Take me out to the ball game

We took the boys to their first ever Greenville Drive baseball game. This was actually their first ever real baseball game, apart from Greenville Little League tee ball. I snagged some free tickets from work at the last minute and we went for it. The game started at 7 pm, which is a little late for kids whose bedtime is around 8, but it's summer time and the tickets were free, so what the heck?!?!?! ;)

We got to sit in a suite, which came in handy...you'll see why.

Family fun at Fluor Field

Totally into watching the game!

Then it started RAINING!

Lots of rain...

We had only been there for about 2 innings when it started raining. We were bummed when they pulled the cover over the field...but we waited it out in the hopes of seeing some more baseball!

Enjoying a hot dog.

What baseball game is complete without a hot dog?!?!?

Ryan had a good time, too

Selfies to help pass the time during the rain

The MOST beautiful double rainbow!
It was so bright!

We were thankful to be under a covered area during the rain so that we could wait and see what happened and whether the game would start back up. It kept getting later and later and when they finally were able to start playing again, we weren't able to stay long. We had to get these boys home and in the bed!

We love the Greenville Drive

It was a really fun outing and we all enjoyed the experience, in spite of the rain and game delay. I'm sure there will be many, many more Drive games in our future.

Side note: they have FREE handicapped valet parking. We were driving around looking for the handicapped parking spots when we saw a sign for this service. I was most impressed and very grateful! 

Father's Day 2018

Father's Day preparation for this year was a little hectic because I had been gone on a work trip to Buffalo the whole week leading up to Thomas's Father's Day weekend. And by "preparation", I am referring to the annual DAD pic. I had to work hard to get the annual "DAD" picture after I got home from my trip and before Thomas got home from work on Friday afternoon so it would be a surprise for him. Then we were at the lake all day on Saturday (re: Matt's lake house) so it was a whirlwind before waking up on Sunday morning for Father's Day. We went to church, had a quiet and chill day at the house and then Thomas grilled for us for dinner. We gave him our gifts and the annual pic, which he loved. The boys, once again, didn't totally cooperate, so none of the pictures is 100% perfect. Here are the best ones though!

Thomas's birthday was the very next day so he had back to back celebrations. It, too, was a low key day consisting of school and work, but we had a nice dinner and he got more gifts in honor of his birthday. After all the travel and being gone at the lake on Saturday, I think he appreciated just being home and taking it easy.

I can't say enough about the dad and husband Thomas is. He takes such great care of us and keeps us laughing and smiling. There is no one that I'd rather have by my side in this journey called parenthood. I hope he realizes just how loved and adored he is!

Annual DAD pic flashback:

2014

Still kicking myself that I didn't get a DAD pic in 2015! :(

2016

2017

Matt's lake house

We're big fans of the lake. You may see SEVERAL posts over the course of this summer dedicated to lake days. We are fortunate to have some awesome friends that allow us to hang out with them on Lake Keowee!

We finally got to take the boys to "Uncle" Matt's house back in June and the Mays (minus Ava Lane) came, too. It was such a fun day on the lake. Matt has a speed boat, which we found out is quite a bit different from the pontoon that we're used to. #catchingair

We got there around lunchtime and stayed all day and grilled out for dinner and stayed a little past that, too! It was already dark when we were getting into the car for the hour-ish drive back home. We went boat-riding, tubing, swimming, jumping and laughing. All those ingredients add up to a great day on the lake!

we love the lake!

Old school life jacket!

Action shot of Dada diving in!

Love my sweet baby

Ryan with Mama

Swimming

Living the good life...

Tubing with Dada

Lake life

Uncle Matt and the boys

Beautiful sunset

Sweet Ryan

OIB 2018

The beach posts always make me procrastinate. How can you sum up a week of fun at the beach into one little post? Plus, I know it will take a while to go through the thousands of pictures I take to determine which ones will make the blog. Delay, delay, delay.

We switched it up this year and went to Ocean Isle Beach, NC. Thomas and I had been there only once before for a weekend, but I didn't know a whole lot about it. It is a great beach town! We found an incredible house to rent (and took advantage of non-peak rates - woot woot!) by going early, before public school got out for the summer. We went with Lisa, Joey and Davis again and got a little short visit from Steph, Clark and Ava Lane. Great friends make a vacation that much better!

I won't go into too much detail, but almost everyone at our house got sick at one point or another. Thomas and Ryan were the only two that survived unscathed. There was quite a bit of quarantining, cleaning, staying in bed, laundry, etc - all the usual things that go along with people being sick. That was a real bummer, and we got some rain, especially early on in the week, but the house and the beach were both GREAT.

I know what you all come here for - and it's not my blabber about every little thing we did and activities each day. You want the pictures! Cute kids on the beach - the cutest!!!! Here you go, my friends. Words are done, here's a glance at our week in pics.

Handsome Ryan on the deck

Thomas and Joey cooking dinner

Low country boil

William and Mama selfie

Aunt Steph with William and Ava

Morning time!

William and Stokes in the ocean

Dada getting Ryan's feet wet

How cute is she?!?!?!
Ava Lane loves her Auntie Katie. <3

Thomas and the boys

Family pic

William and Ava Lane building sand castles

Stokes - definition of a cool guy

Beach naps are the best!

Under the Sportbrella

Snuggling with William...

...and he fell asleep on me!

Dada and Ryan selfie

Wild Man

Stokes and Ava

Mays family

Our family

Steph and me at Ocean Isle Fish Co.

Thomas and Stokie

Kiddos after dinner
(Davis was sick or he'd be in the pic!)

Ryan, Stokes and Dada wearing
red, white and blue on Memorial Day

Family beach walk
Ryan got a lift in the wagon

Stokes, William and Davis playing in the sand

Bath time for these 3!

Ry and Stokie

Cute brothers

He is so happy and sweet!

Thomas dug them a big hole!

Peery boys

Lisa and the boys in the pool

Ryan

Dada and Stokes relaxing!
This pic was taken from the deck on the 2nd story
and the pool was ground level

Family pic before dinner in Calabash

Cool guys relaxing at the pool

So picturesque

My handsome boys

Ryan hanging out with Mama

Italian Ice carts on the beach! YES!

Enjoying our treat!

Dada helping Ryan in the pool

Evening walk...

"Come on, Mama!"

William

Stokes

Ryan

Mama swimming with Stokes and William

Stokes working on the hole

Ice cream on our last night at the beach!

Sweet boys!

Hard to leave this view....

Take me back!

I loved going to the beach at the beginning of the summer....when it was the beginning of the summer. Now I'm so sad that our vacation is over! I wish we were going for a week again. We are open to going to Ocean Isle again but our house that we loved is booked for next year. We'll see if we end up at OIB again or if we try something else.*

*Pawley's Island is still my favorite and nothing else will compare. You can't overcome the emotional connection with all the memories. :)