Annual July 4th Beach Trip

We had a great trip to the beach in early July!

As always, it was so great to have such special time with the Haenni's. We love this annual trip to the beach with them -- we have our own houses, in the same little community -- so we get lots of friend time, but still really good family time. (Williams/Hulls - you must join us next year!)



The boys LOVED the water this year.  They loved the pool water (as always) and loved the beach too.  The loved jumping in the waves, playing in the little streams, boogie boarding.  





They started the week out wearing their rain boots down to the ocean.  They liked warming up to the sand and having super clean feet as soon as it was time to go.


By the middle/end of the week they'd relaxed a bit.  Noah was wearing flip-flops, Griffin wore his crocs, and Miles toughed it out and went barefoot (he'd rather the hot sand on his feet than sand stuck in his crocs).


On the second day of our trip there was a 4th of July golf cart parade.  The boys watched it from our fence.


We spent hours at the beach it day.  It was hot.  It was crowded.  But we set up our "home base/tent" and hung out in the water.  It was perfect.





Noah spent time each day practicing his light sabor moves.  I didn't realize what he was doing at first.  Mike picked up on it right away.


We went back to the beach after dinner.  The beach was a little quieter.  The temperature was a little cooler. 







Mike's mom joined us for a couple of days/nights.  It was so great to have her there/spend time with her.  The kids loved playing twister one afternoon.  (Sorry, Peggy, this is the only picture I got of you!)


We spent one afternoon with the Haenni's at the boardwalk playing games, riding rides.   Noah opted not to go so he and Peggy stayed home to watch Star Wars and make rice crispy treats.








With Mike on the road so much for work, one of the things we really appreciate is having our family together for the entire week. No flights. No conference calls (well, no more than one or two quick ones). No outside distractions.

I like having my hub to be in-kahoots with.


And, does it get much better than daddy-time like this?



Its perfect.



There are some more pictures on my flickr page. I also made a video of our trip. Would love to spend more time rearranging/splicing/dicing, but we're leaving for another beach trip with my family tomorrow and if I don't wrap this last trip up before we leave, it will surely take 6 more months to get it posted. :)

WH Beach Trip from Brooke Brown on Vimeo.

Lindsey's Shower

This cute belly belongs to my super cute sister, Lindsey.  Lindsey is pregnant with a little girl, Adelaide, who is scheduled to appear on October 3rd.  We are so excited for a baby in the family -- and a GIRL -- so Dana and I hosted a shower for her so we could all celebrate.


Here is Lindsey, upon arrival to the shower.   Seriously, how cute is she?

My good friend Allison helped me decorate for the shower.  She made these awesome pom poms and a "baby love" sign (that coordinates with the invitation).  She is a mini-martha stewart and I already have her reserved to help me with the boys' future rehearsal dinners. 




We had some yummy food (my dad's famous dill dip with veggies; my brother-in-law's famous salsa with chips; yummy fruit; and three kinds of cupcakes and my mom's/sister dana's famous chocolate chip cookies).




As a shower gift, we gave everyone some of those famous chocolate chip cookies and a magnet of Adelaide doing her 'rock star' pose (or spider man pose, according to my boys).


As a shower activity/gift to Lindsey, we had all of the guests decorate onsies or burb cloths for Adelaide.  They were fun to make, are super practical -- and they turned out REALLY cute. 



It was so great to meet so much of Jason's family and see some of Lindsey's close girlfriends that were able to come too (loved having baby Sawyer here too - Lindsey's college friend Jeannie's little guy).  Always a treat was having Mike's mom and sister too.







It was such a fun afternoon.  I loved having so much family here.  I feel so blessed that all of our extended family is so connected and entwined.  One of my favorite parts of the day was when Shannon (Mike's sister/my sister-in-law) introduced herself as "Lindsey's sister-in-law".





Love this.  Noah pointing at Adelaide with that toothless grin.


I feel so blessed it makes me teary.  So lucky to have these sisters.  These best friends.  These soul mates.  Can't wait to meet Adelaide.  Hope she has two sisters too.

The Beach

Last week the Brown and Haenni families spent the week at the beach (separate houses but in the same tiny neighborhood). It was our second year celebrating the 4th at the beach together and it was s.o m.u.c.h f.u.n. I have no idea when I'll make it through my pictures and videos and actually post about our trip. Until then, here are a few highlights:

We spent 90% of our time hanging out at the water.  Most days our schedule was beach, pool, beach.  Boogie boards, wave jumping, sand digging, and water gun fights were top activities each day.   In years past it always seemed like 1-2 boys wanted to be at the beach and 1-2 boys didn't.  It was constant entertainment to keep them happy.  This year, they just loved it and would just take off to play as soon as we got settled in - which made Mike and I love it even more.  I would actually describe our days as fun and relaxing.  Wow. 

It was our first vacation with all three boys as nap-free and diaper-free.  Our family has entered a new realm of existence and believe me, Mike and I are appreciating every moment of it.   In fact, things seemed so much easier that Mike fed the boys lunch and brought them to the pool a couple of days while I sat on the beach.  by myself.  and read a book.   I read an entire book in three days (haven't done that in at least 7 years).  Ahhh...

We had so much fun with these great friends (Beth and Scott were our companions to London-Dublin-Oban last fall and our kids have been hanging out since they were babes).   Not only did we hang out at the ocean and pool together, but as a bonus this year Mike and Scott went bike riding one morning and Beth and I took a swim lesson together (improving strokes for an upcoming triathlon we're both doing).

As a huge treat, Mike's mom came to stay with us for a couple of nights (which we loved!) and she watched the boys so we adults could have a date night.   So sweet of her and it was much fun.  


And to address the photos, Beth noticed early on that we all had at least one blue swimsuit, so she organized a sunset photo shoot.  I know, we're ridiculous - but we had fun taking them (though for the record, I hated all of the sprinting I had to do in my bathing suit back-and-forth from the tripod to the group - should have recruited someone else to do that :).   
  

More photos and a movie of our trip to come!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July at the beach. Hope you and your families had fun too!