Weekly Recap

Parker (7 months)
Parker had a great time at the beach but his night time sleep routine was miserable and seemed to worsen throughout the week.  He was extremely fussy on the way home so it seems like he is coming down with something.  Both of these made for a very sleepy baby when we finally arrived home.

Carter (2 years - 2 months)
Carter had a great time with everyone at the beach.  He definitely loves to have lots of people around giving him attention.  He has continued to be a very loving big brother.  He frequently wants Parker to be with him and he gets worried when he doesn't know where he is.  He likes to give him hugs and kisses and is just an adorable big brother!

Beach Trip - Part 3

The wonderful thing about vacation is that there are no rules.  So when Carter wanted to go for an early morning golf cart ride in his PJs, dad was happy to oblige.  Carter, Parker and dad hit up Ft. Moultrie.  Carter had fun checking everything out.

He was so excited he asked to walk home to get out some of his excess energy.  Dad and Parker agreed and followed him in the golf cart.

After a hot morning checking out the fort, the boys decided to cool off in the pool  Parker also sported a new hairdo for the occasion.

He and Hailey had fun floating around checking each other out.

Later in the week, Jay came to join the fun and the men decided to play a round of golf.

Carter really wanted to go play with the boys.  He had mom help him put on his golf shoes, shorts and shirt.  He then got his clubs and wheeled them out to the driveway.  Where he was shocked to realize that  the car was gone.

Fortunately, he got over his disappointment when we offered to take him, Parker and Hailey to the park.  Parker hit up the swings.

While Carter enjoyed the playhouse!

After a warm morning out and about, everyone hit up the pool in the afternoon and cooled off outside with some pre-dinner snacks.  Jay was great with the kids and Carter/Parker immediately took to him.

For dinner, we decided to hit up the local hotspot Poe's.  Parker and Hailey spent some time make googly eyes at each other...

Before big brother stepped in to remind the kids that this was a family dinner and they needed to keep it PG.

For our final day at the beach, Carter decided to get a little crazy.

While Parker soaked up every last minute with his new pal.

As a family we spent some time exploring the island and soaking up every last minute of vacation.  We took the boys to the marsh side of the island...

to check out the beautiful scenery...

and local wildlife (aka crabs).

We then took a trip to the docks so Carter could watch the boats (his new obsession).  Carter has the sweet new habit of stroking mom's hair when ever she is holding him.  It's a wonderful feeling!

We all had a great time checking out the boats and enjoying all the island has to offer.

We spent the rest of the trip enjoying good food and company.

Unfortunately it was soon time to head home and back to reality.  It's exciting to think about what our family will look like during our annual beach trip next year!

Beach Portraits

In addition to all the playing we took some pictures of the boys and family throughout the week.  Here are some of the favorites.

Beach Trip - Part 2

The boys were really excited when a friend joined them for the rest of their beach week.  Little Miss Hailey Dixon and her parents came to spend a week with us.  Carter and Parker immediately hit it off with Hailey.  It was amazing to watch Parker immediately calm down and diligently play and interact with her on the floor any time they were together.

The first evening we had homemade pizza.  We bought the dough from the local farmer's market and put David's dough tossing expertise to work.  The man can toss some dough!

As had been the norm so far, the pool was the place to be when the sun was out.  Carter was getting more and more confident every day we went swimming.

And Parker really started to enjoy the water as well.

It helped that their parents, especially Mom, were up for acting like kids as well.

Everyone had a great time, which made Carter a very affectionate brother giving multiple hugs to "his baby".

Carter also made a new best friend in David.  Every chance he could, he would get David to play with him, be it playing cards, animals, or especially music.

The Dixon's also brought a very nice goody basket for the boys, the floating snake was as big a hit out of the pool as in.

In the afternoons, Dad made sure to give the boys lots of tours of the island.  Parker couldn't last on the bike more than 15mins before lights out.  Here they are returning home from a quick trip.

His exhaustion must have been from all the pool relaxation ;)

On our next trip to the beach, we brought kites.  Carter tried hard to get the kite up, but Dad made a small error in the tie point.

Luckily we had another engineer with us (David) and quickly we were flying not one, but two kites on the beach.

Then it was off to have more beach fun.

Mom taught Carter how to jump over the waves as they rolled onto shore.

Sometimes he needed a hand with the jumping.

Parker really loves to watch and observe Carter.  When Carter is laughing, Parker is always watching and smiling.

To and from the beach, we took the golf cart.  We didn't immediately take all the decorations off, and on the way back from the beach, it appears Parker got a blue streamer in his mouth.  It took a half day to get the blue out of his lips.

While we had a ton of fun at the pool and beach, we also found ways to enjoy ourselves inside.  Be it riding on Mom...

or just jumping around in our bouncer...

Or chilling a glass of sangria for the adults...

It's always a fun time with the growing Holden and Dixon clan!