4th of July at the Beach 2012

(I am so behind on this. I did start a post in July and it didn't get saved before my computer died.)

Every year my dad takes us to the beach with my brother and his family. It is always right around the 4th of July. This year we decided to go to Gulf Shores. We had not been there yet for this family trip. After our short trip during Spring Break, Tyler and I really wanted to go back. Its a fun place to go with enough things to do and not too busy.

 

Most of our car riders on the way down.

 

We ate at some fun places. Having two kids, I love when a place offers entertainment for the children.

 

First place we went was "The Home of the Throwed Rolls" or Lambert's. It was yummy food and a lot of it! It was quite a wait but they had some play ground type toys for the kids. Then as soon as you get seated they start throwing rolls at you!

 

 

They were as big as her head!

 

And you get the fixings to go with them (apple butter or jelly). YUMMY! They also bring sides like fried okra and mashed potatoes that come with your meal. It was all yummy! There is even some magical jokes/tricks the waiters do.

 

 

Lorna, Karen (and Lakelin and Garyn)

 

 

And Tacky Jack's offers sand play and a pool table while you wait for a table and/or for your food.

 

 

 Of Course, we had a lot of fun out on the beach as well.

 

Lorna, Ansley and Garyn burring daddy in the sand

 

Daddy grew a chest :)

 

Ansley really seemed to enjoy herself down at the beach. However, there was no sitting down while watching her because she was all over the place.

 

She would go up to everyone around us to say "Ey" and wave. Then she typically went for their food or toys. No one was bothered by this sweet face though....

 

 

 

 

 Garyn, as usual, only wanted to hang out in the water. He enjoys jumping waves and tried out the boogie board some.

 

Anytime I tried to get a picture he would whine or do this....

(Shaking his booty)

 

(Only family pic from the week)

 

We let him keep his floaties on all the time so that I didn't have to stay right next to him.



Ansley had fun in the water some. She would let us hold her out in water but didn't like the shore where the waves crashed.

Best pic I could get of the two of them together...



 

 

Garyn and my nephew Lakelin. Garyn really looks up to him and they play decently well together. Although, I think by the end of the trip they were getting tired of each other....

 

 

Hanging out in the pool

 

 

Lorna and Aunt Karen played beauty shop a lot with Ansley's hair.

 

She got some cute braids.

 

She also loved Lorna's shoes.

 



 

 

Garyn's most favorite is to go play minigolf. I think we played 3 times while there!

 

 

Ansley has a little crush on Lakelin....



 

(Lorna golfing...can't believe how tall she is)

 

Ansley wanted to check out the race track.



 

We watched fireworks down on the beach. Garyn seems to understand these holidays more and more. He enjoyed the show. I attempted to get some pics....

 

Love my silly boy!

 

 

All in all it was a great trip. We always enjoy our time together and the lazy days of hanging out at the beach.

 

 

 

Family Photos

I am sure you all have noticed my new header. They are most of the one year old session we had with Bonnie McGhee, Tyler's first cousin. She does such a good job, as you can tell! These are some of my favorites!

{Daddy and Ansley love}

{Looks too grown up!}

{My lil' Alfalfa}

{Perfect picture!}

{Blue eyed beauty}

{She loves her daddy's bicket}

{And a family pic where we are all looking!}

I just loved them all really! There were more than this though, I promise I didn't post all of them. If you are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend her! You can be mesmerized by all her work at myimagesbybonnie.com

Time to pack!

Well, as you know we put our house up for sale back in May....

And this past week we got an offer and after countering back and forth a bit, we now have it under contract! I am so excited yet so sad. We bought this house knowing we would eventually move. We have always wanted a larger area for the kids to play freely and hoped to be in a better school zone. However, I still have a lot of sentimental connections to this house since we have brought both kids home to it.

We feel very blessed though that it did sell in about 2 months and we aren't losing money. I know the economy has hurt sellers so we weren't sure how we would do. Now we aren't making money but we aren't really losing anything either. God's perfect plan, I tell you!

(No I didn't just buy a bunch of diapers...:) )

We are closing around the 14th of September. Although its not set in stone yet, I have started packing the last couple days. It is going to be a long process since Ansley unpacks things as I pack. Wish me luck!

Team Gman

Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was one of Garyn's favorite Christmas presents. It is still his favorite game to play. As soon as advertisements started for the actual London 2012 Olympic games started, he was beside himself with excitement. {Now that they have started, we are watching it daily to see who gets gold} With all that said, there was no question that he was going to have a Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

{Attempt at family pic}

{better with Pop}

Now I just had to figure out how to combine that with going to the indoor mini golf place here in Chattanooga that he also loves. We went last year on his actual birthday just for a fun day and thought "This would have been a great place to have his party!" So that was also decided early on.
We went with mini golf as an Olympic game and an invite to be on Team Gman in his on Olympics.

{Emma was the youngest team member}

 

{Garyn helped me paint these rings and yes I know they aren't in the right order or position but the magazine I got the idea from just had them as a banner, too :p }

It was a great party place, too! Tyler and I said that day, that is was one of the easiest parties. I think everyone else loved it, too. I know the birthday boy did!

{Pop and Ansley}

{Favors on top of winners stand}

The boys ran wild playing mini golf  Team Gman style.....meaning there was no rules! We had the place to our self so they could do that. In reality, that's what most 5 yr olds want.

{Ansley put forth her effort}

I think 5 is going to be fun but challenging to keep those boundary lines up. Garyn has been exerting his independence more and more. Sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes bad. He is putting his own clothes on (most of the time); going to the bathroom on his own; gets snacks and drinks out well; and buckles himself in the car. While that is all great, he also thinks he knows everything and gets a little attitude when we try to tell him otherwise. That is a big hurdle we have had to fight lately. The "No, I don't" "Don't tell me that" "No, its not" "But I don't like to" and so on have been a broken record around here. I know it is just a stepping stone to what is to come. We typically take away Wii games when it gets out of control. His obsession with them are the key to getting him to listen. He frequently has melt downs when we don't give him what he wants or when we get on to him. I think some of this stems from Ansley's behavior. When he is happy, though, it just lights up the room, like in this picture.....

{Everyone got gold medals, too!}

Here was his idea for the cake....He was so excited to get all these characters to put on the cake and keep afterwards.

{Sonic had to be in first with Mario right behind. The lady who made our wedding cake made this and it was so good! She let us put the characters on once there. }

The mini golf place also gave everyone ice cream. Not sure what Ansley's scowl face is about; someone probably took her ice cream.

Garyn has gotten a little pickier about what he will eat. I still have to push the veggies, but fruits he needs pushed to not eat too many of. Hamburgers are his favorite meal right now. Then Dr. Pepper and cokes are his next tops. We have always let him get what he wants to drink when we go out which we have been doing too much of this summer.

Garyn is into building things like Lego, so these Knex Mario cars were right up his ally. He actually spent his birthday money on a track set to go with these. He is also into racing. Oh, we race in everything! And he is competitive! Every car ride is a race, every game, eating. Its all a race. We have learned to let him win most of the time. He is just so unhappy when he doesn't win. That's another story, though.

He was also so excited to get the Angry Birds game. We play a lot of board games when Ansley takes a nap. Connect 4, Trouble, Uno, and a Boz game. He is getting so stinking good at them, too! If not a board game, we are playing hide n' seek, tag, or baseball outside. He and daddy have been discussing all the rules of baseball and he lets me know when I am doing something wrong. We are going to sign him up for soccer this fall. And I'm sure he'll do baseball next spring.

He wanted to read every card and out loud, too. He did a good job. He can sit and read just about anything now. He is sounding things he doesn't already know and sometimes gets it wrong. I don't know how he knows to do that, though. Its truly amazing sometimes to think it comes so easy to him. I fear the frustration we may have with Ansley when she acts like a normal child and reads in Kindergarten.

I always love how everyone crowds around to see whats inside.....

We also went to Chuck E. Cheese's the day before his birthday to celebrate a little since daddy had football most of his actual birthday. Nana, Poppa, Uncle Philip and Kadie kept their presents for him to open there.

Then on his actual day, we went to Toys R' Us and he got to spend a little of his birthday money. And daddy was able to meet us at Logan's for late lunch.

We also went to the spray ground that aftertoon with Mckenzie and Brayden so that was a great finish to the day.

I still can't believe he is 5 but am so happy to have had 5 years with him and more to come!