The Crawdad Chronicles: 4th of July Fun!

It was back to the beach for the 4th of July. Ryan had to work part of the time but the kids and I actually managed to survive a week away. It wasn't always pretty but we made it! Before we left the boys helped make a fruit pizza for us to take for dessert. We had this for the first time at Sunday school back in Louisiana and Ryan and I were hooked, so yummy!

You may notice that one section has no fruit. That was intentional by my one non-fruit-eating child

We had to take two cars because Ryan was going to have to come back to work so he left first and stopped at the boys' current favorite place to play.

I ended up beating them to the beach and immediately had my hands full. The weather on the way was awful and A and K screamed for a good part of it. When will these two kids like the car?!

Excited to get these glow sticks

Before long we headed to the beach.

Conversations with Pappy

It was Harrison's turn for a ride on the kayak, this time with daddy

Georgia and Kate REALLY wanted a sip of a pina colada and thankfully having a pregnant Tia meant that their was a virgin one around :)

The pool had a super hero/princess party one night

They also had a tattoo station which thrilled Harrison who has been obsessed with tattoos lately. Ryan decided that Andrew should get his first tattoo- a dinosaur

He was very serious about it

The party had a kid buffet. Harrison insisted on having a corn dog and then just ate the outside. Crazy kid!

James was excited to see his friends from back home at the balloon station

Miss Priss was very proud of her lei

Back to the beach!

Ryan joked that this was the time out spot on the beach. Kate was not amused.

She was super happy though at lunch when she sneakily grabbed Harrison's mac and cheese and started licking out his bowl.

Play-doh time

Could their hair be any different? Andrew- curls for days. Kate- stick straight

Pappy's buddy

My little tan princess

Boat ride for the big kids

I just love this age. He is so fun to do things with!

The morning of the 4th we got ready for the parade which goes right by our house

Family photo!

My smallest firecrackers

After the parade there was a 4th of July party at the pool so we walked over. It was fun but SO hot. Ryan thankfully offered to take A and K back home because they were miserable.

The Kona Ice truck was there!

The big boys loved the bounce houses

James was so happy to see Greer

When the boys and I were walked back Ryan scared us on the balcony, he is crazy!

Ready to paint after nap time

Kate got a little carried away. By the time she was done she looked like a Native American princess with war paint

Later that afternoon we decided to swim off the dock which James had been begging to do. This proved to be a little tricky with our crew but how adorable does Kate look? She was so proud of her hat.

Get ready to swim babies!

James would have been happy for hours to swim if we had let him.

Trying to hold kids while in 10 feet water and balancing on a float proved to be a challenge.

At this point we realized Kate's raft was not tied to Ryan's and she was floating away haha!

Total chaos lol

Pappy jumped in to help but finally we just sent A and K on their way and I got to just float around with James. Those life jackets are awesome because you can just pluck them right out of the water and haul them to the dock. Harrison wanted nothing to do with the salt water because he had scraped his foot earlier and it hurt for him to get it wet.

He did go on the sunset cruise with Ryan, David, and Pappy though

Talk about excited. Kate got to wear Georgia's tutu from last year and she went crazy marching around laughing.

4th of July Popsicle for dessert

My mom, you have to love her. Only she would have light up 4th of July earrings

Harrison and his nun chucks, I mean glow sticks.

Waiting for the fireworks! Shortly after this Harrison who kept putting his glow stick in his mouth (which I had told him to stop doing) actually had the glow stick explode in his mouth and he freaked and it was BAD. REALLY bad. Lesson learned: listen to your mama!

Sweet boy!

We may have stayed up late the night before but my four human alarm clocks were up early as always. Kate devoured this cantaloupe.

This is how we were all feeling at this point. At least the adults.

Ryan and mom took the kids to play so I could go see Greer and David's house updates and nursery plans for my sweet niece that is coming this fall. He decided to bury Kate in the sand and apparently she loved it this time!

Almost bedtime. This picture is hideous of me but I love this memory. Our end of the day routine, cuddles, songs, and prayers with Mommy.

Breakfast with Nene

The boys did a camp through the pool for one morning so mom and I got to spend some special time with A and K.

Andrew was hilarious eating this hot dog bun with his fork. We got a sitter the next day for A and K so we could have some special time with J and H. That was amazing because for the first hour they swam in the pool without us and my mom and I laid in a chair and talked.