Arrogantly Shabby in 2016

You ready for a photo overload? Are. You. Ready????

I took approximately 1 kagillion pictures at the beach this year. That's just a rough estimate. It's past the point of ridiculousness. I just can't help myself. I want to capture every moment - it's to the point of obsession. But hey, they're only young once, and the beach is the place to make (and keep) beautiful memories that will last forever. So you have the daunting task, dear blog reader, of seeing just a snippet of these kagillion beach pictures. 

I love the beach and my very favorite one, where I hold so many dear memories, is Pawley's Island. I believe I oohed and ahhed about Pawley's in my post from last year: Arrogantly Shabby in 2015, so I will spare you this time. Suffice it to say that I love this place!

And so it begins. My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Duncan rented a house this year and invited us and my Dad and fam to come up for the week. So nice! Who I am to turn down a PI beach offer?? The only down side in all of this family vacation fun is that the beach rental was during the last week in June, which is the end of Thomas's fiscal year at work. That equates to no vacation time. Bummer! He was, however, able to take off on Monday and a 1/2 day on Tuesday, so he spent a long weekend with us and got up early on Tuesday to come back for work. We were both concerned about me being in charge of 3 little guys at the beach, as well as Ryan's cough/snotty nose/overall health, so we made the decision that Ryan would go back with Thomas. This made sense for us for a number of reasons - Ryan only gets so much out of the beach and ocean, while Stokes and William love it! Ryan also tends to get overheated so we have to keep a close eye on him when he's outside and it's hot and it's better for him not to spend too much time outdoors during the summer. It's a tall order to manage 3 toddlers at the beach, and of course, so that Ryan could get some one-on-one time with his Dada. With multiples, it's hard to spend time one-on-one and I think they probably get a lot more out of it than we realize (this is turning in to a tangent but as I type, I'm realizing that we need to make a bigger effort on this front). So here's how the week went!

Saturday afternoon - arrival to Pawley's Island, got key from rental company, headed straight to grocery store to pick up necessities, went to house, unloaded the van. SWEAT. That sums it up. After we got through, we finally got to go out to the beach and the boys had so much fun. We were so glad to finally be there after all the anticipation, and looking so forward to it all spring and summer so far!

Saturday early evening was spent playing with SAND. A lot of sand.

William

Diving in the sand

Sand angels

Stokes

Loving it!

Ryan on Mama's back

Dada and Stokes

Sand is everywhere!

Ryan likes the breeze on his face

Dad and Ryan

After everyone arrived, we hopped over to my Uncle Wells's beach house. He, Alison and my cousins had a different house that they rented the same week so we would go back and forth - especially all my teenage cousins.

William and Uncle Wells

Uncle Wells's house has this crab dock and it's just so beautiful to go out on the marsh right around sunset. I was a little uneasy because the dock only had a railing on one side and I was scared one of the boys was going to jump or fall out and get hacked by oyster shells - EEK. We let Ryan stay at the house and took Stokes and William out to take a look but we made them hold our hands the whole time until we got to the dock. Even there though, I couldn't relax. I just kept worrying that they would fall in! Luckily, we made it back safe and sound!

Marsh at Pawley's Island

Dada and Stokes

The boys and me

Stokes pointing to something...(a bird maybe??)

Sunset - Thomas and Stokes

Mama with a death grip on both boys
(at the timeI didn't realize
how tense I looked LOL)

Ryan fell asleep on Merly - he was so tired!

It was a great first afternoon/evening at the beach! Most of the rest of the week is a bit of a blur...already (!!) and it's been less than a week since we've been back...so I'll just put a little commentary here and there with the pictures.

That first full day, we thought it would be a great idea to go to the beach and stay out there as long as possible. After the boys played for a while in the waves, I made lunch and brought it out and we fed the boys on the beach. Then we put them down for a nap with the hopes that the boys would sleep there on the beach, in the shade, so we that would just chill for a while.

Lunch on the beach. Dada's feeding Ryan

Hey boys!!!

It's a miracle. IT WORKED! All 3 napped on the beach after they ate lunch. I did have to sit with William for a while so that he would fall asleep and Stokes kept throwing handfuls of sand on his brothers before he tuckered out, but all 3 of them were so worn out after playing the surf. We even got some props from a jogger that went by. I think she was probably also a mom! She was jogging by and had to do a double take and then congratulated us and gave us a big thumbs up. Meanwhile, we were just sitting nearby in our beach chairs, relaxing away. Ahhhh....

3 babies asleep on the beach
PEERY TRIPLETS MIRACLE

#success

After he woke up, he was still groggy
and needed a little post-nap snuggle
with his Dada

Playing in the water with Stokes and William

William and Abigail playing games

Too cool - Stokes LOVES "driving" and sunglasses

We went back over to Uncle Wells and Alison's house for a cocktail party and some crab stew. We got to meet a lot of nice people!

The crab picking table at the cocktail party

Alison holding Ryan

We didn't stay at the party too long because we needed to get back and get the boys in bed.

Thomas and me

My handsome little loves!

Stokes being silly

They're so cute!
But again, of course, I couldn't get one of all 3 of them
looking and smiling...

Mama and the boys

Dada and the boys

Tickle time!

Handsome!!

He's an angel!

I just loved this picture!

William snuggling with Virginia

Wrestle time with VA

Abigail and Ryan

Card games

Candid funny moment with Virginia and Aunt Kathy

Sweet girls! Love them both so much

Walking on the beach with Dada

Go, go, go!

Pooped out from the walk HA!

Ryan on the beach

oh, hey there!!!

Three handsome dudes

Playtime!

Having fun in the sand

Ryan and Mama

We took full advantage of the outdoor shower. I love an outdoor shower. I kind of wish I would have one at my house, but then it might take the magic away from getting to use the outdoor shower at the beach. This, randomly, is something that I always look forward to! There's something so holistic about showering while seeing the sky and hearing nature sounds. Anyway, when we were done with the beach for day, we'd bring the boys up and I'd give them a shower first and then when they were done in the shower, Thomas would take them up to the room and get their diapers and clothes/pj's on while I showered. Then I'd hold the fort down for him to shower. It worked great for the days that he was there!

Outdoor shower time

Monday evening, we had Wells, Alison and their guests over for a low country boil on our porch. It was delicious!

Boys loving the low country boil

Silly boy with his Dada

Alison and Ryan

Bedtime!!

Snuggly boys

Brothers!
My dad (Stokes), Duncan and Wells

Thomas and me

The next morning was Tuesday and Thomas and Ryan woke up really early and got on the road. I was so, so sad to see them go. It really had me down. I wish they both could have stayed for the whole week.

Walk on the beach with Shanghai and Barbara

Later that morning, we met up to go shrimping. My dad and uncles have been doing this for decades and I grew up seining through the Pawley's Island marsh. It's so much fun! You have to make sure you wear shoes though, or those oyster shells will shred you.

seeing a live shrimp

Picking up the keepers

Decent sized blue crab

William

Lots of cool wildlife to see
Shanghai loved the little hermit crabs

Pulling the seine net

these boys mostly played in the water

Swimming with Abigail

With laptop and beer - working on the porch
during nap time.

One of the favorite games of the week - pulling cans out of coolers and bringing them to people, stacking them up, or pretending to drink them.

William with a PBR (notice the can is
NOT open)!

Beer pyramid! Or would that be a beeramid?!?!

Shanghai and William playing
in the rain!

Games with Grandpa Stokes

Reading with Abigail

William and Uncle Duncan pondering life

Virginia and me in our "active wear"

Stokes, Aunt Kathy, and William

The boys with  Aunt Kathy & Uncle Duncan

Add in Abigail and Virginia

Add in Shanghai

This was so cute - my camera didn't capture it quite as
well as you could see in real life - but Uncle Duncan was
also wearing seersucker shorts and a white button down shirt,
so we obviously needed to take some pictures of these lookalikes!

Too funny!

Uncle Duncan and 2 of my boys!

Family!
Stokes, Virginia, Shanghai (with dog Barbara), Abigail, William

Stokes, Mama, William

Cuties in their Prodoh shirts
(which I am obsessed with)

We came out to the beach on this evening to just run around and play and to get a big family picture. The lighting was so nice so I ended up taking a bunch of pictures!

Stokes on the beach

run, boys, run!

Sweet William

Expending some energy :)

so serious

Shanghai and the boys

Virginia and William

Trying to get the jumping shot...

Almost...

Family picture (missing Ryan and Thomas)

Another one, this one includes our beach neighbor,
Catherine (in my lap!)

We ended up making friends with the family who was staying next door (see above where 4 year old Catherine joined in our family picture) and had an impromptu soccer game on the beach after our little photo sesh!

Stokes is always curious and checking things out

Playing with the neighbor's beach toys

So sweet!

Love these funny little guys!

Mama/Ryan Facetime

Facetime - Dada, Ryan and Stokes 

Group FaceTime

Morning walk time!

This was a cool morning! We actually had a loggerhead turtle that came up onshore and made a nest right outside our house. We learned that there are volunteers that walk up and down the beach at sunrise every morning looking for turtle nests. In the case of the nest at our house, the turtle hadn't laid the eggs far enough back on the beach and they were liable to be washed away in the surf during high tide. It turns out that sand has been added to the beach and it's sometimes too hard for the turtles to make their way far back enough to be able to lay eggs in a more secure location. The volunteers scouted out the nest, determined that it needed to be moved and found a more suitable spot, out past the high tide marks, on the other side of our boardwalk stairs. We just happened to be out for a walk when the volunteers start coming over to do their work. I was so excited! This was such a great learning opportunity! We actually have a book, Totty, about sea turtles that hatch and their journey back to the sea, so I kept trying to relate this experience to the book for the boys to understand. Umm yeah, I'm not sure that they got it, but whatevs!

As we watched the turtle rescuers work, more and more people would stop and gather to watch and learn. Here are some interesting things that we learned, in no particular order:

• Loggerhead turtles will typically lay between 100 - 120 eggs in a nest (ours had 87)
• This mama turtle was approximately 250 lbs - no wonder it was hard for her to make it all the way past high tide - and the volunteers were able to guestimate her weight based on measurements of the tracks she left in the sand
• After they lay the nest, the mamas leave and the eggs hatch about 60 days later
• The volunteers used pool sticks (veryyyyyy scientific) to determine where the eggs were underneath the sand and then had to pick them up individually by hand and put them in to a bucket to move them later
• They had to keep the egg upright - if it gets flipped or turned, the yolk could kill the fetus (or something like that!)
• Although it's awesome to watch the turtles hatch from the eggs and walk toward the ocean, the volunteers discourage people from standing around to watch or even worse, standing on either side and making a path for the turtles because when they get to the ocean, they're all together and it makes them a prime target for predators. If they can spread out instead and go into the ocean in a bunch of different locations, they will have a higher survival rate
• Loggerheads are endangered in South Carolina
• The eggs are about the size of ping pong balls and do not have a hard shell
• When the volunteers move a nest like this, they sacrifice the last egg for scientific testing. They can get the mama turtle's DNA from it to determine where her other nests are, how many she's laid, what locations she's been in, etc, etc. VERY interesting!

Using the pool sticks to find the eggs

Bingo!

Digging up the eggs and carefully
putting them in the bucket

Here's a turtle egg!

Everybody's asking questions and learning

Ping pong balls, oops, I mean loggerhead eggs

Making the new nest

Volunteers heading out after their work is done

New nest - and it's marked so no one messes with it!

Here's one for KEEPING IT REAL - tears. Lots of tears.

Wiping away the tears

Look who stopped by!!!! The infamous CB (my friends
that have been to PI with us before will appreciate this picture)!

Uncle Duncan and Aunt Kathy love to play games and have passed that gaming love down to Virginia and Abigail. All week we played cards, Pente, Timeline, Charades, some Harry Potter game that was at the house. etc. My favorite is cards. Playing games literally reminds me of being at the beach because I don't normally play many games when I'm not with this crew. Games are so fun! Anyway, one night we played family Guesstures. This was cool because my dad even played and he normally doesn't get in the gaming fun with us. He'll typically just take a book and read on the porch so I was really glad that he participated in family game night!

William with  Grandpa Stokes

Family Guesstures

The pictures below were, sadly, our last full day at the beach. I hate when vacations come to an end!

Abigail, Virginia and the boys

Stokes and V

Being silly in the waves

Abigail and Stokes

Beautiful cousins!
I can't believe it but they will be going to high school in the fall!

V and William

Sleepy Stokie

That night, Grandpa Stokes grilled us some brats and chicken

Grillmaster, Grandpa Stokes

Stokes with his grandpa's flip flops on

Cousins - V, W, S and A

Shanghai, Virginia and Abigail

Pile in the hammock!

Love birds! They are the cutest <3
Aunt Kathy and Uncle Duncan

The Atlanta Van Pelts

Stokes and Mama

William and Mama

Shanghai reading a book to the boys before bedtime

All in all, it was a great week. I really, really missed Thomas and Ryan after they left though. Full disclosure - I had several "moments". I know all the pictures (with the exception of the Keeping It Real pics) make it seem like it was 100% perfect and fun, but I definitely struggled. At one point, I told my Aunt Kathy that I thought I may just pack up and the boys and I would leave early. It just felt like it was too hard to keep it together. She talked me off the ledge though and offered to help with whatever I needed. It was awesome having so many helping hands around, but I just felt like I should be able to handle everything myself and I didn't want to make anyone else feel like they spent their whole vacation babysitting. I wanted them to be able to read their books, play cards, go swimming, take a walk, go to Wells and Alison's house to visit, go crabbing (with no rails on the crab dock - eek), take a nap - whatever they wanted to do - without having to watch, entertain and wrangle a toddler or two. Examples of when I would struggle: both boys would be on the beach and playing but then Stokes would want to go up and get a snack and William would not want to leave the ocean. What's a mom to do? I can't leave William out on the beach by himself but Stokes would be whining and crying and obviously ready to go in. I would end up carrying up a kicking and crying William, who was mad because he wanted to keep playing in the waves, and carrying a hungry and crying Stokes up to the house. By the time I trudged through the sand, up the stairs, over the walkway, my arms would be ready to fall off and I'd still have 2 upset toddlers. It felt like a lot and it weighed on me. Had Thomas been there, we could have divided and conquered. As the week wore on, it seemed that the crying, whining and toddler behavior ramped up. The behavior felt worse to me there than it is at home. I don't know if it was because we were somewhat off-schedule, or away from home, or maybe they were just tired a lot from all the playing and beach time. I don't know what it was but it was hard to handle. I also felt bad about the crying and whining due to the other people around. No one wants to hear that, especially on vacation. At one point, I got someone else to watch William and I took Stokes to the store with me, and I soon as I got in the car, I called Thomas and started crying. I felt like I was dropping the ball and losing patience and I felt like I couldn't handle the two of them. That's not a good feeling. I felt like a failure. Although there were other people around to help me out, I am ultimately responsible for them and their safety. It's a lot of pressure when there's no child-proofing and no gate to stop them from heading down to the beach by themselves and with all the coming and going, I couldn't keep the doors locked to prevent an escapee. Plus, I was tired. I was staying up late(ish) playing cards, drinking beer and talking and laughing with the fam, and the boys were getting up earlier than their typical time. We were all sleeping in the same room and they would see me as soon as they woke, so instead of staying in bed and resting a while like they do at home, they would immediately wake me around 6 or 6:30. Ouch.

I don't say all this to complain or act like my boys are behaved terribly, but it's in an effort of transparency and again, just KEEPING IT REAL. It was hard. I struggled. I hate feeling like I've lost control. But I also need to learn to relinquish some control and accept help. I am so grateful for all the assistance and playtime that my family provided. They were definitely helping me A LOT and even more so after I had my "moment" when I told Aunt Kathy that I was thinking about leaving. The boys adore everyone that was at the beach and continue to talk about them all since we've been back and love, love, loved playing. I loved spending that time with family, who we unfortunately don't see often enough, and all in all, it was totally worth it to be at the beach. There will always be challenges and tough situations, but we had plenty more laughs, memories and good times to overcompensate for the hard parts. I am so glad that we went and wouldn't change it...except that part when Ryan and Thomas had to leave. I definitely would have changed that part!

We are currently thinking about beach plans for next year (with Thomas and Ryan staying all week) and trying to get our act together for our future plans. I hope to see you next year, Pawley's Island!!!!