Spring! Break?

Spring Break is usually a time of rest, renewal and relaxation. I say usually because in our house it is just the opposite. Jeff has been itching to go to the beach now for several months, but with every teacher workday the kids had off this year rescinded for snow days, we have been stuck without a vacation for some time. Add to that, all of our prime summer vacation time with the kids will be spent transitioning a new baby. So this break Jeff had lofty ambitions for our 9 days off.

Day 1:

Saturday we spent driving to Myrtle Beach where we met up with my parents and step-sister, Wendy and her husband Jason. After some playtime on the beach, we spent the next several hours playing in the pool and then went out for ice cream. We topped the night off with a late night stroll down the new Boardwalk.

Day 2:

Back to the pool, soaking up the sun and on to the beach for sand castles and kite flying. Later that day we got together with my cousin Jennifer and her daughter Erica for more pool/beach fun. Finally we all went to dinner at Cracker Barrel for some good ole southern fare.

Jeff was up and on the beach EVERY morning of vacation by 6:30am to catch the sunrise.

Soaking up the rays, while we swam at the pool!

Jeff made up a new game called "Hit the Kite with a Football". Of course the little boys cheered him on while the wind made the kite a difficult target!

Day 3: For a change of pace, we drove up the coast to our all time favorite beach, Sunset Beach. With sugary sand and picturesque dunes, it is no wonder we spend all day here. The boys made up a fun frisbee game while the girls and I took a walk searching for clams. After Sunset, we drove up to Ocean Isle for some shell hunting. Everyone got a full bucket of beautiful shells and Grandma found her clams. Then on to our favorite seafood spot, Ella's for linner (lunch/dinner). After being thoroughly stuffed we headed back to the hotel to, what else, swim!

Cuddle time with Grandma!

Just the girls.

Day 4: Tuesday was our last day at the ocean:( But we did make the most of it with a leisurely breakfast and then back to the Boardwalk. We found a fun arcade at the Boardwalk and spent a good bit of time determining the best skeeball player. After the arcade we got ice cream cones to eat on the beach and even saw a jellyfish that had washed ashore.

Walking the beautiful boardwalk.

YUM!!!

Day 5:

Catch up duty. This was a necessary day of our break. Not fun, but not relaxing either. I think I did an innumerable amount of laundry and then Jeff and Calla, Noah, and Bella all had dentist appointments where I got to sit in the lobby with the little boys and try and entertain them. Lots of fun, but no cavities, so gold star for this day as well.

Day 6:

Jeff got up early on Thursday and took a look at the weather to determine that this was the best day to visit Biltmore, and he was right. So we packed up the van and headed to Asheville, a bit unexpectedly (we had thought about Friday but the weather was not in our favor). We toured the first floor of the house and then strolled through the gardens. The tulips and azaleas were in full bloom and spectacular.

My little men!

Day 7: We woke up to rain on Friday, but all was not lost. This was our Girls Day/Boys Day. After Father/Daughter Date Night the boys wanted a day with Daddy all to themselves. I give Jeff big points since their pick was Chuck E. Cheese on a rainy afternoon. After dropping the boys off at the arcade (and taking the only vehicle so they could not escape!) I took the girls for a fun shopping trip at Blakney. We were on the hunt for modest bathing suits for the summer. I am here to tell you, they are an endangered species! After several stores and no luck we went to the old standby (Target), which did not disappoint. We renewed our search with a mango smoothie and a mission. Finally the girls found two bathing suits each which were respectable and modest.

Trying on clothes.

Chuck E Cheese fun.

I will never forget the look of relief when we got back to Chuck E. Cheese and Jeff saw us. He was thrilled we were back and had even saved the girls a few dozen tokens to play some games. When we finally made it home, we dyed eggs in anticipation of the Easter Bunny's arrival in the morning. Day 8:

Saturday dawned very early, about 6:30am. The kids may have been just a tiny bit excited that the Easter Bunny had come. In our house, he comes early on Saturday morning to hide eggs and this way on Sunday morning, we start our day off in the correct state of mind.

With the laundry reasonably caught up we decided that the rest of Saturday would be about enjoying our town of Waxhaw. We started just north of Waxhaw at the strawberry farm, picking strawberries. Turns out the baskets I thought held 2 pounds (the ones each of the older kids were readily filling) really held 5 pounds. We left after 30 short minutes with 15 pounds of strawberries and two smoothies.

Back in the heart of downtown Waxhaw, we played at the park, unexpectedly meeting up with friends and neighbors. After the playground we took a walking tour of main street with the intent of stopping at the book store, but holiday hours had it closing early.

Bella and Micah were talking to each other through a cute megaphone.

Day 9: Easter morning. The culmination of a long, busy, exhausting week. What better day to stop and take time to reflect, renew and remember that 2000 years ago our Lord and Savior died on the cross to save us from our sins. In one day all of our exhaustion and fatigue was lifted as we focused our attention not on the candy and eggs, not on the household chores, not on ourselves at all, but on the selflessness of Christ.

I think Bella had her share of smiling for pictures by Sunday:) After a beautiful service, a great family dinner and an exciting game of baseball with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Linda and Uncle Bruce, we were ready for good night sleep before the old routine started back again. Am I the only one who was excited for that? Goodnight!

The Name Game

Eli, Eli, Bo-be-lie, Banana-fana...well you get the idea. We finally picked a name, at least a first name anyway. Elijah We still have yet to pick a middle name although we are not short of suggestions. Calla loves Zachary, which I am quite fond of myself, but Jeff isn't sure about E.Z. Davis. I personally love it since, as number six, he is bound to be pretty easy going! Noah wants Pacman or Mario as a middle name and in a similar vein, Micah likes Yoshi. Hmmm, I wonder where they are drawing their inspiration? Bella likes Pet Shop Davis, forget the whole first name theme and Nehemiah has stayed uncharacteristically quiet on the subject. Although, since he cannot pronounce his own name yet, I guess we will give him a pass. After many months of debating and eliminating, Jeff debating, me eliminating! (His favorite pick when we found out it was a boy, Obadiah Juan or "Obi Wan" for short, umm...no.) We are anxiously awaiting little Elijah's birth. I am ready to see if he looks like anyone in our family or if, like the others, he has a look all his own. We are officially under the 2 month mark, so from here it is all coasting...I hope!

One Day A Month

It seems like every month there is one day where ALL our plans seem to fall. This month it was Saturday the 9th. First on the list was a delicious brunch followed by an exciting egg hunt. Some great friends came to join us as we hunted lots of eggs and ate lots and lots of candy.

On your mark, get set...GO!!!The cutest little egg hunterGetting a little help from big brother. After the egg hunt we rested for all of two hours before date night. Father/Daughter date night that is. Calla and Bella loved picking out matching dresses, getting their nails and toes painted and wearing real perfume all to look perfect for Daddy, which they did. On the way out of the house Calla asked "Mommy why don't they do a Father/Mother date night". Oh how I wish they did! So Sweet!So Silly!

A sweet friend invited me over for some Mommy/Son bonding time while the men were out on their date. What a blessing that turned out to be, in addition to the great meal Ginger provided and the wonderful company, there were some AMAZING storms that night which I was thankful I was not alone at home for. After two separate hail storms and some pretty serious wind, the men finally came home to tell us all about their awesome night with the girls. Picture Perfect!Hail Storm #1 (6:30pm)Hail Storm #2 (8:15pm)

When we finally packed up our troop to head on our way, wouldn't you know another storm blew through. Another great friend was celebrating a birthday and his sweet wife arranged a fantastic surprise party. While we were quite late getting there, we still enjoyed a fun evening celebrating. After several tired tantrums from Micah, we decided to call it a night. Once home, around 10pm, we drove up to the house only to realize the electricity was out and upon further inspection, it had been out for several hours. Boy was I glad our children were so exhausted they practically fell into bed, lights or no lights. Happy Birthday Dan! The boys enjoyed the venue:) Everyone pitched in to help clean up.

The electricity finally did come back on early Sunday morning, but that is another day and thankfully it was a relaxing one!