Beach with Cole

Jake has been at Gram and Poppy's house in VA since Wednesday. This was honestly a hard thing for me to agree to, since VA is 8 hours away. It's not like I can just hop in a car and quickly get there if I needed to, so it was a pretty big deal to me, but I knew he was going to have a good time (and he, obviously, is so far....he may never want to come home, actually) - and I wanted them to be able to enjoy some Jake time. Since Jake has been gone the past couple of days, Cole and I have stayed BUSY. I think Cole has been wondering where Jake is .... as he crawls around and looks around the corner, as if to look for Jake, but at the same time, I think Cole has also enjoyed a couple days of having FREE REIGN of the house and no one coming and taking toys from him and saying, "that's mine" (which we are constantly working on with Jake.... typical 2 year old)! Aunt Jenn is in town now, too - for graduation today, so it's fun having her here!! One of the things Cole and I did over the past couple days is go to the beach. We haven't been in a few weeks - and he enjoyed every minute of crawling around! I had to put the pacifier in his mouth, though - after several handfuls of sand to the mouth. :-) Cole is definitely a beach boy .... he LOVES the sand and the water!!

Cole and Elise
Elise, Cole, and Elle

A few More....

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Florida. I forgot that I had taken these, since they were on my other camera, but they are important pictures :-) The first 2 are of Cole in a high chair at a restaurant for the FIRST time! He did great ... especially since we had a party of 14!! :-) His first time in a high chair was at Scooners - probably the absolute best place ever to eat shrimp!! Hopefully in a couple of years, he will be sitting in a chair next to me enjoying the goodness of shrimp and hushpuppies at Scooners!

Look at these 2! So cute!!!
Uncle Don with Cole
Trying to get a picture of the kids with Nana and Papa ....
wasn't really meant to be (but you get the idea) .... :-)
Jakester!

Trip to FLORIDA!

This past weekend, the boys and I met Jul and Matt down in Florida at our grandparents house (Nana and Papa)! It was a really great weekend - so much fun seeing everyone!! Before we left, though ..... here is Jake helping feed Cole :-)

Friday night, we took a stroll down memory lane - and went shrimping out on Papa's dock. It has been FOREVER since I've been shrimping - over 10 years!! Jul and I grew up fishing and shrimping on Papa's dock, so it was really great to get out there after the sun went down and catch some shrimp! It was fun teaching Matt, too - and I really wish Chris could've been there, b/c he would really enjoy it! Here is Papa pulling up the shrimp net.....

Jul's turn ......
Look at that form!!
Let's see how many she got .....
So, you dump the shrimp from the net onto this black mat, and we then put them into the bucket .... That's how it works. It's as simple as that!


Matt pretending to eat one .... I have to say, shrimp are UGLY!!!!!!
Jul teaching Matt how to throw the net .....

My turn .... putting the metal weight on the bottom of the net in my teeth!
Look at me go!



I caught a fish, too! We threw it back, though....

Here Matt goes .....
He's a natural .....
but he shouldn't quit his day job ;-)



This is my almost 84-year old grandfather!! AMAZING!


Getting a cat fish out of the shrimp net ....


Here they are ....
Now for the FUN part -
popping off the heads - ewww!
I just watched and took pictures! :-)

Nana feeing Cole .....
The boys playing with Papa ..... love it!

So sweet!
Rylee (my cousin Melissa's daughter)
My sweet boy....

Cute Cute Cute....
Even Cuter!
Beach, play ground, water sprinklers .... ALL in the same place! Beaufort needs this!!!!
Jake was loooooving life!
Blake going down the slide....
My cousin Jennifer with Cole





Still going .....
The beach....

Cole playing in the sand....
The love birds (Jul and Matt) :-)

Look at that smile!





Cole wanted a turn in the water....



He was enjoying himself, too!






Storm coming in.....

Look at that face!
Jake not happy about having to leave (surprise surprise)!

Aunt Charline and Jake
Papa and Jake playing with the train (Papa is using the remote control in this picture) .....

and now it's Jake's turn!
Nana with Cole....
Uncle Matt and Cole


Celebrating Aunt Charline's Birthday! So glad we could be there to help celebrate!

Rylee....
Jake pushing Rylee in the stroller ....
Now Jake's turn, but he barely fits .....
Jake riding the tractor!
Cole, Rylee, and Blake....

I like the look....
awwww....


I love these boys - more than words can say.....

Aunt Jul and Uncle Matt came back to our house on the way back to VA and spent Monday night. It was great getting some extra time in with them. It is never long enough, but we had such a FUN time! They were so helpful over the weekend - and I can't wait to hang out again soon!!!