Our Adulthood Experiment (a.k.a. Beach Trip!)

It was June and the Hubs and I were clamoring to get OUT of Durham and TO the beach. Convinced that it was time for us to “act like adults” by planning and carrying out our own family vacation (i.e., without the help of grandparents) we dared to take on our very own…

ADULTHOOD EXPERIMENT

(or “Tryst with Crazy” as I like to think of it now).

Inspired by our new “grown-up” and “self-sufficient” selves, we booked a beach house located on the fabulous Emerald Isle, packed up the van with a ridiculous amount of STUFF, and headed to the white sands (after taking a quick jaunt to Duke Urgent Care, but that’s a tale for another day…).

Long story short, the beach was beautiful. The house was great. The kids were, well, kids. They were great too…and ridiculously cute, and funny, and entertaining. The trouble was, despite all of our “adult” decisions and accomplishments, they were still kids! They were needy, and messy, and tiring, and prone to meltdowns… Shocker!

And yet, determined to have a fun “vacation,” Mike and I carried on like good little “adult” beach troopers. We worked hard on behalf of our Little Miss and Mister to ensure that they had a GREAT time.

And they did.

We even overcame a rainy (and potentially boring) day and made it to the aquarium!

And then, mid-way through this “vacation” of ours, we re-attached our brains and called Grammie and Poppy for “HELP!”

Frankly, it was probably the most “adult” decision we made the whole trip. Ain’t grandparents the best?!

Suffice to say, OUR FAMILY LOVES THE BEACH! Especially when grandparents are involved!

And we’re gonna get back there no matter what it takes!
(Just a wee bit wiser next time…)

3 + 1 = Twice the Fun!

It’s BIRTHDAY PARTY TIME!!!

Being the practical (i.e., sanity- and wallet-protecting) Mama that I am, I opted to celebrate the Little’s birthdays together in one big, wild, and crazy bash. Good news for me, the Little Mister (June 15) and Little Miss (July 9) have their birthdays within a month of each other. And they’re too young to know the difference…score!

Joined by nearly 40 people – family, and friends from church, playgroup, and preschool – we had a blast partying it up at the Rainbow Room! We weren’t able to get photos of everyone, but we are so GRATEFUL for all of the fantastic people who came together to love on our Little Revelers!

The party kicked off with lots of crazy-fun playtime…

(A growl, a mad chase, and then a Daddy Dogpile!)

And ended with celebrations for the Little Birthday Babes and an OVERLOAD of sugar!

(Note to self: All of my hard work baking and frosting 60 cupcakes may have been appreciated by the adults. But the kids? They clearly would have been just as happy with big bowls of frosting!)

(Is it just me, or does the Little Mister appear to be growing up a bit too fast?)

Oui monsieur!

It was an awesome day. Kids happy? Check. Parents happy? Check. House still intact and not requiring a major cleaning? Triple Check!!!

Now I just have to wait and see how long the Littles will let me combine their birthday celebrations in the years to come. But for this year I can say for certain…it was a success!