Hilton Head part 1

i have been avoiding this post like i have avoided "thinning out" the littles play room all summer.

 

i have a lot of pictures from this trip.

 

but then i remembered that this is my blog and if i want to break up this trip into 245 seperate blog posts then i can!

 

so since i forgot to upload my pics to flickr i will start this never ending series of hilton posts with some phone pics. :)

 

sounds like a plan.

 

we left around 11 pm on a thursday night.

i got all the littles in their jammies

kept them awake for as long as possible during the day

and then we were off!

when i tell you that the van was jam packed...i mean jam packed! 

there really was some order to all of this stuff...even though this picture does not suggest that...those darn pillow pets just adds to the illusion of complete and utter craziness! :)
 

we daddy drove all night and by day break we were in virginia! 

then they fell back asleep for a little friday afternoon nap... 

oh i just find this little boy so irresistible!  i love that he loves to hold mommas hand in the car.  i think its cute! :)
 

then by dinner time we saw this! 
our destination for friday night
charlotte, nc.
 

daddy promised sophie we would eat at the penguin drive in
she saw it on diners, drive-ins, and dives and has talked about it ever since.
she was happy.
 

 

 

the next morning after a night in charlotte we got back into the car and a did a little more of this...
 

and this...

before arriving at our final destination!

we were so ready for our family vacay to begin!

 

 part 2 coming soon! :)

 

 

 

new hampshire trip

i debated back and forth on whether or not we were going to tag along on this trip...

part of me really wanted to stay home and get some things done before we left for hilton head the following week
the other part of me said just go and enjoy your family!

well i decided "yes"

and i was very happy with my decision.

we did all the normal things we do when tagging along with daddy on a trip.

swimming in the pool.

eating dinners out.
snacks galore.

but we also decided to treat the littles to a trip to storyland, a cute little quaint amusement park up in the mountains.

the littles looved it!

(so did mommy!)

 

before heading there we stopped at this adorable little log cabin pizzeria

we ate outside on picnic tables and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

 

not sure what ella is attempting in this pic. :)

sophie took this pic of me and daddy since it was our anniversary!
happy 9 years, daddy! 
i love you!~
 

 

 

then we made it to storyland. 
yay!
can you tell how much levi loved being in his stroller?
 

the girls wanted to ride this one first.
so mommy stayed with levi while
daddy accompanied his little girls.
 

i love this pic.  look at abbie holding her daddy's hand. 
so sweet!



 

my sweet lil fam! :)
 

 

 

levi loved riding in this car.
so much that he through a king size tantrum when the ride ended~ :)

 

apparently if you are 4 and under you need to physically touch humpy dumpty to get the full effect. :)
 

these were cute. 
the littles thought they were fun.
(apparently something more exciting was taking place to the right in the picture.) :)
 

 

as soon as we got to storyland abbie kept talking about the
princess castle.
she was so excited when we finally found it~



and even more excited when she got to meet the princess!
 

and sit on her throne!

love this pic!

 
we then ended the day with a little water
 

 

 

 and a train ride around storyland.
 

 

 
here is the view from the parking lot.  sooo pretty!
i did let the girls pick out somethign at the gift shop before leaving. 
i was so pleased that we ended up leaving the gift shop only spending $15!
for that money we got a storyland wallet (ella), a horse (sophie), and a little mermaid (abbie)...sorry levi.
 

 
then on our way home we stumbled across this little place to get some dinner. 
 

 

the next day daddy treated me to a lobster roll at our very favorite restaurant in nh for our anniversary!

the beach plum!



 

 

 

here they are playing with their storyland toys. :)

 

this trip was so much fun.

we are so blessed that daddy has a job where we can tag a long in the summer!

so many memories are made on these little trips! :)

back to school shopping

i love back to school shopping.

not because it means the littles are going back to school (that actually makes me sad) but because i just love how excited they get when they get to pick out pencils, glue, erasers...

i love when my children get excited about the little things.

because we all know to well that the love for the little things starts to fade as we get older.

we started off our day at target to tackle the supply list.

in the past i have always just had the girls pick out the most basic supplies. 
this year ella showed me some fancy pencils and erasers. 
i immediately said no because yellow pencils and boring pink erasers work just as well as those overpriced fancy supplies.

then i rememembered how much fun i had as a kid picking out "fancy" pencils for the first day of school. 

 i began to reminisce about pencils i had in 5th grade that smelled like chocolate! 
they were hershey pencils and i thought i was so cool bringing those babies in my pencil box.

if you hadn't guessed  by now i changed my mind and allowed them to get their "fancy" pencils along with the boring yellow pencils :)

we then moved on to lunch bags. 

now once again in the past i have been quite rigid with the lunch bags. 

when gap would have their normal august sale i would allow the girls to pick out their backpack and lunchbag from the selection online.

well this year i decided to stop being an overbearing control freak   loosen up a tad and allow them to pick out any lunch bag they wanted from target.

they were so excited.

this made me happy!

sophie chose the lunchbag she was holding in her hand. 

ella chose a very mature plain colored lunchbag with a water bottle.

 

from target we went to the movies to see ice age. 

it was a cute movie.

 

 

we went to a movie theater that had just revamped their seating. 
oh. my. goodness!

to say these seats were comfy would be an understatement.

they even reclined

loved them.

 

and of course this girls day out ended with happy hour at sonic...
slushies and rt. 44 diet cokes for everyone!

it was a great day with the girlies!

oh levi.

 

i came across an open bag of cookies on the counter.

 

 

hmmm i thought to myself. 

who was in these cookies.

 

then i saw this.

 

 

 

my little guy is smart enough to take the stool from the bathroom and use it to get the cookies.

yet not quite smart enough to know to remove the evidence
(aka blankie).

 

love this little stinker.