Never Rest, Fireworks, and Julie's Birthday

On Saturday, we decided not to let the rain deter us from beach activities anymore, and we went out on the Never Rest. We cruised around the bay for a while and then stopped at Shell Island for lunch. Some of our clan even jumped in for a swim.

 Pretty couple!

 Chillaxin'

 My cool little dude ;)

 Since we were out on the boat for several hours, William had to nap while we were at sea. I didn't want to sit in a bedroom with him so I payed Quin's boat captain's 6 year old daughter to watch him while he slept. I wish I had a picture of her. She took the job so seriously. 

Best friends

I had fun catching up with Deavours and his girlfriend Kelsey. 

 The last night. I know my mom and Juleann were relieved that was the last meal they cooked!!!

 We FINALLY had a beautiful night on our last night there. 

 Happy, happy, happy!

 Grant even did a little fishing from the dock. 

 We celebrated this gorgeous gal's 27th birthday! I can't believe my baby sister is 27- which means I'm about to be 29...yikes.

After birthday cake, some of us headed to our neighbor's yard to watch the fireworks. 

 Happy Independence Day!

We closed the weekend by going to an outdoor church service Sunday morning led by my parent's hometown minister, the person that married us! It was a very special way to reflect on the week among other believers and many of the people I grew up going to church with. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend despite lots and lots and LOTS of rain!

More Scenes from the Beach

William loved sitting in our neighbor's little plastic chairs that were just his size. I'm thinking we may have to find some of those for our house. Maybe he'll sit still for longer than 3 nanoseconds :)

 Aunt Birdie and David bought him this shirt from their trip to Linville! It's a size 4T (insert bugged out eye emoji)

 More porch time...I guess I was stretching?

 Those of you who were there know WHY we are all laughing ;)

 William's handsome great-grandfather. 

 Having a staring contest...

 My glamorous grandmother. She's got MUCH better style than I'll ever have.

 Soaking up short periods of no rain!!

 Grill master

 Happily married couple of 58 years!!

 Playing the "touch hands" game

 My men looking at me like I'm crazy.

 Douglas teaching William how to drive a boat. Maybe he should've started with Grant...haha!!

Next up...a Never Rest boat trip, fireworks, and Julie's birthday...

4th of July

Could my blog titles get any more creative?! I'm strictly trying to document our adventures :) We were back at the beach for the 4th. It's sort of a tradition for my family to all get together on this holiday, and it's always extra special because we get to celebrate my Dad's birthday (the 4th) and we always have an early birthday celebration for Julie (July 10th). Despite it raining for FOUR days straight, we made the best of it and tried to enjoy each other's company and not kill each other. I think it rained 19 inches in Panama City on our second day there! All the locals said they never remembered it raining for that many days consecutively.

William's face says it all... we spent all day Thursday (July 4th) sitting on the porch watching it rain nervously thinking about how we were going to entertain ourselves for the next 3 days :) 

On Friday, the boys managed to squeeze in 12 holes of golf and tried to avoid the puddles. We took William on a stroll and ran into them on the golf course. They weren't that excited to see us. 

 You've got to be really desperate to play golf around a lake puddle that large.

July 4th evening, we had our big traditional meal (ribs, squash casserole, butter beans, slaw) and celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday!!! The fireworks were postponed until Saturday because of the weather. 

 Juju made William's outfit :)

 Jan Jan and Sam bought him a fishing pole.

 Daddy tried to teach William how to fish indoors. 

 We spent a LOT of time lounging around and talking. 

 Grant caught a 25 lb. chunky 14 month old :)

 Sam is probably William's biggest admirer. I absolutely LOVE watching them together. William is a little hesitant around Sam at first (as he is most men) but he grew more fond of him throughout the weekend. He liked for Sam to touch his feet and hands. One night everybody was on the porch BUT William and Sam stayed inside. We all spied on them as William sat quietly and completely still staring at Sam from across the room. 

 It won't be long before they become big buddies! 

 William and his Aunt Birdie

 Juju and William look like they planned matching outfits!

 The humidity made William's curls wild!!

 Dad's Olexa's birthday cake Julie carefully transported from Birmingham

 Our chefs. They cooked EVERY single meal the entire weekend. 

 That's Aunt Birdie's boyfriend, David, in the background! He was quite the trooper to be cooped up with our crazy clan for 5 days while it rained nonstop. 

 William's new trick is giving kisses. He's lays 'em on thick ;)

 It's hard to believe she's a GREAT-grandmother. 

 We saw a little rainbow that evening before the rain came back with a vengeance. 

Happy Independence Day and Happy Birthday to a wonderful Dad!!!

To be continued...

Best Buds

On our way to the beach last Wednesday, we stopped in Montgomery for Grant to work for a couple of hours. So, William and I spent the morning with Kat and Styles at the Mooty house. We had THE best time. It makes me SO happy to see these babies playing together. It seems like yesterday when Kat and I were little freshman babies at Birmingham-Southern :) There's nothing better than seeing one of your best friend's children play with yours. I can't wait to get them together again!

 William sat on Styles :)

 "Mom, can you please get this boy off me." -Styles

The newest member of the clan, precious baby Quinn, stopped by for a visit as well. Before we know it, these boys will be chasing each other around. It's pretty special that 3 of my closest sorority sisters have little boys all close in age. We were only missing Sara Katherine and baby Jack.