Summer 2018 Memories

Some highlights from our summer ...

• St. George Island with Bruce extended family and aunt Jan (climbed to the top of the SGI light house with Hampton, ice cream cones, playing tennis, riding bikes, shell hunting, a visit with the Mica/Edenfield’s, swimming in the pool, beach time)
• Animal Kingdom with Hampton and Carter (loved the rollercoaster and all of the animals and safari)
• Weston Pro Soccer Camp for Hampton. He went for four hours each morning for a week with Austin Clymer and learned lots of new skills.
• Swim lessons with Ms. Mary Dukes for Carter ... he was swimming like a fish in no time!
• South pointe Church vacation bible school ... Hampton didn’t know a soul and had a great time each morning. His friend Joel from church was helping with the Bible school that week and H loved that.
• Hampton, Carter, and Sally Kate went to see “Jumanji” at the Marion Theater. The movie scared them but they ate their weight in popcorn and gummies to make up for it :)
• Hampton played on the summer basketball league at the YMCA with his friends Nash and Kaiden. 
• First Presbyterian vacation bible school with a bunch of friends for Hampton ... he loved the theme and learned so much! 
• Library story hour with our friend Cooper. Carter and Will loved this! 
• Splash pad downtown with our friends Kate, Andrew, Gwen and Nora. The boys spent hours playing in the water ... and eating snacks ;)
• Cousin Camp with Elizabeth and Will and Knox from Nashville 
• Cousin Camp with Kingston and Hyatt
• A morning of swimming with cousins Caitlin and Bennett from Richmond 
• Lots of fun swimming and play time with SK, Moore, David, and Ann-McLean when they were down from Tallahassee over the summer
• A back to school pool party at Honey’s with lots of school friends a few weeks before H and friends started kindergarten 
• Marineland with all three boys to see the dolphins 
• Ponte Vedra Inn and Club with the Hagood family (highlight was definitely the kid slide and hunting crabs every night)
• Daily swims in Honey and Granddaddy’s pool

Bruce Family Beach Trip

In July we spent a week at the beach with the Bruce fam!

 



Hampton and his first balloon animal :)

 



He was the center of attention with his aunt and uncles and

loved every second of it...

 



We celebrated Poppy's 64th birthday with seafood

and an ice cream cake

 



Grammy and Hampton

 



 

 Worn out after a week of fun in the sun!!

An Early Sunrise

We went to the beach with Paul's family last week ... his parents, aunt, brother, sister and brother-in-law ... we had the best time ... spending long mornings at the beach, afternoons by the pool, eating dinner in open air restaurants with gulf views. So many special memories. And Hampton ate up the attention {and sand} like his life depended on it :)

One night we went to bed late and about the time I drifted to sleep, the baby started screaming. We had him in his pack n play in the bathroom (which adjoined our room) because he does much better in his own closed off space and as most find on big family vacations, sometimes that means a walk-in closet or bathroom. I got up and went into the bathroom and his entire little bed was soaked (diaper leak issues), so I got him up, changed him, changed his bed .... and by the time that was all over, he was ready to party like it was 1999. Except it was around 11:30 and everyone else was ready to sleep.

I finally put him in bed with me and between his kicking and the baby inside me kicking, I thought my ribs would fall off all together. We did manage to sleep at some point that night, albeit not long enough for me. Around 4 a.m. Hampton found himself merged between the bed and the wall and decided it was time to wake up for good. I felt like one of those crazy cartoon characters ... delirious and trying to reason with an almost 17 month old to go back to sleep .... when all he wanted to do was jump on my legs and get in my face with his little fingers prying my eyelids open. This all lasted longer than it should have and in an effort not to wake up the rest of the house {again} ... we got up. I put my glasses on, put my hair in a ponytail and we climbed into the golf cart (me still in my pj's, H in a diaper) for the ride to the beach.

The sun was barely up, I had gotten about 2 good hours of sleep and I felt ... mad. I stayed this way the entire ride down to the beach, and it was then that I remembered two things: the wise words of a friend {about changing her own attitude and perspective in relation to her child's sleeping habits} and the quote I have used fairly often in the last year and a half ... babies be babies. And remembering these two things managed to change everything for me. My morning was suddenly so different.

Hampton and I watched the sun come up over the ocean that morning. We were the only two on the beach and it was one of my favorite moments of our entire trip.

God's mercies are new every morning.

Annual Beach Trip (June 2014)

Annual beach trip with all of the Tennessee cousins!

 



Celebrating Knox's birthday and Hampton's first donut!

 



 

Rebecca and Elizabeth Tate were part of the

HSB fan club :)

He thought he was a big boy ;)

 



 

 

St. George Island 2013

 

We just returned from SGI and Hampton's

first trip to the beach. He loved it :)

 



Hampton loved meeting the famous Aunt P

and Uncle B and with 23 other family members

around ... got the mother load of attention all

week long.

 

 

Beth, Elizabeth Tate & Laurel with H

Apalachicola Bay

 



 

On the dock of "Kayakers in Paradise"

 



 

the cooking club ... we had seafood gumbo this

night ... we also had a fish fry with cheese grits

and hushpuppies ... taco night ... fried oyster

and shrimp night ... etc. :)

 



deck of the beach house ... beautiful views!

 



Laura, dad and H

 



'

 

Hampton with his grands

 

Aunt P

 



dad and Kasey with the catch

of the day :)

 



One fish, two fish, red fish ....

 



One afternoon we went to downtown Apalach.

The Gibson Inn is behind Paul and the baby ... I

have a picture sitting on the front porch of the

Gibson when I was seven :)

 



We left Memphis, TN ... but turns out Elvis

is alive and well in Florida too

 



beach naps are the best

 



dinner at the Owl Café ... YUM ... other favorite

dining out experience was when Mary, David,

Holly & SK came and we went to Indian Pass

Raw Bar for stuffed shrimp and baked oysters,

double yum ... so tasty!

 



St. George is gorgeous!

 



Mark's fresh catch ... Jaws

 



Kasey and Mark playing dominoes with Uncle B

 



Aunt P is an artist ... here she is painting a

small canvas for the baby's nursery on the day

that tropical storm Andrea rolled through ...

 



post storm ...

 



sunset on the beach ...

 



sweet baby

 



 

we had such a

great time with our family & friends!!

 



 

Kasey, the former SEC swim team

star, even gave H a few lessons on

the back stroke ;) Haha, fun times.

Florida & A College Grad

We traveled to Jacksonville last week for

Michael's college graduation. Fun times! We

arrived at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club to a

congratulations banner for Michael and a welcome

baby banner for me & PB.  

On Thursday night we had dinner at Palm Valley

Fish Camp with Aunt P, Uncle B and Brian.

On Friday we were up bright and early to celebrate

the graduate! After breakfast at Metro Diner and

some r&r on the beach, we headed to the UNF

Arena.

Michael graduated with a bachelor's in health

administration and has already started working

in Jax at Brooks Hospital - he's loving it.

The graduate and his proud parents. 

As Michael was walking across the stage, Mark

yelled out, "you're my boy, blue!" from the movie

Old School. So hilarious.



Michael with grandparents.



Michael is getting a coffee mug for his desk that

says, "world's best uncle." Mark said that was

fine as long as he could keep the title for "world's

craziest." They also gave me two potential names

for if we have a boy: Mark Michael or the very

different alternative, Michael Mark.

Smart person coming through :)



We went to Aqua Grille afterward, delish!



When I wasn't in Buy Buy Baby, Pottery Barn Baby

or Pea in the Pod ... you could find me here :)

Watching the sunrise on our last morning.



Such a great time!