Until Next Time, South Carolina...

On Sunday morning, our last morning in Surfside, we got up at normal time... around 7 am... maybe a few minutes after. Ella was clearly already up because she is up and at 'em as soon as she hears anything. Ella and Kate were going to be venturing up to York, PA to see Kate's grandma and to help her out for a few weeks. They had a very long drive and a very long day ahead of them.

 

Charlotte was getting so sad to see her friend go.

(In fact, on Monday morning she woke up and asked for Ella. "Momma, where is Ew-wa?")

Ella got her and bath and her undergarments :)

Playing just a few more minutes before it is time for her to pack up and leave.

It tugs at your heart strings a bit knowing it will be a year or more before we see her again...and she will be so different.

Uncle Alex was sad to see her leaving. He helped get her ready to go.

He just loves her so much.

We had breakfast and Kate and Ella got on the road to PA. We all hung out and started getting the house cleaned up/packed up. Man, packing 3 checked bags and 5 carry ons and 2 carseat bags in a way that makes it so they aren't overweight and everything is carry-able proved to be quite difficult. But I got it done!!!!

 

Aunt Amelia called around 11 asking if she could come by and see us before she headed back to Columbia to see her boyfriend. She came over while we got the kids bathed and ready for naps. She played with crazy girl in the bath tub... Sawyer who was SUPER tired wouldn't stay in the bath without me in there so he didn't get a very long bath.

Both kids got dressed and were ready to go to sleep. Aunt Amelia got a few last minute snuggles and then she headed on her way home. Alex had her tell Grandma and Grandpa and Mimi that the kids would be over to visit for a bit after their naps.

We got both kids put to sleep and the crazy cleaning began. I did about 10 loads of laundry that day. Adam and Alex got the oyster stuff cleaned up, helped clean, helped pack, and then they took the kids over to Mimi's house a little after 2 so that they could see everyone else before our flight.

Adrienne and I finished getting packed, cleaning, and getting ready, and then I headed over to Mimi's house for goodbyes as well.

 

 

Doesn't he just steal your heart??

Goofy, pretty girl.

 

Can you tell these two are related???

She was saying "CHEESE"

At 4 pm, it was time to head to the beach house so we could load up and head to the airport.

Goodbye hugs for Grandma Jackson.

 

Goodbye hugs for Grandpa Jackson

At the beach house we took one more wipe over everything and loaded up our ton of crap. Adrienne drove the kids and I and Adam and Alex rode together to the airport.

 

Charlotte was getting anxious for the flight...hence the paci.

Saying goodbye to Aunt Adrienne.

Sawyer saying "goodbye' to Uncle Adam.

Our three checked bags, our two carseats, and our one carry on rolling suit case. We also had 2 strollers, 2 book bags, and 2 duffle bags.

We got all checked in and through security. It was SO NICE not being at a busy airport. The workers were so nice and patient, the kids got to run around, and it felt fairly clean.

 

It was so clean that Sawyer mistook it for someone's house and rolled around on the floor.

Naturally.

Yep, my kids were those kids.

Our first flight was on time. Our second was an hour and a half late leaving. We were planning to be home around 10 but didn't get home until right around 12 pm. we were tired. SO SO SO tired.

 

Here is what my living room looked like for the next 2 days. And to be honest, I just didn't care. I even had people step foot in my house and I left it like that.

 

We really did have a great trip. It was awesome having a beach house for us. We didn't feel like we were in anyone's way and we could just kind of take over the place. We loved being close to the beach but close to family. We tried so hard to have the kids see Grandma and Grandpa as much as possible but sometimes the schedules were conflicting with our kids being early risers and early nappers. Most days they didn't get to see them until after 2. But we tried our best to fit in everything we wanted to fit in (Alex got to fish, do his oysters, go to the beach, hang with Adam and I wanted to do my 5K and see some of my friends on Saturday.) We had such a great time sharing the house with Adam and Adrienne. They took care of us...seriously they did so much for us. We loved that Kate and Ella could spend so much time with us. It is super stressful travelling with both kids. Trying to remember everything and all of the money that goes into all of it can really make your head spin but it is all worth it in the end.

 

Thank you everyone who participated in a trip!!!

 

You are amazing.

 

 

A Saturday in South Carolina

Our South Carolina trip just continued to fly by! On Saturday morning, November 23, 2013, I had signed up for my first ever 5K. I am not a runner in the least. Running, to me, is punishment. But running is free. I can do it in 30 minutes. And it uses so many muscles. I want to be a runner so bad. I had finally gotten to where I could run for 33 minutes straight. Finally It took me a long time but I am there.

 

I got up early to be at my 5K by 7:30 am. Alex and Adam drove me to the 5K which was about 15 minutes away in Pawley's Island. Both kids were still asleep. Kate and Adrienne (and the dogs) were in charge of the crazies. I knew the kids were in good hands with these babysitters... and the kids knew them and were very comfortable with them by Saturday morning. The girls made them breakfast and they all played. It was perfect.

 

I finished my 5K much slower than I had wanted to. I had drank some sort of alcohol every day while we were there....weather it was a bit of wine or hard liquor. That made me feel pretty bad during the run and the fact that it was actually warm during it. I hadn't ran in warm weather in months. I did pretty terrible from a seasoned runner's perspective. I did pretty awesome in my own view since I never imagined being able to do something like this. Adam and Alex were at the finish line when I crossed. It was nice to finally see that finish line. That run was brutal. Seriously.

 

When I got back to the house, we all hung out for a bit. Alex and Adam had gone to get fresh oysters out of the ocean while I started my run. They had plenty to go around by the time they picked me up. When we got back to the house, they got the oysters ready. Grandma and Grandpa called and wanted Alex to bring the kids to see them at Mimi's house. Alex and Adam took both kids with them over there while Kate and I ran to the store with Ella to get groceries for the day. We went to Walmart. Oh Walmart.

 

And this is what you see in the meat section at Walmart.

 This woman had the stroller only for her cat. She did not have a child. 

 

She is my hero.

 

 

We then headed back to the beach house to get food ready and get showered. Alex showed back up with the kids after awhile. Charlotte loved helping Aunt Kate with the food for lunch.

Amanda and Ethan drove up from Charleston!!!!

I had neve rmet Mr. Ethan. He is beautiful. Such a sweet little man too :)

Too bad we have 16 hours between us. These boys could be such great friends...

 

Oysters. The dogs thought something was fishy....

Merry Christmas Ella Grace rom all of us :)

We had not gotten around to giving her her Christmas present the night before.

 

I am so thankful for Amanda. Her and Ethan drove up and spent the afternoon with us. How cute are they???? Amanda and Mikey need to have like 10 kids bc they make the most adorable babies!!! I am crazy about him.

Making the oysters..

 

Sawyer eats anything....

including oysters.

Gross (says the Midwestern girl)

He ate a ton of them.

Sweet Mr. Ethan eating his lunch.

Amanda is such a good mom...not that I had any doubts. I would leave my kids with her in a heart beat...and that's saying a lot bc the list of people that I would leave my kids with is VERY short.

(I hate to tell you but most of you wouldn't make the cut...just kidding :)  )

Amanda knows me SO SO SO well. She brought me Publix cupcakes. So amazing. So amazing. I have MISSED me some Publix cupcakes.

Ella loved the cupcakes and she gave Aunt Adrienne a big kiss with her cupcake face.

 

We really had an awesome time with Amanda visiting. Ethan crawled around and played with the kids. Charlotte took a nice LONG nap...almost the entire time Amanda was visiting. I have missed her so very much. I really value our friendship. Back when we worked in the Level 2 nursery together, we had a system. We had each other's backs. We were like peanut butter is to jelly, and macaroni is to cheese, and cotton is to candy. Amanda, thank you for coming up to see us in Surfside. It meant the world to me to see you and hang out with you. And your handsome boy is just amazing. I love him.

 

Alex's fraternity brother from Winthrop came to visit us as well. He showed up as I was seeing Amanda off. Ryan, Alex's friend, told us that the security guard that checked him into the Village was actually the security guard from the TLC show Myrtle Manor. Kate and I started FREAKING out and we were determined to figure out of this was true. So we took the golf cart and rode to the security house. Our reasoning for going to security was to get Kate's parking pass updated since she was staying longer. I did all of the talking. When I asked him if he was Marvin from Myrtle Manor, he said no and acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. I told him he looked just like him. A few cars approached and he had to address their issues. After there was no one else left in line, he looked at me and said, "Miss Jackson, I AM him." It was Marvin.

 

He handed Kate and I his card.

And Kate took my picture with him.

Note: I did not straighten my hair that day. I actually had cute clothes on BUT it was cool and rainy that day so I had to wear something frumpy to make me look awful.

HOWEVER, Marvin was looking mighty fine in his stylin' glasses, creep stache, and tight pants.

 

When we verified that it was him, Adrienne wanted to see what he was all about and wanted to meet him...and shake his hand. SO we went on another golf cart ride...and we found the car he drove around the manor.

Marvin was super busy so we told him we would be back.

Here was the Marvin fan club.

We actually were sitting near his creepy car watching him waiting for a time to go see him.

Kate, Adrienne, and Ryan. We were a crew.

So, while we waited to see Marvin, we headed back to the house.

It was business as usual there.

Sawyer pushing Ella around. Charlotte hanging with the dogs.

THEN my fabulous friends the Peelers came to visit me!!!

Jamie and Callie. Love them. I am still sad about not making it to their wedding a year and a half ago. I was pregnant with Sawyer and knew I couldn't make the drive to Charleston by myself...and I was having BP issues and I was super anxious. It looked beautiful... anyway, back to them...

They drove up during the afternoon and went to lunch and shopping. Then they came by the craziness of the beach house.... we had oysters everywhere, kids running around naked, alcohol everywhere, 2 dogs, a few frat bros, I mean we were chaos....and the security for the Village (not Marvin) kept patrolling our street threatening to ticket all of our cars. So ridic.

BUT it was so so so good to see them. It had been almost a year since I had them. We talked and hung out. They watched the cluster that is our life. Callie and Jamie, thank you so very much for coming up to Surfside and spending time with me. You really have no idea how much that meant to me. I love you and our friendship. I treasure you.

 

After Jamie and Callie left, and after the boys made a beer run and talked to Marvin, us girls made one more trip out to see Marvin.

Adrienne finally got to meet him.

She had five questions that she asked him. He answered them all...and can you tell how happy he was to answer them.

I should have video taped this moment. It. Was. Hilarious.

After harassing Marvin and giving him an even bigger ego than the poor lass has already, we headed back to the beach house.

 

Charlotte was getting a few more snuggles in with the puppies.

And her and Ella were snuggled up watching TV.

 

We would find out the next morning that when they had gotten ahold of my wallet around this time, they had misplaced my driver's license. (It would be found months later by Uncle Keith behind/under the bed.)

 

We all went to bed pretty early. Most everyone was in bed before 11 this night.

 

It was a great day.

 

Thank you, again, to the friends that would travel a long distance just to see us for a short time. I am really blessed to have such great friends. I would like to think all of my friends would do something like that for me (and I would hope that all of your friends would do that for you) but the truth is, quite a few people wouldn't. I just treasure the friends that love me enough to do that :)

 

Family Pictures Part 2

...and we are continued...

 

Grandpa Ronnie taking pictures and videos of the birds on the beach.

How much do you love Sawyer's face in this picture???

Great picture.

My boys...

This daddy is crazy about his little man.

Uncle Adam and Charlotte. She really loved getting to spend time with him.

I wish this was clear...

Oh we love the sand...

 

 

Picking up shells with Grandma.

Here is the money shot of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Jackson. This is a great picture :) (and is way better than the 15 other I took in this pose)

Sawyer was sharing his snacks...

The Mr. and Mrs. Adam Jackson

I love this picture of Mimi and Amelia. They have a great relationship and Mimi and is crazy about her.

 

Uncle Adam is so funny....and check out Alex in the background. Must have been a rough goldfish.

 

 

Feeding the birds...

The birds were everywhere!!

I love this picture of her. Such a pretty pretty girl...

 

This handsome little man loves to play hard to get.

 

 

 

 

Playing with Aunt Amelia...

 

 

Ella loves the water....she kept running off toward the ocean.

Love these two girls :) They are family to us.

Charlotte wouldn't come in so we could leave so Uncle Adam went and got her. She listens to him.

After our pictures on the beach, we went back to the beach house to get all of the sand off of us and to change clothes, etc. Then we headed over to Mimi's house for our fabulous Thanksgiving/Christmas supper with the family.

 

We had an amazing homecooked meal with so many options for food.

 

Ella and Kate came with us for supper.

Ella got all dressed up  for the meal.

Aunt Adrienne loves her time with these two crazies. So cute!

Charlotte was trying to put the mustaches on Ella.

I love this picture of her. This sums up Adrienne.

 

 

After eating, I helped clean up supper but the kids (especially Sawyer) had reached their end point. Usually on the third day of a busy week/time away from home, they usually reach this point. They need to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep. So by a little after 8, they were crabby, fussy, and just not being nice. So we headed back to our beach house and put them to bed. I would like to say that all of us adults stayed up partying and threw a kegger or something but that is not the life that we lead anymore. We watched tv, talked, and I was in bed by 10:30 in preparation for my 5K that I would be running the next morning.

 

It was a fabulous Jackson Christmas in November. We had hoped that by planning this trip over 2 months in advance that we would be able to get everyone together at the same place at the same time. But life happens and sometimes stuff just doesn't work out. Ashley and Austin were missed :) Hopefully next year it will work out!!