Oh yeah we are at the beach AGAIN!!!

You seriously might want to go pop some popcorn and get your self a nice beverage before you start this one!!

The Davis Invasion! Not like any I have experienced before! Why? Because it included Jonathan, Justin and Grace. They have never been to our home before. Where we ready? Could we handle it? Did I own enough Tylenol!?! No need to fret because in all honesty this was a GREAT visit. Troy and the 3 youngest. Joshua stayed behind to help out Troy and Jason's Grandparents. But as we all know from last summer's post he has been to the ocean. These three are landlocked so it is time for them to see the coast!!

Jonathan had no concept of what he was about to see. He asked over and over about how big it was. I told him that the beach and ocean was bigger then any cornfield he was used to seeing. That kind of gave him a concept. I wasn't there when they officially saw the ocean for the first time. Jason and Troy took them. But these pictures are from Saturday. Hannah didn't come because she didn't want to deal with the sand. (Can you say teenager?) It kind of worked out better because without her we all fit into the van.

Justin!

The waves were pathetic! Bad for body boarding perfect if you just want to bob around in the ocean. Which I did and loved it!

Josie showing Grace how to pose like a surfer girl!

X marks the spot and Miss Josie B is getting ready to dig!!

I have no idea but Oh my Lord this picture of Jonathan makes me giggle every time!

Cameron in his Mom made tent! We had forgotten our umbrella!

Miss Josie digging with all her might!! Pay attention to the water line right behind her!

Yeah this is about 10 minutes later!! The tide swooped in fairly fast!! We had to move all of our stuff farther in land.

Poor Josie B. I think it's time to give up pretty girl!!

Action shot of Grace!

Jon looking naturally happy. He is a pretty serious kid so seeing him enjoy himself and being able to catch the moment is pretty dang cool!! BTW for you out there Troy. I love his 'heh' chuckle/laugh. It could not be anymore YOU!! :D

Now Justin is a natural happy go lucky kid! Easy to make smile and laugh. But I love the action and happiness in this picture!!

I feel like there should be 'Jaws' music along with Josie crawling behind the unsuspecting younger ones!!

Personally I can't think of a better more content way to enjoy the ocean!!

Now this is where the tide coming in made the beach uber cool!! Running along the shelf and crashing into the deeper hole that is there. I LOVE these shots!! Look at all their happy faces!! What a fabulous moment between cousins! Josh and Hannah where missed right now!

Gotta share more!

I tried to do the 'posed' shot at the end of our beach visit but I gave up fairly quickly. These are some tired water logged kids. No need to make them put up with me and my camera!!

We had a really really good visit with Troy and the kids. I know I fed them to much unhealthy food. They got to go to the beach. I let Troy actually use MY remote for the TV once or twice!! Painful but I think my Mother (and therapist) would be proud ;)

The week went by so fast and I am ready and willing for any other times they think they want to swing by!!

The end of Hannah's Middle School career.

I have allot of pictures to share but really not that much babbling (gasp)! Here are some more of Hannah right before her 8Th grade dance. We of course live so far away from the school that she got ready on her own. Jason took her and then hung out at a Bookstore near by. She came home from the dance with her eye makeup smeared from tears and said she had a great time and she would never forget it! I guess it got all sentimental at the end :D

Here we are the next morning at her graduation ceremony. Thanks for waiting cause I did promise pictures of her dress she picked out! I am not going to lie! I didn't like it at all. Oh never mind I can babble!! Here we are at a store and we try on and look at all kinds of dresses and we pick one she likes. I am not kidding you as we were leaving she sees this orange pile on the ground and picks it up. Pure excitement! It's orange with hibiscus and it said one size fits all! For some odd reason I am nowhere near as stoked. Sorry it looked so bright and gaudy as she was sitting there holding it. She didn't even want to try it on. This was her dream dress. I started to fuss with her but she is to much like her Dad. Meaning she doesn't argue at all. FINE!!! Goodness knows I won't lose her in the crowd!!

Well I can admit when I am wrong. And I did and I will. Personally I think she pulls it off. She looks like she can hula with the best of them. And it is very much Hannah. Which is all that matters.

We got there in killer time! I had allotted and hour and we were there in 30. So we got great front row seats and got to watch Hannah practice with the choir!

OMG!! It gets even better. Hannah is on the same row as we are!!

Here she is walking up and getting ready to get her diploma ( I think they actually call it a completion certificate but you know what I mean )!

There you go it is in her hand! She is no longer in Middle School!

At the end of the ceremony the graduating class got a well deserved standing ovation from the crowd!

The choir!

The look on Jason's face after sitting on a wooden pew for 2 and a half hours. Dreamy eh?

And this is where, my dear readers, when everything fell apart. I won't get into gory details but this is the end of our pictures.

But there it is! Another phase of Hannah's life is over. A new one is about to start! It is a odd feeling to hate and love something at the same time!!

Also much love to Hannah's friend Megan that came along for this very long and hot graduation morning for Miss Hannah! You are beautiful inside and out!

Hannah's picture

Her official 8th Grade picture. I just took it as she was leaving for her school dance. She will be in high school next year. I still don't remember when it was I blinked!

Davis Weekend

You know after I typed this all out for my CAFW Yahoo group it dawned on me that other people might want to know how the weekend went. So here ya go!

Another fabulous weekend!! But I definitely pushed my limits!!

Friday was Combat Camera's day at IOP. We all converge at the VFW and cook out and of course frolic in the sand. We always get a pretty big crowd and it's always nice to reconnect with people you just don't get to see all the time! We took Josie and Cameron out of school so they could go. We offered it to Hannah but it was 8th Grade Field Day at her school. She was torn but I told her these were her last days at this school and we go to the beach all the time. So we were there 10:30 to 3:30. Long day! But we ended it with a family movie night with some good ole Indiana Jones!!

Saturday we were out the door at 11 to make a frantic Birthday present shopping spree at Target for Zyllah's 13th Birthday party!! I mean seriously there is no love if it isn't last minute!! Actually I knew what we were getting her so it helped ;) Lucky bugger gets to go on a cruise with friends in July so I bought her a travel scrapbooking kit!! I told her I would help her when she came back with her uber cool pictures!!

After the party the Buytas family kept Cameron and we headed out to FINALLY see the new Indiana Jones.

Then we came home and I fed kiddos and straightened up my house and had Del and Sara over for Kara Coladas!! Woohoo!! They left at a reasonable hour and then til 3 in the morning my spine and body was kind enough to remind me that I kind of pushed it over those 2 day. OUCH!! is really the only way to describe it!!

I was supposed to go to the beach with my friend Danielle Sunday morning but it just couldn't happen. I did take my girls out shopping cause Hannah had to buy her graduation dress. I will just say I was shocked at what she picked out but you will all have to wait for the inevitable blog to see what it is ;) We ended up at Starbucks but please don't tell Del!! ;) Sunday night was spent watching more movies with the girls cause I just had to rest!

This week is actually going to be just as crazy!! Last week of school. It is Hannah's 8th Grade graduation!! Next year is high school..........actually I am not emotionally ready never mind she will be in Middle School FOREVER!!!

Off to the Market!

Girl's Day!! Of course Brenda coming alone wasn't the original plan. But life took over and she wasn't able to bring her son Taylor. PoohBugLicious ;) That was for you Bren! When she called to tell me it would just be her I knew then I would work it out that we would have a day to ourselves! After massive planning on my part , because obsessing is what I do best!, I thought that it would be cool just to take a stroll around downtown. Believe me with camera in hand you can't be bored strolling through downtown Charleston.

Our first 'official' picture together! In 8 years we have maybe 2 others together! Shameful! We were friends in Utah for 3 years and Alabama for 2 and a half. Embarrassing indeed!


The prettiest girl in all of Alabama I tell ya!! She knows it too ;)

I was emotionally prepared to hit a mess downtown! Summertime alone is a cluster frick down there much less a holiday weekend!! But we were heading down there on Monday so I guess most people were heading home. But when I got on the Interstate the first thing I noticed was the lack of traffic!! And we found a parking spot so fast downtown I seriously got nervous. Something was going to go wrong later!! Oh well great spot let's start struttin' it!! We walked a bit down King Street. Went into a couple of stores. Hated that I didn't have money but then was glad cause it would of all been GONE!!

Then we hit the Market! http://www.charlestonlowcountry.com/specialpages/citymarket.html

A smidgen of history for you!

Then lunch!! To be honest I rarely ever go downtown! I had no idea the best place to eat. All I knew was Brenda doesn't like seafood. Which is kind of a big deal on the coast ;) Since we were on foot I just kind of stopped at the first place we saw. We ate rather fabulous fried potatoes as an appetizer and then of course was way to full for our meal. Normal :D

Back in the Market. Haven't been here since I brought Jeff a year and a half ago. Yeah we never come downtown ;) Such duds.

Here we are 'shopping'! I hate to say it but these shots are set up :D The market is full of artists selling there wares. I know how they feel so I kept my camera tucked away most of the time. I wanted some shots of us enjoying our time here. So we stopped here. Another shout out to Jeff cause this is where he bought Erin's pendants!!

http://sweet-grassbaskets.com/history.htm

Sweet grass baskets are very important down here. I really just can't get into them cause they are a blog into themselves. Take a minute if you can to read the history. Very cool. I took some pictures while upsetting one woman but just kept moving.

Then there was this shot. Straight from the hip so my camera was barely lifted up and no one probably knew. Jason did some Photo Shop work to it so it really brought out the green in the fresh sweet grass!! This picture is so cool to me!!

I mean seriously how can you walk past a Ben & Jerry's without going in!?! I think it is illegal to walk past in some states ;)

It had the cutest little seating area in the back that we rested and chit chatted for awhile.

Brenda is going to be mad at me for posting her picture. But doesn't she look like a advertisement for ice cream loving!?!? I promise I didn't 'catch' her making this face she is posing for me!! :D

We are strolling back to the van now so we can go to the Battery. So many more pictures to take!
I am going to share my other pictures in a 3rd Brenda blog! I don't want to overwhelm people with my Beautiful Brenda!!