Hilton Head Island

A few weeks ago was our annual vacation in Hilton Head with my family. This year it was the WHOLE family...is, my parents, my sisters and their families...yep, everyone. And we had a BLAST! 

We spent lots of time at the pool and the beach.

Hailey absolutely loved every minute of it. She had taken swimming lessons the week before and was quite the fish. At the beach she wanted to be in the water the whole time. 

She loved jumping the waves and laying in the sand. And then she got stung by a jellyfish. And promptly declared that she was never getting in again...until the next day when she was begging to get in. That's my brave girl! The night she got stung she wanted to read about jellyfish in her ocean book. It was precious. 

Reece loved digging in the sand, taking naps and being held. 

But his favorite was playing baseball with Daddy 

At the pool Hailey spent hours diving under water and jumping in

Reece loved jumping in too

And of course there was the daily, hourly, every few minutes, snack crew. All the swimming made them hungry!

We had such a fun week in the sun, sand and pool! Next post: fun family times and pictures! Stay tuned...

July Catch-up

After our staycation week in Charlotte we came back to Raleigh for about a week and then the kids and I went back to Charlotte for a few days. 

While we were back in Raleigh we enjoyed:

pretending to camp out

Going on HOT walks 

Coloring our new t-shirt

"Working out" with mommy

We also celebrated the Fourth of July with some friends 

Hailey didn't get off of this tractor the entire night 

When the kids and I went to Charlotte, Hailey took swim lessons. She went from being confident with water wings but not wanting to go underwater, to diving under to get toys, jumping in, being able to swim short distances and even doing a back flip off of the steps! It was incredible!

Reece decided he loved the pool too! He is quite brave 

Hailey and I got to go see "Finding Dory". It was her first time going to a movie theatre and she loved it!

Reece got to hang out with Grams 

We got to spend some fun time with our cousins too but we were so busy having fun that I forgot to take pictures. This is Hailey and Mack during one of their pool breaks 

We've had a busy summer so far but we can't wait for the beach next week! 

Day at the Pool

On the last day of our staycation in Charlotte we went to visit my family because my grandmother, aunt and cousin were in from Tennessee. 

The kids (and adults) had a great time in the pool!

Granny even got in!

And Reece still wasn't the biggest fan of swimming so he hung out inside with granny and daddy 

It was a quick visit but oh so much fun!

Epley Staycation

I already posted about our fun trip to Lazy 5 Ranch with Ryan's parents. We did a lot of other fun things that week too! 

Hailey got to go to her first baseball game! 

Ryan, his dad, Hailey and I went to a Charlotte knights game. Hailey had a blast! She loved the food best

But loved meeting Homer too!

Mimi stayed home with Reece who walked around all night calling "Hainey" looking for his sister. So sweet. 

We also got to go to the mall and ride the carousel 

Reece did NOT want to sit on an animal so we sat on a bench. I got a little smile

We spent lots of time playing Mimi's piano 

We got to visit with friends 

Eat lots of snacks 

Go to dinner

And not pictured: lots of time in the pool, bike riding and playing outside on Mimi's screened in porch. We had an awesome week with the Epleys!

Lazy 5 Ranch

This past week we had a "staycation" with Ryan's parents in Charlotte. We had a great time and got to lots of fun things that there normally isn't time for since we just go for weekend trips. 

One thing we did a few years ago was go to Lazy 5 Ranch. It's a fun zoo/safari type place. We used to go there on field trips when I taught kindergarten so it's even more fun now that I get to take my own kids! 

This was Hailey the first time she went. She was 2

She still talks about going the first time so I knew it was time to go again. She loved it even more! It was a rainy day and it poured during part of our wagon ride but that didn't stop her one bit

Reece has fun too! He kept throwing food to the animals or trying to feed them from his little tiny hand. Sweetness

We caught him trying to eat the animals food a few times too! 

The favorite part was definitely feeding the giraffes. In all the times I've been, the giraffes have never been so friendly or hungry. 

We even got to pet them!

And who can resist a selfie!

The excitement proved too much for Reece and he fell asleep. I love how the ostrich is following us in this pic.

After the wagon ride we went over to the petting zoo area and saw donkeys, camels, fish, all kinds of birds tortoises and goats. 

And my little animal whisperer felt bad for the baby goat who had gotten his head stuck in the fence. She and mimi had to help him. 

We had an awesome time at Lazy 5 Ranch with Mimi and Poppi! But our week of adventures was just beginning...