beachin' it part 2

After four days with my family in Amelia Island, we drove a few hours north to Hilton Head Island to spend time with A's family.  As soon as we got there we headed to dinner with the in laws. It was so beautiful out!

beautiful view!

Me and A after dinner

The next morning we hit the beach!  It actually felt great since it was a little overcast.  And we know it helped our sweet fair skinned boys too! :)

J carrying water

Grandma burying their feet in the sand!

Gray's favorite: "runnin'"

Jacks splashing as he walked

His parents rented bikes for the week for all of us and it was so nice to bike! The boys did great in the kid carrier that Andrew pulled around.  They even were lulled to sleep once...they were slumped over on each other sleeping when we got to the pool one afternoon.

Grandma Knight pushing them on a tire swing at a playground. 

The next day we headed to a petting zoo.  It was great! The boys loved touching the horses and seeing pigs, goats, llamas, chickens, etc.  But the pinnacle was a pony ride! I was skeptical at first that they would ride the pony, but J jumped on right away.  After G saw his brother on the pony, he finally got on the horse.They looked so stoic, but LOVED it! They didn't want to leave or take their helmets off! So cute!  I thought they looked like little bobble head boys in their "ho-se hewmets."

Before G worked up the courage to get on a pony

G riding with Daddy by his side!

Brave Jacks looked unenthused, but was giddy inside:)

One day the men went fishing and me and the boys and Grandma ventured back to the beach.  It was hot but sand, open space, and water made these boys happy (except for a few toddler meltdowns!).

Papa caught a shark!

The women (me and Grandma) and G and J

Gray loved making turtles in the sand with a little mold.  He wanted them all lined up and didn't want to destroy any of them.  Jacks on the other hand lived up to his "bulldozer" nickname and loved crushing them. I love being a mom to boys!

After the men got home, the kiddie pool was christened! It was great to have it especially with the shade!

One afternoon, these little princes were eating snack in their towels :)

After logging in some beach hours, we decided we all needed some pool time as well.  Oh, the boys LOVED it! They were jumping in from the side of the pool after Andrew coaxed them toward him.  It became such a hit that Papa and Andrew were just catching jumping boys for quite a while!

Papa, Jacks, Daddy, Gray, and Grandma

Oh, and Andrew and I had the first real date night we'd had since June! It was such a treat! 

It was so nice to be surrounded by such a rustic beach setting! All the Spanish moss made me a little nostalgic.  It reminded me of living in and visiting Louisiana.  It felt like home and made me think of spending time in the summer with family and a hot, humid childhood!

We so loved the time we got to spend with family.  It was such a blessing after being away from familiar things for several months.

hittin' the beach

After a week of readjusting to the US, we got on another plane with our family.  But this time it was a 3 hour flight to Jacksonville to see our families.  We spent 4 days with my parents and sister and her family down in Amelia Island.  It was wonderful! Hot weather, the ocean, the smell of sunscreen, it was so comforting!

The boys also LOVED seeing their Gram and Grandpa.  They loved riding in Uncle Scott's truck, spending time with my sister, Aunt Courtney, and meeting our niece, Robyn for the first time.  She is an adorable, chunky girl! We reminisced about how our boys had wrinkles initially and needed to grow into their bodies, but Robyn...this girl can eat and has the cute rolls to prove it!   She's over 2 months old and doing well.

There's so much we loved about our time together!  Mom's cooking was as usual the best! Shrimp and grits, Dad's smoked brisket and pork, crawfish bread...yum!  We missed this cajun cooking while away this summer.  I love how my parents grandparent our boys too!  Mom had pool floats and brought toys from their house to keep G and J busy.  Giant coloring pads were a hit, beach shovels and pails, and the blow up race car and rocket ship floats were a blast.  We loved the relaxed time on the beach and catching up with everyone.  Thankfully the weather was great too.  Thankful for this trip!

Andrew with the boys!

Jackson post sand slinging

Destroying sandcastles!

Gram and her boys!

Pool time!

Andrew and sweet Robyn

The whole fam in the shade

The Link cousins