The Schluchter Family: The Beach!!!

Oh, the beach! I must say that the beach was terrific. Even with two baby boys in tow, it was awesome. We drove down on a Wed night ( i don't remember the date... i don't remember much of anything these days, actually). We thought we would be smart and drive down after John got off of work, because, surely, Joe would fall asleep on the way down and we would arrive and simply be able to put him in the crib for a good nights sleep. WRONG! Joe did great (thanks to our new fantastic DVD player and Handy Manny DVD) but he never slept. Nope. Little man never fell asleep. He got a little grumpy towards the end, but not too bad, and wouldn't ya know that when we arrived he would get a surge of energy and stay awake playing with our family, who all stayed awake to kindly help us unpack our stuffed to the max pathfinder. (i realize that was a run- on sentence :) ) Yes, we arrived around 11:30 with a wide- eyed Joe who was ready to explore the huge house and play with his cousins, aunts, uncles, granparents, and great grand mother. By the way, Noah did great on the way down. We stopped once to feed him and change him, which only took about 30 minutes. (And for those of you wondering, John did indeed get his Steak N Shake fix on the way down...and back home! For those of you not wondering, you must know that John LOVES him some Steak N Shake and desperately wishes Birmingham had one.) By 1:30 we were all asleep...i think. Joe slept in a nice crib in my parents room, and Noah slept with us in the loft room in his pack n play. We didnt want Noah waking Joe up during his 3 a.m. feeding! The next 3 days were spent at the beach, at the pool, and in the house, which was super nice by the way. We ate great food and enjoyed the family. Everyone helped us with the boys so much. Especially my parents and my grandmother. And boy did Joe have a blast with his second cousin Maggie. She is six...and the funniest six year old I have ever come across. He loves playing with her, chasing her, and unfortunately, playfully biting her. He does it because he gets a shrieks and laughs from her.

Here comes the funniest story of the beach trip. The last couple of times Maggie has been over to our house, bit her on the boob. Of course he doesnt know what that is yet, and he didnt purposely bite her there, but it happened. She even made up a hilarious song about it. Anyways, before John, the boys, and I got to the beach, my mom saw a padded hot pink bra at the target down there that was just her size. (I don't know what the world is coming to....making padded bras that fit six year olds!!) Once we got there, she wore that padded bra as a shield from Joe's teeth. Sooo funny.

John and I got to go out one afternoon, and we also got an evening date. It was awesome having a few days away from the norm and craziness of life.

The boys did great while we were there. Noah ate well, slept well (not quite as well as at home, but not bad), and enjoyed being passed around and kissed on for a few days. Noah stayed inside...no beach or pool for tiny man. Joe on the other hand, had a blast at both! He loved the sand and the fact the he had wide open spaces to run and explore. He was covered in sand from the moment we put him down in it. The water was pretty rough, so when we took him out in it, he eventually would get splashed in the face, and that, he did not like at all. But, he loved playing along the shore line, splashing in the water as it came in and out. He and Pops (my dad) did that together a lot. We spent a good amount of time at the pool too. It was a nice break from the sand! Joe didn't love his floaty as much as he did last year, so everyone took turns holding him in the water. There were many pools in the community that we stayed in, and one had a kiddy pool which he really enjoyed. He had fun playing with other kids' toys while they enjoyed his. The Carillon community is awesome by the way. It's like a little town. It's a gated community between Seaside and Panama City. It has its own general store, restaurants, coffee shops, gym, etc. There are pools and playgrounds and events during the afternoons and evenings. Everyone rides golf carts around. We were there on the 4th of July and that morning they had a golf cart parade around the community. People decorated their carts in red, white, and blue and paraded around. None of my family was up early enough to decorate our golf cart, so we didnt participate, but we line up on our big balcony with our flags and coffee and waved at everyone in the parade. Joe was so cute running back and forth along the balcony waving his flags in the air to the patriotic music playing in the parade. I think John was sleeping in, so he missed it. He had Noah duty the night before. Also, they had bands playing in the town square ( i dont remember what the area was really called...but town square sounds good!) bar-b-que cooking, and big blow up water slides. Joe looooved them. He was too small to go by himself of course, so John got to take him down the slide quite a few times. They also had a huge blow up Disney bouncy house and Joe loved that too. He was the youngest in there, but you would never know. He did a great job jumping around. He had lots of firsts while we were at the beach. He loved riding in the golf cart also. That night my uncle Jimbo cooked some DELICIOUS ribs. Seriously, the best I have ever had...and I am picky about ribs. There was a fireworks show on the beach, but it was after Joe's bedtime. So, the family went out on the beach and John and I took Noah on the balcony and we watched from there. Sadly, we left the next day. We had more Steak 'N Shake on the way home. Noah did great and Joe did okay. He had a low grade fever that I thought was from cutting teeth (which he was doing) but the next day he woke up with a cold. (He is still getting over it) He had one melt down, but he got over it, and we made it home quicker than we made it down there. We can't wait to go again in September! Maybe Noah will make it to the pool this time :)

Now, I'll leave you with some pictures.

Playing in the sand.