Okay…so lets go back a few months ago. Our GREAT friends, Gabe and Amy Hogan, had asked if we would be going to the beach this summer because they were thinking that we could plan to be down there at the same time…I quickly LAUGHED and said “HECK NO” because at the time we had been dealing with RSV, FLU, and a fractured skull…I did NOT want to even think about taking this sickly, injury prone group to another location. As summer neared, I was itching to hear the waves. Matt and I started looking at the beach weeks that my dad had and chose a week in June. Then, we had this really crazy idea….if we are going to haul our crew of five down there, why not invite the Hogans to join us in the condo. My thoughts were: 1. It will be crazy, chaotic with FIVE children ages THREE and UNDER…BUT, it will be crazy with our three alone. 2. Why not share the crazy, chaoticness with our friends…at least we would be in the same boat together and could laugh about it together! So, we were excited to have their family join us.
Okay…so we left last Friday. Before we left, I had to get everyone packed…oh my goodness, NOT MY FAVORITE THING to do…especially during vbs week! I had to pack and repack because of some little creatures that kept making their way back to our closet!
Can you tell who got into their suitcase? Campbell’s is above; Trigger’s is below.
We were supposed to leave at 7. Gabe and Amy quickly learned that if we say 7, that meant about 720…because of ME! Sorry…but I do have me and three others to get ready…I think I deserve a little slack! Anyway, we got on the road. I’m not going to mention much about the trip other than my children were pretty good from Ruston to Hattiesburg and then things went downhill VERY, VERY, VERY quickly. As in, NO ONE SLEEPING AND ALL LITTLE PEOPLE YELLING AND CRYING….like all together, at once… At one point we passed Gabe and Amy and Amy was sound asleep…her kids were peacefully napping and I thought “WHY ME…WHY do I have difficult children”. To say that it was miserable would be a huge understatement. BUT, we survived. We got everything unloaded….and by everything, I mean 2 pack and plays, 4 suitcases, 1 large duffle bag, stroller, 2 duffle bags of toys (1 with baby toys and 1 with boy toys), diaper bag, computer bag, camera bag, snack bag, beach bag, THREE children, and a husband (AND some caffeine..haha!)
We sent the boys for some groceries and ordered some pizza. Here are our baby girls on the first night. Let me back up again and tell the ages of our children since some of you don’t know Gabe and Amy. We have Trigger (3.5), Campbell (just turned 2), and Larkin (5 months). Amy/Gabe have Nolan (just turned 2..a month older than Campbell) and Hallie (turned 1 the day after we got home). So, to sum it up, we had 3 yrs, 2, 2, 1, and 5 months. YEP, we had LOST our minds!
After a good nights rest, we all got up and cooked some cinnamon rolls. The men went down and set up the tent while we ate out on the balcony. (yes, Campbell is still wearing his st. patty’s day pjs)
Sweet Hallie eating her breakfast.
Trigger was a little anxious to get out on the beach so he got dressed while the rest of us ate.
Nolan and Trigger. They are our sweet first born children! ;) Love those boys!
Dressed and ready and waiting on daddies to get back up to the condo.
We thought this was hilarious…they hovered around this door stop a lot. They loved it! CHEAP entertainment!
My THREE boys!
When we were about to head out the door to go down to the beach on the FIRST day, Amy came out and said Nolan had fever of 102. So, they got dressed and headed to quick care and found out it was just a virus. Poor Nolan!!! No one else got sick on the trip though. That night, we all went out to eat at the Oyster House. It was so good, as always.
This was quite funny…I think people were constantly trying to figure us out…were we related? friends? whose children with who? who was married to who? because our children were constantly mixed up and spouses were sitting next to the wrong one…haha…we like to confuse people! Honestly though, I think people were just glad that they were not us. For the most part, our children did very good when we went out to eat (which was every night)!!!!
The next day was quite interesting and one that will DEFINITELY go down in the books!!!! We got up and all got dressed…it was our first day out on the beach with all of us. I don’t have many pictures from this day BECAUSE Amy and I were playing referee. Campbell and Nolan had their eyes on the same shovel. Crazy because we had a dozen different shovels but of course they both wanted the same one. We did the whole swapping back and forth. Campbell would have his turn and he would plop himself down in a chair and put the shovel across his lap to let Nolan know that he was in possession of the shovel…of course he didn’t use his time with the shovel to actually dig with it…I mean, why would you? We kept hearing “miiiiinnnne” and “my TURN”. Ha! Well, in the middle of all of this, a cop showed up and told us that we needed to move our tent and all our belongings back in front of the condo…we were kind of far over in front of a beach house but so were a ton of other people so we didn’t think much of it. Yep, just got settled in and bam, TIME TO MOVE! Amy and I had the brilliant idea to take the babies (Nolan/Hallie and Campbell/Larkin) to the pool while the men (and Trigger) moved the tent and stuff. Somehow, the shovel came along for the adventure. We made it up to the pool…at this point, we were still taking turns with the shovel. That didn’t last long because it became a meltdown fiasco. At one point, a security guard came over to check our bands to make sure we did indeed belong at this fine establishment which I thought was funny because why in the world would we bring this passel of screaming children from another condo just to use the pool and listen to our children scream. So, the fit throwing from our boys had escalated to a point that it was disturbing others and becoming quite the scene so I took the shovel and held it up while yelling at amy “what do I do with it”…she responded (through laughter) “get rid of it…”. SO I threw it in the bushes while both boys SCREAMED and yelled at my feet! We decided that we should pack up and move away from all of the people that were so peacefully laying out…hmmm, that must be nice!….I decided to carry both of mine down to the beach to search for one of the men to come help us. It took awhile because I was carrying 44 extra pounds. ;) I sent Gabe up to help Amy. Amy will have to tell the rest of the story on her blog but lets just say that another security guard confronted her to see if she needed assistance (because things apparently went even further downhill after I left…complete with child laid out on the floor crying)…and, as if that’s not enough, several women whispering about the situation. Back to my crew, we were down at the beach with Matt and I could tell something wasn’t right with Campbell. He just kept crying. I checked his diaper…POOP….yep, sand, saltwater, and poop…NOT a good combination. If you aren’t aware of what that will do to your skin, let me tell you…You will get a very mean DIAPER RASH. So, I stripped him down and cleaned him up and we all headed back to the condo. DAY #2 was NOT the most successful! ;) I did get a picture or two of Larkin and Hallie in their matching swimsuits!
This was our crew after the crazy morning…oh and I didn’t mention that this was also FATHER’S DAY!!! Happy father’s day, boys! Ha!
Im not sure about these next pictures…I took pictures with three different cameras so the pictures are all out of order..
I brought an art box with me too…I knew Trigger would need some activities to stay quiet in the condo. He had fun with the dry erase boards and markers…do you see that beautiful picture…that would be ME! ;)
On Monday, we put the kids down for early naps and went to the outlet mall right after they got up. Trigger fell asleep in our bed RIGHT before we left.
Matt really needed to go to the Polo outlet to get some more work clothes (his father’s day present). I took all three kids to a toy store to pick out a toy so Matt could shop in peace…wasn’t that sweet of me. haha!!! I definitely deserve points for that! Next door to the toy store was a self serve ice cream place so we went there and had a little snack while Matt finished up. I was really surprised by how well behaved they all three were. Trigger had to walk, I pushed Campbell in the stroller and Larkin was in the bjorne. 
More beach pictures…
Larkin took a nap down at the beach…Hallie rested for a little bit. 
Look at those precious boys!!!!!!
The boys were laughing at Uncle Gabe!
On the last full day, Nolan and Campbell decided to actually play near each other without yelling “mine” or “my turn”!
I am not sure why we decided to wait until the last night to take pictures, but we did! I thought they all did pretty good! I need to do some editing before I print any but I was please with how they turned out. 
The Hogans
All of us
The Woodards
Hallie was such a great baby the whole time…and LOVES the camera!!!! 
The boys quickly got bored with the pictures and found a huge hole to play in!!!
”Okay, Campbell, we are leaving…Have fun out here by yourself…be sure to cover up with sand because it’s going to be cold tonight”. C: “K”
Well, that didn’t work so Matt had to go drag him out of the hole.
And, he was NOT happy!
On the way home, the roles were a little reversed. I think Gabe and Amy had a tough ride and ours was a little better…all three even got a nap at the same time!
The trip was busy and tiring because of the ages of our children. I was soooo happy that Gabe and Amy went with us. Our favorite part BY FAR was after we put the kids to bed. We would go out on the balcony and talk forever….and eat a little dessert! We had so much fun during our balcony talks. I hope we can make this a yearly trip with the Hogans! AND, my dad just bought another condo that will be just ours so maybe we can go down more often!!!!!!!! I’m going to do need to do some serious car riding training with my three munchkins though!
FUN, FUN TIMES! I’m already ready for next year!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment