Beach Pictures 2

Beach Pictures

Myrtle Beach

This weekend, my mom and I took the kids to Myrtle Beach. Elizabeth had her first ever dance competition!! We had a great time. We arrived on Friday and boy were we surprised. I had made the reservation at the hotel in North Myrtle Beach where the competition was being held. We ended up with a one bedroom suite. We each had our own bed. Mom and I were in the bedroom, Banastre slept on the fold out couch bed, and Elizabeth slept in the "Hollywood" bed. (the ones that fold out of the wall) We were on the fifth floor with an ocean front balcony. So, Friday night consisted of a run to the grocery store to stock our full kitchen, a walk on the beach, a trip to check out the hotel, and time on the balcony. The kids finally went to sleep around 11, Mom and I stayed out on the balcony until about 2!! Of course, Banastre decided not to sleep and I ended up with about 3 hours of sleep total.

Saturday morning Elizabeth had dance workshops starting at 9 and going until 2. So, Mom, Banastre, and I spent the morning shopping and just driving around while Banastre napped in the car. After Eliabeth's workshops, we had a late lunch in the room, piled in the car and went to play Mt. Atlanticus miniature golf. It was so much fun!!! Afterwards, we drove down the strip in Myrtle Beach. (What trip isn't complete without that!?!) Then off to dinner at Captain Benjamins Original Calabash. We all made pigs of ourselves. They had crab legs and steak on the bar....enough said. We returned to our hotel, rolled up to our room, changed into our bathing suits and hit the indoor lazy river. It was really warm water and Banastre relaxed so much that he started falling asleep as we were swimming along. We decided to go to our room and hit the bed! On the way though, I decided to fall into the kiddie pool and hurt my knee, ribs, arms, and back. But, I didn't drop Banastre and he was just really scared. After applying ice to my knee and baths, we got the kids in bed and Mom and I stayed out on the balcony until about midnight. Banastre decided not to sleep well this night either, so I ended up sleeping on the fold out bed most of the night.

Sunday is Competition day! We got up and started getting Elizabeth dressed, hair and make-up completed, and headed to where the workshops were held the day before. There is no one around. We went to the front desk to find out where we are supposed to be and they tell us the competitions were being held at North Myrtle Beach Hugh School. No one bothered to tell us this fact. So, after a mad dash to the hotel room for keys we are in the Jeep and on our way. We make it in plenty of time.

Elizabeth's "Mini Dream Team" competed beautifully. You never would have known it was their first time performing their tap dance in front of an audience. I am so proud of how she did! It made my heart swell and their aren't enough words to describe how I felt seeing her perform on that stage. There were tears in my eyes and a huge smile on my face the entire routine.

We grabbed Elizabeth after her dance, gave her lots of hugs and congratulations, and then hurried back to the hotel to pack up and check out. We hit the beach and had lots of fun playing in the sand and freezing water. Banastre was unsure about all the sand, but he eventually got the hang of it and checked everything!

We left the beach, rinsed off, changed clothes and then headed back to the school for the awards ceremony. I really wasn't sure how our girls would place, but I knew they had done a wonderful job for their first time. Boy were we shocked when the awards were given out! They won Gold (second place in their division), Seventh place over all in all 12&under groups. (Higher than two other of our dance schools veteran competition teams) And they won for best costume of all 12&under groups!!!! Way to go girls!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so proud of you!!!!!!!!

We then started our journey home.

We had a wonderful trip and I am so proud of Elizabeth. We have another competition in Raleigh this weekend. So, wish us luck that they can do this well again!!

There will be another competition in Concord in April. You are all invited to come out and support our girls and see how well they do! As soon as I can find the dates I will let you know when it is. We will also be back in Myrtle beach July 1 - 7, for Showstoppers National Competition. We can't wait!

I will add pics later. I'm a stay at home mom again, so I have plenty of time to catch up. As soon as I upload all 117 pictures I took this weekend I will share them!

Disney World 3

OK, these will be all from this Disney trip. Another character meal at Liberty Tree Tavern. Banastre doesn't like Goofy up close. I guess I would be scared of a six foot tall walking dog too!!!

Elizabeth and Minnie.
Banastre was scared of all the characters. Chip came by once and spent time with Elizabeth. Then he kept playing peek a boo with Banastre. Later he came by and was able to get close. Banastre even played with his nose! I was so happy that Banastre finally came around. Although, this is still the only character he let get close. The rest of the week he just said Hi and waved anytime he saw one!

Here's the kids as co-pilots of the monorail. We asked to sit up front and they let us! Both kids loved this. This was Banastre's first time up front and this is how he stayed for our entire trip! Isn't it cute?

We had a great trip and it was wonderfully warm for the rest of the week. We only went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot this time. I am sure that in December we will hit all four parks. We have annual passes now though, so there could be even more spontaneous trips to visit our Main Mouse. Until then, we have great memories of our latest trips to keep us smiling. It's amazing to me to watch my children's faces as they experience the magic of Walt Disney World. To hear Elizabeth singing the songs to her favorite rides and asking..."Mom, whens our next trip?" always puts a smile on my face!

Walt Disney 2

Banastre's first carousel ride. He doesn't seem like it here, but he loved it. We rode 4 times in a row!
Elizabeth hamming it up as usual!
This is our view from our room. The patio doors opened. We had two ducks who would come to our doors everyday. I know we shouldn't have though, but we fed them. Banastre loved throwing cheerios to the ducks. He would just laugh and then quack, quack!
Can you see the duck right by the table in the bush?

Disney World

Ok, before I get to this past weekend, I wanted to add a few more pics from Florida. Here's the kids with the characters at the O'hana's Lilo & Stitch Breakfast. (Lilo was out sick this day! She's the one of the few characters we haven't met!!!) Elizabeth and the big cheese, Mickey!
Banastre still didn't care much for the characters. As long as they were on the other side of the table he was fine. But if we got close to them.....
this is how he reacted!

We had other character meals scheduled. How will Banastre react? You shall see!!

Tune in for more Disney pics. Blogger isn't let me post many at a time!

Pics from Florida

These are pics from our first nights stay in Florida. We were in a town called Indiatlantic. As you can see our room was right on the ocean. We even slept with the balcony doors open. It was just like having a sound machine that never turns off. Elizabeth and Banastre were addicted to the balcony. They stayed on it for most of the morning. We walked down to the beach after our breakfast, but of all days, this one was very cold in Florida (temps in the 40s!). The kids and I were still bare footed though and we enjoyed the sand on our feet before we started freezing to death. So, we went back and enjoyed the view from our room until it was time to go.

We're Home!!!

Just a real quick post to let everyone know that we are home from Disney World!! We had a wonderful time!!! The weather was perfect and we enjoyed ourselves immensely!!
Unfortunately, we all came home sick. Matt with a stomach bug, Elizabeth with a rash on her legs that has now spread, Banastre with an eye infection in both eyes, and me with a cold that turned into a sinus infection. Well, now Banastre has come down with either the stomach bug or the "teething bug" and I am completely worn out. So, no pictures uploaded yet. I will try this weekend. But........Guess what Banastre started doing yesterday!!!!!!

Yes, my baby is finally walking. Up until now, he would take one or two steps without holding on. Yesterday he took six or seven steps to Daddy with out us even trying to get him too. At first I thought it might be a fluke, but he did it again before bed to get a toy. Now today, he has practiced it several times. We are still definitely "toddling" but I know it won't be long now until he is running and I am trying to play catch up. I tried to get pics, but I guess either me or the camera is too slow, but I will keep trying!!

Lily's First Birthday Party

Look, I can play ball with someone else. I am practicing up on sharing! (I think this is Jack, Lily had a lot of kids at her party!)
Hey Elizabeth, Lily is opening our gift to her.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm cake. Lily definitely knew how to eat the cake!!!
This is just a sweet one of Mommy and Daughter. I thought Lora might like to have it!!

A quick catch up...

This is just a quick catch up on everything with more detailed posts to follow hopefully this weekend.

Things that have happened in the past two weeks:
Lily's First birthday Party
I put in my notice at work....I will once again be a Stay-at-Home Mom and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am working until they can find someone to replace me and I can train them, but hopefully it won't be too much longer!!!
We put our house on the market, and within two hours had our first bid on it. So I have been crazily (is that even a word) cleaning the house and trying to prep it for showing.

Coming up next:
A one week vacation in the "Happiest Place on Earth," and "Where dreams come true"; so if you really know our family, that means we decided at the last minute to spend Matt's spring break at Disney World. So, I have also been packing and getting all the laundry done. Needless to say I am completely worn out.

But, I will have to download all the pics on my camera tomorrow and will hopefully be able to update one last time before we leave for Florida Sunday!!!