friday was my birthday but I was pretty dis-interested about it all week.  It was the day before we left and I had so much to do and Josh had to work and Lily was at dance and I didn't feel like hanging out with anyone so I kind of ignored it. Last year was such a let down, maybe I was still facing that disappointment, but all I really wanted was to be packed and ready to go and no stress. We did get packed in the morning and had some pool time in the afternoon and then I had a coupon I had to use that day so I took my boys to get baseball gear. That took awhile so by the time we got back I was hoping for a simple dinner and to pack the car. 

My dear husband, however, decided to take me out for the dinner I wanted to go out for last year. It wasn't great timing and I should have just told him not tonight but I tried to be a good sport because he was trying so hard to make it a special day and so we went to Okada. We ended up waiting forever so we didn't sit down until 7pm. Then Emma started crying because she was freaked out by the fire on the grill thing next to us (it is a Japanese steak house) and Josh had to calm her down a few times. Then the power goes out because a massive thunder storm is going by. Cue Lily to start crying. It flickered on and off for awhile and finally they came over to cook our food and both girls were crying and wanting to leave. Then we order food and I was so tired and stressed about packing and the kids were a mess, it was so disappointing. Our food is ready and Emma tells us she isn't hungry. Then Brandon starts crying because something hit is neck. Lily stopped crying but she isn't hungry either and the whole time I'm thinking, wow, happy birthday to me. It has to be the worst dining out experience we have EVER had with our kids and the most expensive--a total fiasco from beginning to end. So we finally got home after 8pm and loaded up the car, got the kids in bed (I think they were all pretty tired from dancing/swimming/busy week) and finally around 11pm Josh looked at me and asked if I wanted birthday cake. Nope. It was an ice cream cake so we just left it until we got back from vacation. Such a stupid birthday but hey, life goes on. 

The next day we left for the beach and we had a fantastic week. We went with the Ainas and half-way down she texted me to tell me our friends had COVID and they had been exposed and so that was not fun. I freaked out for awhile about what to do but we were both literally driving to the house and since the likelihood seemed low and no one had symptoms, we went for it, praying a lot that everything would be okay. We had a longer drive because of bad traffic so we got re-routed to all these back roads and it just took awhile but we finally made it and it was a gorgeous day so we went straight to the beach. It was so beautiful and made me so happy. The kids all got right in and we had a fantastic evening playing. Then we got pizza, ran to the store and put everyone in bed. 

 

Sunday we attended church virtually and then spent the rest of the day at the beach marveling at God's beautiful creations. I had thought it was going to rain all week so every day when we woke up and it was sunny, I was so grateful. Monday was also a perfect day and we were at the beach from 10:30 until 5 or so. Tuesday was Lily's birthday so she had her pick of doughnuts, muffins, eggs and strawberries for breakfast then we went to the beach for a few hours. That afternoon we went to Beaufort to shop and look around the cute little town and then we went out for a seafood dinner. She wanted hush puppies and they can be tougher to find than you would think in a beach town, but we had them and fried shrimp and Curtis tried scallops and everyone was happy enough. She opened her presents and we had mini cheesecakes that evening. Lily is such a wonderful daughter and so helpful and kind and I'm so thankful she's mine. 

   

Wednesday we did our souvenir shopping and we went to four big surf/beach stores before everyone found what they were looking for. We headed back to the house and since Lily and Curtis had some pretty sunburned faces, they stayed behind with Emma (who was tired) and Josh, Brandon and I had a beach date. It was so nice to just sit there and watch the ocean and hold Josh's hand while Brandon played in the sand.  After dinner we all went for a walk on the beach and that was really nice too. 

 

Thursday was an amazing beach day. The waves were calm enough the kids could really swim on their own for the most part and everyone was out in the water a lot. I was really impressed with how Emma and Brandon learned to get out past the waves and were brave enough to dive through them and didn't lose their minds the few times they got tossed around in a wave. There was a lot of boogie boarding and body surfing (we had great waves all week) and swimming all week. We stayed until just past 6pm and even then the kids were still having fun. That's another thing I love about the beach is that we can all have fun there together. There are so many ways to enjoy the beach--sitting and watching the waves, swimming or dancing or diving or boogie boarding in the waves, sitting by where they come up and letting them splash you, building in the sand, playing in the wet sand (Isla and I played a game to see if we could keep wet sand on our legs when the waves would come up to where we were sitting), watching the birds, did I mention watching the waves because I could do that all day, then there's games on the beach too including all the pretend ones the kids made up like being mermaids and such. It is truly my happy place.

  

 

Friday was tougher because the current was strong and the waves were steady and big and so it wasn't a good swimming day for the little kids. We did lots of other fun things and were there from about 11-4 and then we headed back and got things cleaned up and packed up. We had dinner and then went for another walk on the beach, only the beach wasn't there. Because of a king tide and a full moon, the water was coming all the way up to the sand dunes--it was nuts. So we walked through the few inches of water that were just sitting on the beach and sometimes we had to watch out for a wave. There were a ton of shells and it was cool to see but not the easiest to walk in. That night Josh and I watched a pretty crazy lightning storm and the full moon and it was all beautiful while hearing the crashing waves. I really love him and I really love the beach. 

 

We did play some games but Sarah was pretty busy with baby Ezra and pretty tired so we played some Sequence, which last time the boys crushed us in but this year, we were the winners so that was great. We played Dutch Blitz which Josh was terrible at and I won, and some Five Crowns. Mostly we talked or some nights we went to bed pretty early because we were all so wiped from the beach. Josh did a lot of paddle boarding and even caught a few waves so that made him happy but also very tired. 

Saturday we packed up and drove home. We hit bad traffic going into VA because of an accident and then the bridge back to MD was slow but we made it in 7 hours so not bad. We had Wendy's, unpacked, I opened my birthday presents and we had my birthday cake, then I went to BJs and paid bills and scheduled out my week. There is a lot to do this week and baseball starts and we have school prep and Lily has a temple trip and the grass needs to be cut and I need to go grocery shopping and there is just a lot going on. I'm hoping we can do something fun on Friday or Saturday to say farewell to summer but we have already packed in a lot of wonderful family time and adventure so I'm feeling good about our summer. I'm always sad to see it end though.