We had a great week at Ocean Isle Beach again this year! Thanks to Mom and Dad for We all enjoyed lazy days, sunshine, waves, sand, good food and the company of family for the week. Our days this year were pretty low-key with most of our time spent at the beach house when we weren’t at the beach. I wasn’t feeling very well the first couple of days, so that along with getting up and feeding Reid during the night I wasn’t really in a hurry to get up and get out of the house each day. My favorite part, as usual, is getting up in the morning with no where to go and enjoying having coffee along with baby Reid snuggles. That and watching Griffin have so much fun playing with his cousins and making frequent stops to give Reid hugs or snuggles. Griffin got up much earlier than normal (6:45 or 7 am most days) as he heard his cousins playing and didn’t want to miss out on the fun! On the weekdays Kevin had work calls in the mornings which worked out well as he had our room for work while everyone was downstairs. The water was warm this year and a couple of days we had perfect beach time at low tide when little wave pools formed. One day the kids were even able to catch fish that were in the small pools. And a fellow beach goer was stocking the pool with more of the same fish he was catching in nets. The kiddos thought it was so neat. And note: several photos throughout are taken by Amy, they are the crisp, clear, and bright ones 🙂 This year when we were packing we told Griffin he could fill up a shopping bag with toys or stuffed animals to take. His choices included mostly balls (football, soccer ball, soft baseball) and lovies so he could tell the Jack and the Beanstalk story at bedtime with Daddy and have an animal for each of the characters. This is something they do each night before bedtime!
Mom and Dad bought each of the grandkids a container for their seashell collections this year. On Friday evening they packed up their shells into their containers along with a cool star fish and sand dollar that they gave each grandkid as well. They all thought it was pretty neat! Reid spent all of his time under the umbrella at the beach and even so got a bit of sun one day on his nose and below his eyes or above his mouth. I’m not sure how, perhaps the walk to the beach or from reflection while we were there. He was otherwise mostly content other than when he became hungry!
This week Reid definitely discovered his hands are connected to his body! Now he regularly puts them in his mouth and sucks on them or slobbers them up! Especially if he wakes up and doesn’t have his pacifier. He seems to be watching his hands a lot more and he makes cute facial expressions as he’s trying to figure out what his hands are doing.His hair is also thinning on both sides as is evident by looking at his crib sheet! Though he’s also gotten a shower and had his hair washed every day this week after we were at the beach. Deluxe treatment here!  He was an absolute champ in the car on our travel days, sleeping almost the entire time other than waking to eat or being happily awake once we got back on the road after he was fed. He was also enjoying his crinkle book and kept reaching to touch it.  On our last day at the beach Griffin and Kevin were out enjoying the low-tide wave pools. They had been out there for awhile and all of a sudden Kevin is walking up the beach carrying Griffin who was really crying. He’s typically a pretty tough kid who doesn’t cry much (other than when he’s having a fit or whining, but not typically when he gets hurt). He was crying and screaming that his leg hurt. As it turns out we think he was stung or swiped by a jelly fish. He had two or three long welts blow up on his ankle. We rinsed it off with bottled water, then rinsed it off back at the ocean with ocean water and he rested for a few minutes.  But probably less than 10 minutes from when it happened he wanted to head back for more fun. We’re so thankful it wasn’t severe! Though it’s hard to tell here, this was my view on our last day at the beach. I’m holding Reid and Kevin and Finn are down near the water building “magic giant lake”. It was so nice to watch them having some good old father and son time just playing together at the beach.  For our dinner night this year we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs and had a strawberry-mango salad, and a cold grain salad too. For dessert the kids enjoyed their chocolate dipped and decorated ice cream cones (our activity from earlier in the day) with their choice of ice cream inside.  When I was changing out Reid’s newborn-3 month clothes for the 3-6 month options I discovered Griffin’s Ocean Isle Beach onesie from four years ago. It fit Reid perfectly on our trip :).  Getting some good air here at 10 weeks old! Mom and Dad treated all of us to a couple of deluxe breakfasts complete with pancakes, eggs, and bacon.  Yummers! One afternoon Kevin and Griffin joined the Bethune’s at the local Arcade. They had a great time and even got a sweet treat. No surprise there! This picture makes me giggle. Reid is sleepy tired and has popped is pacifier out. Dad is working on his computer and reading articles. Just a typical day at the beach house!For our annual dinner night out we tried out a new restaurant this year. While we were waiting for our food Griffin came over to me and said he wanted to snuggle. A couple of minutes later I realized he wasn’t really moving and sure enough he had fallen asleep! I’m not sure that has ever happened before! The beach clearly does him in as he is constantly on the go. We’ve also given up naps for the most part so he is pretty beat by the end of the day! Amy was gracious yet again and took our family photos at the beach after family dinner night. It was SUPER windy. So much so that I had to put my hair back and even then it was flying in my face! We’re grateful that she was able to capture our family of four and some cute ones of just Reid at the beach. This was his first time getting his toes in the ocean! And here are some of my pics and others that Andy took during our photo session, the out takes so to speak! The kids always enjoy playing with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach. This year they were all good ages to use the surf boards too as they learned to catch a wave and ride it in.
Our road trip back was much longer than our trip down. We had more stops for various reasons but in the end it was a safe trip and for that we are thankful! Reid did well with diaper changes and feedings in the car.  Sunday morning we slept in and played catch up at home. Kevin mowed the lawn while I did laundry and various other things. Sunday evening we headed to the Sundays on the Scioto concert series in Dublin and watched Six Appeal, an acapella group that is really great. It was fun!