Preschool playdate

One of the little boys from Grace's preschool was nice enough to invite the entire class over to his house for a play date this morning. Or was it that his mother was brave (crazy) enough to host ten 3 year olds and their siblings?! Either way it was a great reason to get out of the house so we packed up and headed over to Mason's.

Both girls had a great time playing with all the toys that we don't have and will never have unless someone over here digs us a basement!

Bonnie's fashion show

Nana and Granddad sent Bonnie, or "Baby Aurora" as Grace has been calling her all day, the most adorable outfits for her first birthday. So, we decided to have a little fashion show to let Baby Aurora flaunt what she's got! She looked adorable (and like such a big girl in her jeans) if I do say so myself.

Thank you, Nana and Granddad!

Back to school...again

It's always hard to get back into a routine after vacation, but Grace handled her return to preschool very well considering she hasn't been in a week.

She was so excited to show me the "book" she has been working on for the last 2 weeks. This year is so different from her 2 year old class. Grace brought home artwork almost every day and I got to talk to her teachers a lot more. I don't have that luxury now because the school likes quick drop-offs in the morning and carpool in the afternoon. Pretty much anything I need to know is sent home in a "daily communication folder". So far, all good reports...fingers crossed that continues!

This is a self portrait and she even gave herself a little friend. I think Grace misses Bonnie while she's at school!

Slip slidin' away on Labor Day

While Corey took over daddy duty today, I got caught up on laundry. Of course the girls and I shared the majority of the dirty clothes since we were out of town for 5 days, but I am still amazed at how much laundry Corey can generate during that amount of time. I'll just say it was a LOT.

After a delicious and nutritious McDonald's pancake breakfast (5 days at the beach also means coming home to no food and subsequently a big grocery bill), Corey and the girls headed to the park. Then the pool. Then the backyard to play in the Slip 'n' Slide. I think Bonnie napped at some point during their fun.

A couple of things I've been meaning to jot down about Bonnie include:

She LOVES the pool and pretty much anything water-related (except the beach). She also LOVES everything Mickey Mouse and Dora the Explorer. Her favorite song is the Hot Dog Dance and every time she sees Dora she tries to sing the theme song of the Dora cartoon. It sounds something like, "Doo doo doo daaaaaaa!" She also says "cheese" when you take her picture!

Beach, Harbour Town, and Goooooo Dawgs!

I was told that the best time to find sand dollars was early in the morning. So, Grace, Emma, Aunt Stacy and I all headed down to the beach first thing on a mission to come back with buckets full of them.

Apparently, Hurricane Earl, who according to Emma is responsible for pushing all the bad weather out of Hilton Head, decided to give us a beach full of starfish instead. I have honestly never seen so many starfish in my life. Both girls found at least 4 a piece. I even found one, too! We put them in our buckets and brought to the condo, but unfortunately, they all "escaped" back to the ocean in the middle of the night :-)

After the beach we all got decked out in our Bulldogs gear, packed everyone up and headed to Harbour Town. Grace remembered the playground from out trip back in June, and was anxious to show it to Emma.

Bonnie and Grace thought it was pretty cool to swing side by side!

Next up was lunch at the Crazy Crab. Even little Ellison is sporting her bulldog dress!

I want to make sure that I note that it was at the Crazy Crab in Hilton Head when I discovered that Bonnie loves Coleslaw and fried shrimp! I only wish I had gotten a picture of her eating it!

Of course we had ice cream from Scoops after lunch.

Then Mimi, Grace, and Emma trekked up all 114 steps to the top of the lighthouse.

One more walk on the beach before it was time to say goodbye to Hilton Head...

Thank you, Mimi for such a fun girls' beach trip! We love you!!

Pool, pedicures, sand and surf

We started off the morning at the pool. I know Mimi got her exercise trying to keep up with her 4 granddaughters! I think it's safe to say, however, that she loved every minute of it.

The only way to get Grace to let me snip her toenails is to promise a pedicure afterward. This time the color palate was Shrek pastel rainbow that came in a care package from Nana and Granddad. Emma liked the idea and decided to let me give her her very first pedicure!

Now the girls are definitely ready for the beach...

Inseperable

I'm sure it's easy to guess who I'm talking about...

It was very clear that Grace and Emma were not going to be pried apart any time soon, so Bonnie and I packed up the stroller and headed down for a little morning stroll on the beach. Although she still wasn't a huge fan of the sand and the ocean, she had fun for about 2 minutes crawling around. Bonnie spent the remainder of her vacation at the pool...which she LOVED.

The older girls, on the other hand, loved playing in the sand and digging giant "sand holes" as they liked to call them. Also, this is pretty much how they walked the entire trip...

It was pretty late in the day and everyone was a little tired...even Ellison. She liked playing on the beach for a while and then was ready to go back to the condo and get ready for dinner.

Of course we dined at the famous Salty Dog Cafe. It's very kid-friendly, and it has the biggest and best fried shrimp platter ever. Bonnie, Grace, and Emma all loved the hush puppies, too.

After dinner we hung out on the deck and danced to live music. I don't know the guy's name, but he was great and played all of our favorite Beatles requests. Then, a surprise visit from Jake the Salty Dog made Grace's and Emma's evening complete!

Bonnie wanted to meet him, too!

Back to the beach

Last week, Stacy and my mom threw out the idea of a very last minute girls trip to Hilton Head. Grace was all for another trip to the beach (and for getting to miss a day of school), so here we are!

I love Hilton Head. The beaches are great and the drive isn't too bad, and the condo we're staying in is enormous. Plenty of room for 7 ladies!

We stopped for a quick lunch at Steak 'n Shake, and Emma and Grace loved modeling their matching paper hats...



Once we got to our condo, we took a while to get settled, but the girls had a blast getting to swim around in their Dora Bubbles and make bubble beards.

Can't wait to hit the beach tomorrow!