Beach time... Smith style...

So we had a great trip to the beach and the kids once again were all worked up waiting to get there. The typical "are we there yet" continued pretty much every hour! We did invest in a new DVD player for the car last summer so that was helpful! I don't know what I was thinking but I actually bought the entire 3rd season of SpongeBOB! WHat? Well, I saw that it was continuous for 4 hours and 67mintues so I thought that might be to my advantage. That is if you can handle that much SpongeBob, luckily I am use to it! It did drowned out the "are we there yet" for a while!

So Isaac tried out a skin board this summer for the first time! Of course, just like his daddy he took to it so easy! We decided that he could use his allowance on a little $16 one at the beach shop! So guess what he was busy doing the rest of the week? For him it went something like this... wake up at 9:30, grab some cinnamon toast crunch, shake out sandy bathing suit, beg mom not to slather him in sunscreen (of course I did!), grab his board, and he would be gone till 4 or so that afternoon! I would beg him to eat lunch, but of course he refused! Then he started catching the late afternoon waves, he loved it!

Emma and Mary B. both enjoyed the beach, but not as much as Isaac. Poor Mary B. I don't know what we do wrong, but her poor little under eyes always get so irritated! I have tried every kind of sunscreen from Aveeno, to Neutrogena, and zinc oxide cream (I even tried Desitin) NOTHING WORKED! So we spent a lot of time blowing cheeks and finding baseball caps to cover ourselves! I will say when she got on that boogy board out in the middle of the ocean, she was afraid of nothing! She would sit for 10 minutes or so just waiting on a big ATLANTIC-style wave! She was fearless and rode like a real surfer girl!

Mary B. loved the pool, she really is a fish! The girl can swim just like her brother and it makes me so happy, I really don't have to worry about her! Our favorite game together at the pool was "categories" did you ever play that as a kid? We had fun dunking each other! I think more than anything else she loved being able to hold me up in the water and dunk me under... too cute!

So Emma absolutely loved the water! We had a miniature boogy board that she would take out to the small sand bar and ride into shore! She loved it! I think our biggest struggle was trying to find a pair of goggles that would stay on her head! Emma's favorite thing to do was get Popsicles on the beach. She is the "Popsicle Queen," really she has one every day rain or shine, so she tried out every kind she could. When we weren't in the mood to pay $3.00 a pop, she would gladly ask if I could march all the way up to the room to get her a green *her new favorite color* Popsicle! She loved sitting under Nana and Pappaw's tent *LIFESAVER* playing in dusty sand. She also gladly gave a loud whale when her sister would come over and stomp all over her newly built sandcastles! Oh my! We had some fun!

At 2 years old... Izzy is the death of me! As I speak right now the child is sitting at my feet screaming for something! She is soooooo, can't say it enough, sooooooo.... ATTACHED! It was so funny on our trip down there, when she got overstimulated *yes, from SpongeBob theme songs* there was no stopping her! She literally screamed for a half an hour, and I don't know about you but that's eternity in a car full of people other children! They were screaming that they couldn't hear the movie and she was screaming because they were screaming over her. I was loosing it quickly and I felt if I turned around or said anything to her, she would go into panic mode just to get in my arms! We would turn around every few minutes and find her slowly inching her way out of her seat, and nothing could stop her (NOT EVEN OUR EMPTY THREATS, unbelievable!) Once again Bubba used his ever so calm presence to help her relax and finally fall asleep.  He finally squeeze his 6'4 frame to the back to calm her, she was out in minutes! ugh... SOUND FAMILIAR? Once we got to the beach it got better, but she was determined to sleep between us every night, which never happens at home! The things you do for the strangers who are sleeping in the room next door? Uh? So by mid week, she seemed better, still wild, but better! She loved the water and even went under a couple of times! The fluffy sand was her favorite, well that and taking out every sandcastle in site! I was so glad she could enjoy it more this year, she played by herself a lot and I was able to sit for moments at a time and *mommy relax*! Which by the way is different from regular relaxing, mommy relaxing is "still be ready at any moment," but your feet are actually up in the air for 2-3 minutes at a time! She would pass out at 1 every single day and sleep for 2 hours or so... the sun really wore her out! As soon as she woke up she would scream "less go to the beech, mama!" So off we would go!

So last but not least, I wanted you to know where I got these adorable dresses! I love to shop on etsy.com for nicknack's and gifts! It's all handmade stuff, so it has a sweet touch to it! I knew that I wanted to find some beachy, cute,  end of the season dresses for the girls so I came across this girl on etsy! She is an amazing seamstress, these dresses were so well made and at a great price! Check her out! Sarah Rose

It was a great trip, a great time with family and kids! Although Bubba was recruiting, he still was able to get in some quality family time!
Now I am off to finish some back to school shopping. I can't hardly believe it's already here!? The kids are pumped and we just checked the classroom list which was posted today! We start on Friday and Emma has her in-home meeting with her new teacher on Monday! The kids were all excited because Emma's new backpack came in! Poor Izzy ran to me and said "where's my backpak, mama?" She then ran to find an old one in the back bedroom and put it on! I really can't believe the summer is over. Still wondering if I accomplished all my goals for the summer, umm.... NO! That's okay you can't fit it all in! Funny story.... I saw a mom the other day in the parking lot of our hotel. She had two kids that looked to be about Mb and I's age. They were all getting out of the car with 3 books each in hand. My first reaction as a mom would be to feel guilty because our summer reading has not been that productive. Immediantly I thought of a quick plan to force reading on the kids for our trip home. Then the man who sits next to me (who never struggles with worry or insecurities of this kind) quickly reminded me that YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL, and YOU CAN'T BE IT ALL! You can only be you! Besides that my kids can read pretty well, maybe not like the kids holding 3 books each, but maybe those kids can't ride waves like mine do! Happy summer memories to all!