Oak Island

The Beach House was a great time, but all great things have to come to an end. However, we have all decided we will be making it an annual occurrence. We spent the week at Oak Island, NC with our close friends, Katie and Jay. Holden had a blast, he sang the Beach Song "going to the beach, going to the beach" every morning running circles around the living room. It was truly a vacation for Holden, he got to watch movies all the time (The Incredibles were watched daily), had a menu of hot dogs, mac & cheese and PB&J pretty much every day and endless bike rides.

Holden loved the beach, its still amazing how much he likes the water compared to last year. He's a bit fearless so we had to go and buy a life jacket after the first day as he wanted go in deeper water with Dad. Jeremy took him into deeper water the first day (before we had the life jacket) and I freaked out. Not that Jeremy wasn't holding onto him tightly, or that I didn't trust him but I could just see a wave take out Jeremy and he lose his grip. Its been a while since I had a moment like that but that is why we now have a life jacket, and surprisingly Holden didn't mind wearing it to go out and swim with Dad. Good thing we are in swim lessons.

Holden would get to our spot on the beach, immediately take off his sandals and run towards the water. Fearless I tell you. I can envision visits to the ER in my future.

Jeremy burying Holden in the sand

We took a road trip one day to Fort Fisher, the NC Aquarium and the USS North Carolina Battleship. Holden took his first ferry ride and loved it. Jeremy obviously loved the battleship (see the photo with him shooting the guns). Katie and I also got to spend a day shopping in Southport and have a nice relaxing lunch.

Southport to Fort Fisher Ferry, being cool like Dad.

NC Aquarium, we currently really like Alligators

USS North Carolina deck

Our childhood friend, Nick, showed up on the last couple of days to join in the fun. It was his first time hanging out at the beach as he has only lived in the Charlotte area for little over a year. Needless to say, he made the classic rookie mistake and got really sun burnt. Although, the rest of us seemed to make the same mistake on the last day also, funny how that happened. I'm just glad the sunburns didn't occur on Day 1.
I had to add this last photo, which classically shows how cooperative Holden is for photos lately. We can't wait to do it all again next year.

Beach Week

This is where I am for the rest of the week. Its awesome. Been wanting to rent a house at the beach for the 6 years we have lived here, don't know why we waited so long. Holden and I went on a bike ride last night and I took a turn a bit too slow and toppled the bike. The end of the bike ride went a little like this
Me: "Holden you have a good time?"
Holden: "Yes, Mommy fall down"
Me: "Lets keep that our little secret and not tell daddy"
We come inside and Holden runs to Jeremy
Jeremy: "Holden, did you have a good time"
Holden: "Yea, Mommy fall down"

Just the beginning I suspect of my son tattling on me.

Family Visit

My mother-in-law came to visit over the last week along with Jeremy's 14 year old nephew. We took them to Myrtle Beach for a long weekend and my MIL got to spend some much needed quality time with Holden. Of course because we were having too much fun, I don't have many photos.

Holden loved the beach, we were really surprised how quickly he took to the ocean this time. Bodes well for the week long beach trip we have planned in July, which I will say I am stoked about. Grandma got him a ring floaty that was in the shape of a tiger and it definitely helped with his courage.

On a side note, we have been in summer heat for over a month now and Holden has taken to any type of water. We started swim lessons this week with Holden's best bud, Cameron. They are going to have a great summer.

I haven't stopped blogging

I have just been overwhelmed with work and blogging is at the bottom of the list of things to do. I have lots to tell just haven't found time to post. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel and hoping that by the end of the week I will be back to some normalcy at work. Even photos haven't been taken recently. I have two decent ones from our last trip to the beach 2 weeks ago. We took Holden to the aquarium, he was not as excited about the fish as we would have expected. He did a lot of quiet observing.Holden wanted to slide down the giant fish's mouth

I've been remiss

I've really slacked on the blog lately, it has been crazy busy at work lately. And just my luck during the 2 hottest weeks of the year I have had to work outside in the stifling heat. As a result, my diet and exercise have been derailed and the energy has been sucked out of me. But the good news is we go on a family vacation in 7 days. We are headed to the Smoky Mountains for a big family reunion, we are very excited. So, to catch you up until we get back from the reunion, here are some photos of Holden's shenanigans.

Holden found my Ipod shuffle and Dad showed him how to use it. I'm not sure Dad's rule of no cell phone until High School is going to fly.
4th of July
Time for a haircut I think. Holden has a snuggle now, Mr. Elephant.
Lots and lots of sand at Myrtle Beach

Summertime

Trip to the beach for Memorial day, and first camping trip of the season. Here is what I would like to convey.

2009 Beach Trip

Memorial Day 2010What a difference a year makes. Holden loved the water until a wave took both him and me out at the shoreline.

Beach weekend-one sunburnt dad and one crabby son

We took a weekend trip to Mrytle beach for father's day. It was our first beach trip for the summer and Holden's very first trip of hopefully many more. It was also our first trip away from Charlotte with Holden. Needless to say I have already learned what I need to pack and what I don't. We over did it on the "essentials" for the beach for Holden. Things I would bring next time:

• Sunscreen
• Hat
• Swim diaper
• Coverup-we had a UV protective shirt
• Sunshade for babies-Babiesrus has one that is easy to open, portable and 50 spf.
• Bouncy chair to keep him elevated off the sand. A bumbo would probably work too but he snoozed in the bouncy.
• Diapers and bottles

Holden did better than we thought, he slept in his bouncy for about 1.5 hours then had lunch and took another cat nap. His sunshade kept him out of the sun and there was a nice breeze off the water to keep him cool.

Snoozing on the beach

Once he woke up and was alert we made a trip down the sand to put our feet in the water. That he didn't like so much. After a few times with his feet in the water he was warming up to the idea.

Some random lady at the beach was talking to us during the video and its just taken with our still camera so its sideways.

First encounter with the big bad ocean

Maybe this isn't so bad but not sure yetOk, if mom keeps me safe from sharks I could do this
I'm much happier on dry land

Mom and Holden then went back to the condo and took a good afternoon nap. It was a good first trip to the beach, what we expected. I'm sure Holden will grow to love the beach and will be a beach baby soon enough.