Fun with the Flacks

I can hardly believe how quickly summer is flying by. Some days, of course, are just way too long, but when I stop and look at the calendar, I can't believe that it is moving as quickly as it is. I mean, I will be back to work in less than a month!!

Every day we try to keep the kids doing something. If we just hang around the house all the time, they start to get bored and when we start to get bored, well . . . you know what that means . . . .

So we have been going to the preschool and toddler library times. We have done some swimming. We have been to the many parks in Lewisville and in High Point. Lucy is currently taking another week of swim lessons. She just finished up with Bible school last week and had a great time. She went to the one at my old church, FUMC in High Point, with her buddy, Claire.

Of course, we still have had lots of play time at home too.  One of the boys favorite things to do is wearing hats! They have learned to say "hat" recently so I think that factors into one of the reasons they love them so much.

Another favorite thing of the kids is to pile up in Daddy's chair in the morning after breakfast and sit together and watch "Little Einsteins." It's so sweet to look up and see them all cuddled up quietly together (even though it never lasts for long!)

Many evenings, we go outside to play. We take walks in the neighborhood or play with the outside toys like the water table. Sometimes we just turn on the hose and let them run through the spray! :) This evening, we inflated this pool/slide we bought on clearance at ToysRUs. At first, the boys didn't want to go near it . . .which is so weird since they love the pool and the water table and the tub . . .well, any water! Lucy, of course, jumped right on in!

She kept sliding down the ramp and shouting, "Today is the best day ever!" Ahh, the little things in life . . .

Eventually, the boys began to wander over and watch Lucy . . .

 Charlie, playing Hide and Seek :)

I know I'm biased, but I think these are three of the cutest children around! :)

Eventually, the boys did decide to slide down into the water and had a blast. I would hold their hands and help them slide down into the water and then they would laugh and run around to do it again. Of course, I have no pictures of that because my hands were busy! :)

After a while, Charlie decided that he and his brother had just been getting along too well for the past little bit. (Side note: my sweet boys have been going back and forth this week between laughing and playing together to all of a sudden antagonizing each other into fits of tears and screaming. I guess that's just life with two boys!) All of a sudden, a blur and a little laugh flew by me followed by a scream and another blur . . .and there they go . . .

They chased each other around the yard for a while before Charlie finally decided to hand Alex back his shoes. Then they stood there and talked and laughed with each other, like little buddies. I have no idea what they said to each other in all their babbling, but I snapped a quick picture and just laughed when I loaded them on to the computer tonight. Obviously, Charlie had quite a story to tell his brother! ;)

Another game of Hide and Seek with Charlie!

Tomorrow, each child is getting some much needed one on one time. Alex is headed to Grammy's house, Charlie is headed to Gramma's house and Lucy is staying with us. It will be good for the boys to have an evening apart. Bless their little hearts, they do EVERYTHING together and I think they are just ready for a little break. And we are so excited for an evening with just Lucy -  we are taking her to the Melting Pot for a fun "big girl" meal! :)

Beach Trip! (Warning - LONG entry ahead!)

Grammy and Poppa invited us to go along with them to the beach this past week, so we packed our bags and headed south!! We left Sunday after church and drove down. It was a fun trip, although very hot!! When we got to the beach house, Poppa and Grammy had the water table ready to go. Everyone splashed and played for a while and explored around the back yard. We had dinner and then attempted to go to bed. Alex and Charlie don't seem to settle well in different environments from home. They do so well on their schedule in their own environment, but changes aren't always the easiest! They finally fell asleep though . . .

 We woke up EARLY on Monday. We had breakfast and then got everyone ready for the pool. Lucy enjoyed showing off her swimming skills and the boys had fun kicking and splashing. They kept wanting to put their faces in the water - these little boys have no fear! As fun as it was, we have no pictures because everyone was in the pool playing!! :)

We went to the beach on Tuesday morning. Lucy was so excited!! She couldn't wait to use her new sand toys she had gotten for her birthday!

Charlie went down to the water quickly. He liked splashing in the waves!

Poppa dug a hole for the boys to play in.

Charlie liked to smash and destroy any tower that Lucy built, so Grammy built him a little city of his own! At first, he just stared and stared . .. and then he got down to business! :)

I asked Lucy if she wanted to get out into the ocean. At first, she said no. Last year, she didn't want to go anywhere near the ocean so I didn't know how she would react this year. Later on, I asked again and promised her that I wouldn't let go of her while we were out there. She said she wanted to so we walked out. She splashed and then we went out a little further with Poppa. Lucy had the best time riding up and over the waves. She screamed and laughed, and even when she got splashed in her face, she didn't let it bother her. We definitely have a beach girl on our hands! After we came back in, Lucy stood and jumped in the waves with her Daddy and me. :)

After about an hour and half, poor little Alex was so tired. It wasn't that he wasn't having fun, but well, when you start your day at 5:20 in the morning, it becomes nap time pretty early in the afternoon! Michael, Grammy and the boys went back, but Lucy and Poppa and I stayed and played a little longer!

After a good nap, the boys got up and had some juice and TV time with Poppa.

Everyone played a little in the afternoon and then had dinner.

Michael and I went out to eat while the kids stayed with Grammy and Poppa. We went to dinner together and then came back and took the kids to the pool while Grammy and Poppa went out for dinner. The kids played hard at the pool and were worn out and ready for a good night's sleep. We snapped a picture with Daddy before we headed upstairs for bed. . .

As cute as that one is, the next one is much more realistic! :)

I went in to check on everyone before I went to bed, and this is how I found Alex sleeping . . .poor thing was so tired!!

Everyone slept until after six the next morning, which was impressive! At home, they will usually stay in their own beds until 7, but not on vacation!! Lucy was still tired though. . .

Charlie's latest thing is to take his pants off to sleep, so every morning, his pants are thrown out on the floor beside the bed.  Of course, no pants, Mommy's book, and Lucy's Anna crown makes for a lovely morning ensemble!

Two little buddies, getting ready to make some trouble!

Alex and Daddy playing

Whenever we told Alex "no," he went over into this little corner and pouted for a little while . . .

We got dressed and got ready to go out to breakfast. Alex waited for everyone to get ready by playing on Hoppy the frog.

We went out for breakfast and then headed up towards Broadway at the Beach. We were going to meet up with Uncle Day Day and ride some of the old Pavilion rides. Unfortunately,  the rides didn't open until one in the afternoon instead of at 10 AM. The boys had fallen asleep in the car, so they didn't know the difference, but Lucy was disappointed. We promised her that we would come back and ride them when we came back in September. Michael, Poppa, and the boys headed back to the beach house and David and Bri met them there while Grammy, Lucy and I went up to the outlets to buy some shoes. I noticed on Sunday that Lucy's toes were hanging off the front of her sandals! Her foot has grown a whole size and she wasn't going to be able to wait until back to school shopping for new tennis shoes! Fortunately, there is a Stride Rite outlet in North Myrtle. We found her a new pair of tennis shoes as well as new shoes for the boys. All three pairs were 60% of the outlet price  . . .I was super excited! :) We also found a couple of cute dresses for Lucy for Kindergarten! :)

Once we got back to the beach house, David, Bri, Michael, Lucy and I went out to the Pawleys Island Tavern for lunch. Lucy decided she was going to order the shrimp basket. I was a little skeptical at first because I haven't seen her eat a lot of shrimp, but that little girl ate the WHOLE basket!

All the kids took a nap and I went with Grammy, Dave, and Bri as they looked for bookcases. We came back and the boys decided it was time to eat again . . . .I think those boys were eating every time we turned around!!

After the boys ate, we got ready to go out to the beach again.  There's a whole ocean to play in, but Charlie and Alex both loved playing with the water in the bucket!

Lucy was ready to get back out in the water. The surf wasn't too bad, but with Hurricane Arthur approaching, we didn't go out too far.

Charlie went back to smashing sand castles! :)

Lucy was so excited to have her Uncle Day Day with her!

Bri had brought two hibiscus flowers to the beach and Alex was fascinated by them.

More hole digging!!

All three Flacks playing in the hole!

Alex and I went for a walk and he collected a bunch of shells. He wanted to pick them up and arrange them and carry them around . . . .it wasn't a problem until he tried to eat them! ;)

David, Bri and Lucy dug an even bigger hole.

Charlie is having a great time! :)

Alex is too!

We came back after about an hour and a half because everyone else had yet to eat dinner! David was going to cook up some crab legs and Poppa was grilling steak and porkchops. Lucy danced around around entertained us while we waited for dinner.

Alex showed off Lucy's new Sophia amulet she got at the Disney store at the outlets.

The kids played with toys for a while.. . .

And then the boys went to bed around 8:30. (Keep in mind that they usually go to bed around 7!) Lucy could barely stay awake to eat her dinner, but made sure that she didn't doze off before time for ice cream! Everyone slept well after a delicious meal and we started our day off around 6. It was a rainy, yucky day as Arthur approached the coast, so we spent the morning getting our stuff all packed up. Grammy had stopped at Sonic when she went out to get breakfast supplies and the boys know that whatever is found in a Sonic cup is always going to be good!! (They are my children, after all!)

We left the beach around 10 and started the trip home. The rain wasn't too bad and we didn't have any trouble driving back. The kids were glad to be home and out of the car and had so much fun playing with all their toys at home. Now if they will only get back to sleeping until 7 in the morning. . ..  I guess we'll see! What a fun week we had!!