paradise...

we were so fortunate to take another weekend get-a-way trip to the beach... this time though, for free!!! long story short, it's just one of the perks for my bro in law teaching/coaching some rather wealthy kids with very gracious parents! thank you lord for this wonderful trip. the beach HOUSE, yes, i said HOUSE was incredible... it was 5 bedrooms, a formal dining room and den, a living room/library, work out room, bunk house, 2 story wrap around porch... and we had our own private pool which was so nice. the collage below is just a tease of house nice things were. wow, we hated to leave!!! it was our first time to grayton beach, fl... but hopefully not our last.

i'm telling you, this boy LOVES the beach (laine, i know how you must feel about your kids!) trace is not scared of anything, he ran strait into the ocean (and scared me to death!) he loved to dive in the sand, def not afraid to get down and dirty! he jumped off the edge of the pool and swam with just swimmies... he is getting so big!

bitsy and poppi, granny (dad's mom), josh and shannon, caden and lala all kept us company at the beach! the kids loved runing wild and just being together. they were so funny and def. kept us laughingwe went out to eat one nite (7 adults, 3 1/2 babies) and trace got to color. we don't let him color much at home... b/c he eats the crayons! here he is cracking me up b/c he has like 5 crayons in his hand at once!! love it!

my little guitar hero. the bunk house was perfect for the kids, furnished with video games, bunk beds, dvd's... what more could you want? and here trace is sporting his FSU jersey that we bought him before he was even born. can't believe he can finally wear it. i love the look on his face, i think he was in the middle of his jam session!

we try and make a point to take lots of pics... i've got that covered by now! but getting lots of good pics is not always easy. this is probably the best one of all 3 babies. it's not that good but it makes me laugh!

the whole crew (minus granny who was taking the pic. thanks, good job granny!!!)

so we always do family pics on the beach... when we got out there it was perfect timing, the sunset was gorgeous. josh was our photographer but for the first 10 minutes the camera lens was fogged up. boooo! so we had to rush and it was getting dark fast, but i still LOVE these!!!

trace was in rare form at the end of our photo shoot. i LOVE these pics of him and nate! i just hate the lighting is not better on some of these...

me and my angel boy!

lovely wind-blown hair!

gorgeous. only God could make something so beautiful!!


one of my favs!!! trace loves to pull up my shirt and see the "baby!"

we had such a wonderful trip but of course we hated to leave!!! we are already making plans to hopefully stay at this same place next year :) (come on josh, win those ball games so we can get the hook up again!!) HAHA!! oh, and nate says he doesn't wanna go back to gulf shores (b/c this place was sooo nice!), but i told him grayton beach isn't exactly the place that you rent a 2 b/r condo for 3 nites. haha!! i'll take any beach, any time!! again, we were so blessed to be able to take this trip with our family. hopefully next year meme and grandaddy can come, and rach, d, kenley and their new little one too!!! God is so good to us!!

oh, btw, tomorrow (sept 9) is the big day!!! we go for our sonar at 12:30 and i am sooo excited i don't know if i will be able to sleep tonite! if you think about it, just pray that this baby cooperates and we will know if it's haley or lucas!! :) of course, more importantly than that, we are praying to see a healthy baby. can't wait to get the sonar pics which i will post ASAP tomorrow afternoon/evening!!!