Dumfries to Hilton Head!

Just a week after getting back from Virginia Beach, we packed back up and headed further south to Hilton Head.  We had a great driving day, and we were thrilled to finally pull into Marriott's Harbour Club in the Sea Pines part of the island.  

We were lucky enough to be invited to join Jolene, Rick, Evan and Owen in their vacation condo.  Rick headed off to the beach to surf first thing with Evan.  Josh was awesome and took Jackson and Owen to the playground across the street.  Jolene and I set about unpacking, and we took pictures of the condo before it looked lived in ;)  This is the bedroom we shared with our boys.  It was huge, and there was plenty of room for Graham to even have a little nook for his Pack-n-Play.

Sadly, we never got to use this amazing looking tub since it was IN the room, and the time we would have had to enjoy it was while our children were sleeping :(

The Sacbibits took the master bedroom.

Their big tub was also IN their room.  Odd...

Living room with beautiful huge windows!  That glass table quickly got relocated for the week!

Dining room and the breakfast bar that the kids loved eating at 

Kitchen

Our balcony looked down on some of the awesome amenities of the hotel.  There was a firepit with a fire nightly.  There was an enormous chess board as well as a Baggo court.  The pool was just through the trees.

Our balcony

Our bathroom.  It was meant to be a shared bathroom with an extra entrance to the living room.  This came in quite handy for us to still use the bathroom while Graham napped!

LOVED this shower!!!

Graham spent our first morning in HH playing in the curtains :)

The early risers--early morning electronic time

BEACH!!!

We headed right to the beach for our first full day!  The beach was beautiful, and the tide was just going out so Graham had plenty of smooth sand on which to crawl :)

This was (sadly) the picture I got of the boys in their matching trunks...

Hello, shovel!

Boys enjoying the sand

Graham rearranging furniture even on the beach :)

The afternoon was a bit of a mish-mash.  Graham didn't nap super long, so Jolene and I threw him in the stroller and walked to a little shopping area.  Josh had the other boys and kept them busy with chess and then Rick and Josh took the boys swimming.  For dinner, we were SO excited to hit our favorite restaurant from last time: The Sea Shack!!!  It was just as yummy :)

After dinner, we put the kids to bed, and then we watched the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup!!!  That was super fun, and Josh and I celebrated with a walk around the famous 18th green of Harbour Town Golf Links.  Excellent start to vacation!

Happy Daddy Day!!!

We got back from the beach just in time to celebrate Father's Day!!!  Josh got to sleep in, and then we had a yummy brunch...with presents!

Jackson was pretty excited to "help" open cards and gifts :)

One of Josh's presents was a golf-playing minion from "Despicable Me."  It was clearly a hit!

And, then there was a bacon-scented air freshener...

Helping Daddy model his new shorts

Smooches!

These boys sure love their daddy!  I could not ask for a better daddy for them--this guy wears himself out starting as soon as he gets home wrestling, joking and loving :)

We had a pretty low-key day, but we did have a delicious grilled dinner of pork cops and cheesy potatoes!

Virginia Beach 2013

 Jackson had been SUPER excited to head to the beach, but this was Graham's FIRST TRIP to the beach!!!  We were all excited to include him in one of our favorite vacations :)  Jackson was excited to get to our hotel and start the vacation!  Our first stop was the beach store across the street for new sunglasses for Josh--his just snapped in the car on the way down :(  While we were in the store, Jackson discovered the hermit crabs, and he was fascinated by them!  We took a few trips across the street to visit them over the next few days...

 After we succeeded on the sunglasses mission, Josh and Jackson went swimming!  Graham and I took a little walk on the boardwalk--that is my favorite part of Virginia Beach!!!

 Jackson LOVED the pool!  He had a great time jumping in to Josh!  Early bedtime was in order, so for our first dinner we ordered pizza from this pizza place we found and LOVE!  We ate it on the balcony looking at the ocean, and it was a fantastic first night to vacation :)

 The camera ran out of batteries on our second day at the beach, but we spent the morning at the beach and then the afternoon got all rained out :(  We did get to our other favorite restaurant, Beach Bully, for dinner!  On Tuesday we started out at the beach again, and we had such a fun morning!

 Graham loved playing on the beach chairs and with the beach toys!

 Sandy baby toes!

 Twin bathing suits :)

 It took a little convincing, but Jackson finally figured out how much fun digging a huge hole is in the sand!

 "I love the beach!"

 Graham in the hole Daddy dug!

 Helping to dig

 Sandy brothers :)

 Jackson in the hole Daddy dug!

 Mommy and Graham on his first beach trip!

 The trench leading to the huge hole!

 Daddy and GJS

 The boys had a great time burying Josh!

 All buried :)

 After lunch and some quiet time in the hotel room, we walked down to one of the coolest playgrounds!

 Sneak peek of their 4th of July outfits!

LOVE these cute boys!  After playing on the playground, we stopped at Waterman's for dinner.  It was a great summer night--beautiful weather, oceanside, eating on the patio, DELICIOUS food and drinks, and my favorite people :)

 Wednesday was our last full day at the beach.  We started on the beach again--we had a nice routine going :)

 Love this little squirt!

 He was mostly interested in his snacks :)  Jackson discovered how much jumping in the waves is--FINALLY!!!

 Much to Jackson's delight, we rented a family bike to ride up and down the boardwalk!  It was SO fun!  The boys looked adorable in the front seat, and all was going well until we hit a really hard bump, and jostled Graham a bit too much.  He was pretty upset from then on, so I held him WHILE peddling!  Josh did most of the work, bless his heart, but I'm so glad we got to do this together.  

Our cute passengers :)  After our bike ride, we went back to Beach Bully for one more delicious barbecue meal :)

I can't believe we didn't get any pictures with our friends and family we saw on the way to and from the beach :(  On the way down on Sunday, we stopped to see Sam and Patrick in Richmond.  They are due with their first baby in July, so we were more than happy to share our two crazies with them for the morning! We had breakfast and caught up a little on life.  It wasn't a far drive at all, so we will have to make it down there more often!  Right after that we met Charron and Andy at Dickie's for lunch (we fell in love with Dickie's last summer in Meridian, and then we found out there was one in Richmond!).  It was great to start our vacation off by seeing old friends :)  On our way home we stopped to see Aunt Lil in Newport News.  She made us a yummy lunch, and it was fun to catch up with her too!

We had SUCH a good time!  We are lucky enough to be heading out on vacation again to another beach in just over a week--yahoo!

Graham's First Birthday Party!!!

More pictures coming soon of Graham's Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party :)

Graham is Twelve Months Old!

 This picture is a hint at how tricky these photo poses have become :)

 (I took these pictures a few days early because I needed this last month's printed for a decoration for his birthday party!)

 Mr. Graham Joseph is ONE YEAR OLD!!!  I am having a hard time with the speed at which this year went.  While I don't think I'll ever feel like I'm getting ENOUGH snuggles and special moments with either of my boys, I have tried really hard to truly appreciate each stage with Graham.  I feel like I've done a good job, but I still can't  believe a year has passed!  On the one hand, our crazy summer road trip from last year seems like FOREVER ago, but it also seems like just yesterday we were toting around our tiny little guy who slept all day...

At his check-up today he weighed in at 24 lbs 3.5oz(88th %ile).  He measured 29 inches long (17th %ile).  His head circumference is 18 3/4 inches (88th %ile).

He got a great report and only two shots!  He still LOVES to eat!  He really is eating all table food now, and we haven't found very many things he doesn't like.  I would say his favorite foods are green beans, ravioli, yogurt melts, hot dogs, ice cream, bananas, American cheese, pancakes and all fruit, just like his big brother :)  The food that stands out that he doesn't love is cake!  He LOVES to dance--he starts wiggling his body whenever he hears pretty much any kind of music--it is super cute!  His favorite song is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  He has made great progress in sleeping--yay!  He goes to bed around 6:30pm and sleeps all the way until 6am(ish).  We do get a few mornings that are earlier, but we are working on that!  If we are home, his morning nap can last two hours.  His afternoon nap is a little less predictable in length, but he does take one!  He really is pretty flexible!  I'm trying to foster that, but also give his schedule a little more priority this summer.  During the school year, he is a slave to Jackson's school schedule--I always feel bad if I have to wake him up from a nap to go pick up or drop off Jackson at school :(

Graham is really busy!  He is super fast when he crawls, he is pulling up on EVERYTHING, and he has stood on his own for a few seconds several times.  He thinks Jackson is HILARIOUS!  We don't always, and that causes some issues since Jackson doesn't REALLY see the need to NOT DO certain things since Graham is laughing hysterically...  They are already ganging up on us!  Graham loves playing--preferably with other kids.  He LOVES balls and is happy to chase one around or "play" catch.  We are seeing an interest in things with wheels too :)  He loves to hear his voice, and the most discernible sound we hear so far is, "Dada!"  I hope he's able to get some words in edgewise with Jackson around... ;)

We love our super smiley little boy!  We have enjoyed this past year SO much, but we can't wait to see even more what this little person will be like as he continues to grow.  We just hope he stays just as sweet and happy :)  Happy TWELVE MONTHS, Graham!!!