A Weekend Wrap! (Although it was more like 1/2 a week!)

Stryker left with Granny, Nana & Poppa on his vacation Friday, June 29th for a week! They ventured up to the mountains for a couple nights and then Stryker joined Nana on her week off of work at their home in Aiken. They swam, relaxed, visited the Honour's in Cola and did some wedding rehearsal prep. And while Stryker was keeping Nana & Poppa busy, Mommy & Daddy had some fun adult times together!

Think I packed enough for him???

Friday morning before I left for work, I made sure to get some final angel kisses from my boy! He is the sweetest and I knew I'd miss him terribly!

He & Daddy hung out at the water park that morning until it was time for him to go to Granny's that afternoon. He enjoys this weekly tradition with his Daddy so much! He loaded up with Granny and headed to Aiken to meet Nana & Poppa, then off to Hendersonville they went! With no cell service, I didn't receive any pictures or videos...WAAH! We did, however, talk to our little man over a handful of times a day :)

Friday evening after work, Dan & I joined some friends for a Riverdogs game. Lucky for us, the tickets were for a suite! And good thing too, because it was un.bearably.hot. I don't know how those guys played a whole game! The sunset was beautiful at The Joe though! What a treat for lowcountry lovers!

(Bark & Dan)

Saturday morning, Dan actually took the boat out of storage and pulled it around to the house for us to take out. After determining that it was just too dangum hot to mess with the thing (heat indexes of 115!), we opted to join the Grant Family at the pool instead! We quickly covered the boat back up and headed out to meet our friends. We had a fun afternoon in the pool with Lindsey & Kendall while Ryan & Ethan stayed inside in the AC.

After soaking up all that sun and a taking a nap, we headed to dinner with The Grants sans Kendall. We went to our old favorite, La Hacienda. Nothing like a little mexican food and a margarita to spark a summer evening!

After dinner we headed over to another old favorite for a couple drinks at the bar. And promplty decided a photo shoot was in order :)

My love!

Me!

My BFF & Me

Kisses for him!

Whew! All those pictures and you'd think we were a little vain :)

Sunday, Dan & I split up and headed out to hang with our respective friends. Dan and the guys hit the golf course and my girlfriend and I hit the beach! What a beautiful day at Sullivan's Station 28.5. The wind was blowing pretty well all day so the kite surfers had a go of it! What a beautiful day!

And after every gorgeous summer day, there's bound to be a summer evening thunderstorm. One rolled in Sunday evening and was a beautiful sight! The lightning was amazing and we watched from our porch.

Monday & Tuesday were work days for me, so we laid low. We did get to venture out Tuesday evening to help celebrate Tiffany's birthday. It's always a good time with great friends!

The Birthday Girl!

Wednesday we headed to the beach with friends to celebrate the 4th of July! What another gloriously beautiful day out at Sullivan's! Robert & Cassie, their friends, The Reeds and The Cortes' joined us for some serious beaching ALL DAY LONG! What fun and a classic lowcountry summer celebration! If only Stryker would've been there, it would've been totally complete!

Baby Tanner enjoying his first beach outing!

Our 4th of July Beach Crew

After a day full of sand and ocean (and HOT!), Dan & I headed home to shower and grab some dinner. While we were out, we stopped by our favorite local establishment again to enjoy a few cold ones on our last night alone. We also got to catch the Goose Creek Firework Display from the parking lot with friends. Can't beat that!

Happy Red, White & Blue

Sapphire's Girls

Although we missed our little buggy VERY VERY much, we know he had fun with his Nana, Poppa and Granny and enjoyed the visit with them. And we enjoyed having some Mommy + Daddy time!

For the Second Time

Stryker visited the dentist today. It was his second visit EVER. He did extremely well again. We absolutely love going into Dr Brent's office b/c it's such a cool place!

 He didn’t mind the hygienist cleaning or counting, brushing or flossing. He picked out a toothbrush, put on his shades and leaned back in the chair. He loves to brush his teeth at home and lately his favorite is swishing and spitting. We haven’t attempted flossing at home (BAD MOMMY!) and I’m glad he did well with it in the office.

It was a quick cleaning and then Dr Brent came over to check him out. Stryker was tickled with the “ABC Song” counting his teeth. Although Dr Brent went ahead and warned us to start saving our money now for orthodontics (Mommy’s genes!), everything else looked good!

Friday Treats

If Daddy & Stryker can have Water Park Thursdays together, Mommy and Stryker will have Friday Treats together!

Every Friday Morning is Dunkin Donuts day for me & my boy!

He really enjoys his Sprinkle Donut...

And I really enjoy my Latte!

Nice Outfit!

This is just amazing! Stryker LOVES these hand-me-down Iron Man rain boots.. and he loves to wear them even if it's 100 degrees and sunny :) Pair these with an awesome cam bathing suit and boy you have the perfect Publix shopping outfit!

I LOVE my little man and his 3.5 year old fashion sense!

A Day at the Beach

There's nothing to beat the heat like a day at the beach! Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the heat wasn't so bad this particular day and our little fish ended up with some purple lips and teeth that chattered! However, the weather was perfect for catching rays without catching a heat stroke! We headed out to Station 29 on Sullivan’s Island as a family for some fun in the sun. This station has an ideal tidal pool that is perfect for Stryker at low tide. He was thoroughly enjoying himself!

Daddy bought a Bocci Ball set the day before and Stryker LOVED playing it with his Daddy on the beach. He may have found himself a new sport b/c he loves to play at the house too! This little guy is sure to be our star athlete growing up!

(What a great pic Instagram!)

Cassie & Robert soon joined us on the beach and brought their paddle boards out too! Needless to say, Stryker was intrigued! He wanted to “surf” right away. He thought he could paddle it himself and was too cute trying.

Luckily, Robert didn’t mind taking him for a ride at all! He enjoyed being the captain and Robert doing all the hard work (especially when they had to turn around and paddle AGAINST the current and wind!).

Soon the afternoon was wearing on and the energy wearing out of our little man. We packed up all of our stuff and headed to the car. I won Mom of the Year that day b/c I totally forgot to bring clean clothes for Stryker to change into. I undressed my little Love, got him all dry (as well as tried to get the majority of the sand off him!) and slipped MY bathing suit cover up over his naked little body. Quite a fashion statement to say the least! But it didn’t take long (approx 2 blocks actually) and he was out from all the beach fun!

Charleston Battery Soccer

We started off Father's Day weekend by heading to Blackbaud Stadium, home of the Charleston Battery Soccer team. It was our first game ever and we were excited to see big soccer in person!
We met our friends, The Grammer Family, before the game and headed to the Three Lions Pub for complimentary dinner beforehand. Ali Baba's (http://alibabacharleston.com/) catered an amazing greek feast that included chicken kebobs, Fattosh Salad, Lebanese Style Potato Salad, Hummus & Tzatziki with Pita chips and endded with some sweet treats for dessert! These two little cuties enjoyed hanging out together for dinner & the game!

(Avery & Stryker, 3 years)

 

After our bellies were full and our beer mugs filled, we headed down to find our seats and watch the game. The Battery Stadium is really nice and it was a perfect night to watch soccer. Karly, Alex & Tanner joined us soon after the game started. We all had a great time!

My Battery Boys

Tanner's First Soccer Game

Avery, Rilee, Stryker enjoying the game

And the Battery pulled out a win against the Antigua Barracudas, 3-0. We can't wait to go back!

A Weekend in Aiken

This past weekend we headed up to Aiken after work to stay with Nana & Poppa. Mom hosted a Bridal Shower on Saturday for Katie and Granny, Lorie and I all pitched in. I left work early and picked up Stryker from school & Granny from her house before hitting the road. We arrived in Aiken just a bit before Mom got home. Stryker immediately went to playing the Wii as that’s his favorite thing to do at his grandparent’s house. We decided to hit Hobby Lobby (my FAVORITE!) before meeting Mark for dinner. We picked up a few last minute things for the shower and headed over to Golden Corral (my FAVORITE again!). Stryker was a very good boy and ate all his dinner so got treated with a Spiderman tattoo by the face painter that was in the restaurant. He was super excited about it and I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of it. L  We headed home for baths and crafts and chocolate milk….

What a cute milk mustache!

This is Max. He dislikes Stryker GREATLY.

 

It’s such a great dislike that it’s almost funny. God forbid they accidently meet in the hallway; they both jump 4 ft in the air with a chorus of hissing and screams. Funny… I’m telling you. Stryker tries hard each time we visit Aiken to get close to Max. He really wants to be the cat’s friend. He finds Max’s toys and tries to coax him from under the bed…always to no avail. One day, maybe these two can just be friends.

Luckily, Old Sally Girl doesn’t mind Stryker too much. She’s very tolerable of the kids even in her old age. We love Sally Anne!

Anyway… Saturday afternoon was the shower. Aunt Lorie, Peyton and Maddison drove up for the afternoon. Poppa entertained the boys with slip and slide fun and sand toys while us ladies hosted Katie, her family and friends for her shower. It was a great afternoon and the bride to be stocked up on lots of good gifts! I was in charge of the décor… Here are few things I made for decorations that doubled as gifts.

That night, we were all worn out! We had a cook out with Katie & Logan and then an early night in. Nana, Stryker and I played Candy Land.

Although it only last a few minutes because our “bad sport” son decided he wasn’t winning and didn’t want to play anymore. NOTE TO SELF: Work on that! Not to worry though, b/c the next morning he beat Poppa, Nana AND Granny in Wii Bowling….

That he was excited about J

We had a lazy Sunday morning as the rain fell for most of the day. Finally there was a break and we decided we’d better make a break for it as well. We loaded up and got back on the road to home. Although we missed Daddy, it was a fun weekend away with my family and my boy.