Sea Grove 2013

It’s been a while since the Warfs have been to the beach…partly due to other priorities, partly due to my ‘solar-phobia’ these days after melanoma, and several other things.  All that said, we decided to capitalize on the last few weeks of summer and the fact that we aren’t bound by school holidays quite yet – and headed down to the Emerald Coast for the beach!  Silas and Avery patiently listened to us all week as we told them what we were going to be doing (riding in the car for a LONG time, playing on the beach in the sand, swimming in the waves) but I don’t think really grasped what we meant.  (The last time they were at the beach was when they were about 12 or 14 months old.  It was NOT one of their favorite things.)

We woke up on Saturday morning and loaded the car, dressed in our Hotty Toddy gear (for the Ole Miss vs Texas game later that day) and took a few deep breaths… then piled into the car.  (Whew, what an accomplishment!)   These two were PUMPED up: 

 

(yes, that’s Avery’s bee-bee and Silas’ harmonica [which he calls his ‘flute’ or “toot”])  (and yes, he provided marvelous, free, unsolicited entertainment for most of the drive down)



 

Silas and Avery rode remarkably well on the way down…much better than I, who doesn’t sit well for more than about an hour!  ;)  We arrived in Sea Grove and the kids immediately sprinted to the sand with the toys Mimi and Papaw had picked up for them… “Beach” was a hit! 

 

 

No time for bathing suits…  Glad Mimi and Papaw were good sports and up for it!   Ha!

 

We woke up the next morning and enjoyed several hours playing in the sand and the waves – Silas and Avery were champion beach bums!   My sensory-sensitive child Silas even wanted us to bury him in the sand….

 

Surf's up!!

  

My heart...
 

Our attempts at a family shoot:

Isn’t this how we all want to eat ice cream?!

What fun family time.  We’ll be back soon!

The Morning After

And..... the morning after, Silas and Avery were still pumped up on sugar from the night before... and opened their birthday presents.  (Their mom and dad quickly learned turning three means toys with millions of small parts) But toys for three-year-olds are super fun too!  Their friends sure knew exactly what they'd like:

Brace yourself, this was too much for me to handle...

Later on, we piled into the car and met Mimi, GG, and Eleanor at the Children's Museum - talk about three excited little people!

Watch out, here they come!

No caption needed.

They're Three!!??!

I just can't believe they're three!!  Silas and Avery were super pumped about their birthday party.  On Friday afternoon, we had their friends over to our house to play on the coolest 'slip and slide' ever made (thanks to the Bosts for letting us borrow it!).  

"How old are you Avery?"

"I'm........ phree!"  

We started out small with the water table... 

And quickly moved to the big slide!

When I asked Silas and Avery what kind of party they wanted, they said, "Dora and Diego!"... (I'm not telling who wanted which character).  So we went with the taco theme... after all, the Warf duo loves guacamole!

These kids couldn't get enough of the slide.  I have to admit... if there weren't about 30 other people in my backyard, I might have climbed up and given it a try:-)

We sang Happy Birthday and it was as if Silas, all of a sudden, realized it was for HIM:

Throwing water balloons at Swiper (and at mommy and daddy) was a hit!

Silas and Avery were so full of adrenaline and chips and guacamole and CAKE, we didn't go to sleep until the wee hours of the night.   Party Three:  Success.  Man, I love these two.

Labor Day

After church on Labor Day weekend, we decided to head up to Grenada Lake and spend a quiet few days at the Lake House...one of our favorite spots in the world!  

I wouldn't trade my sunrises with this little buddy for anything! 

Silas and Avery always have a blast.  Check out this big boy on the four wheeler (no worries, he can't reach the accelerator... but he can turn the key.... uh oh).

Sunday night, our dear friends Jason, Amy Hardin, Hardin, and Molly Shirkey came to visit from Oxford - such fun!  We miss them and wish we could be together more often!
The infamous slip and slide was back in use while Silas commanded the water hose.

and monitored who was getting wet.

And maybe pestered his sister a little..

We finally convinced them to come in and wind down.  We took baths and put on PJs and Avery decided to "get Hardin"... Hardin was a great sport the whole time.  See from the pic series below... let's put a jersey on her!  

Here's our growing families!!  (It's as good as we were able to get with a two year old, two three year olds, and 3 month old... and several thirty-something year olds:-)