tball trophy time!

Spring tball has ended with all the tball players winners! The closing ceremony was Saturday. A family fun day with jumpy houses, a dunk tank, as well as other games followed the ceremony. The ceremony itself took about 45 minutes, which was about 40 minutes longer than there 4/5 year olds could take.

We tried to take a team picture, but their attention span and ability to follow directions were pretty much shot.

Here's my almost 5 year old with his trophy. It does say his name and have the season on it but Jack had the trophy turned around backwards. He was so proud of it. When we got home, he wanted to take some "baby things" off the shelf in his room to make room for the tball trophy, which he also mentioned he thought was better than the soccer trophy. (It was. Tball was better than soccer too).

Here's me with my little big guy. You know, there was another mom at the event wearing the exact same outfit I had on. Right down to the shoes. Arg. It was a cute outfit too. Red shorts with white polka dots and matching shoes. And all morning people kept saying, "Oh, that outfit is so cute! Did you know someone else has on the same one?" Yes, I've been told, thankyouverymuch. Then the outfit-copier came over to talk to me. Man, we're already wearing the same outfit, now we have to stand next to each other and talk?! I did look cute though.
But not as cute as Jack with that proud smile on his face! (Although not so much in this picture).

The Powell Beach Experience - My Version

I had a fabulous wonderful amazing absolutely perfect trip!

Quality time with my husband, including two nights out and getting together with old friends.

Lots of fun time with these cuties!

Spending time with my dad and mom.
(OMG! Charlie is still eating sand...did he find some in my dad's shirt!?)

Several "Vacations" on the beach.

A little quality time with my mom while we engaged in our favorite hobby; shopping.
(Do you like the new addition to my shoe collection?)

Sitting out on the balcony enjoying the view.

The Verdict: I've always said the beach is my favorite place on Earth and I still believe it!

If you haven't read about the rest of my family's experience, scroll on down....

PSF - The Powell Beach Experience - Charlie's Version

These series of pictures were taken pretty much the exact moment Charlie touched the sand.

Hmmmm, this looks tasty.

A little crunchy but so far so good.

What the heck is this stuff??

Maybe this bite will be better.

And pretty much any time Charlie was on the sand, he was eating it.

Except in this picture.
He took a bite right after I snapped it.


And if we tried to keep him from touching sand, this was his reaction.
Pleasant, no?
So, he ended up being held most of the time.

Charlie's verdict; The beach? Pretty tasty!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

(If you haven't read Alex, Jack, and Melody's versions, scroll on down...)

The Powell Beach Experience - Melody's Version

Melody, generally, is not a cautious child. However, the drama came out at the beach. At first, she was very wary of the sand and insisted on being held.

When I refused to hold her any longer, she settled for sitting calmly on a towel.

Soon, boredom got the best of her and she was experimenting with the sand and her bucket.


And it wasn't long before she joined Jack on a sea shell hunt.


And thus began Melody's love affair with the beach.

She had a blast jumping in the waves with Mommy.
She loved when the waves would wash up and bury her feet.
I swear I have never seen this child stand still for so long.
She loved Daddy's birthday Oreos.
And (since I know you're all wondering) she loved the hat. In fact, my little fashionista wore it the two days preceding our beach trip as well and has worn it since.
The verdict; Melody thinks the beach was a jumpin' good time!

(If you missed Alex and Jack's version, scroll on down...)

The Powell Beach Experience - Jack's Version

Jack's favorite activity by far was what he called "running from the waves". Where there are waves, Jack will run. He probably ran the equivalent of a marathon when all was said and done!

Of course, along with the fun of running from the waves comes the even bigger thrill of the waves knocking him down! Pretty much, Jack loves to fall whenever the opportunity presents itself and falling in the water proved to be just that much more fun!
He also had a blast jumping in the waves. Although Jack's version of jumping in the waves is Granddaddy holding him and making sure he didn't go under!

A close second to the water was the digging in the sand and the building of sand castles. He made several a day and some were quite elaborate.

In the midst of all the castles and waves, Jack made a friend! Clayton was staying in the same condos as we were and came over our first day on the beach to check out one of Jack's castles. He and Jack really enjoyed playing together and it was neat to see Jack's emerging social skills in action. Clayton even showed Jack how to use his skimboard. While Jack never got the hang of it, he definitely enjoyed trying. A lot of falling was involved.

Jack loves music and lately Shane's CD has been his favorite to listen too. He was thrilled when we took him to meet Shane and listen to him play. Shane gave him an autographed picture, which he has already hung on his bulletin board and Jack has resolved to practice his guitar everyday so he can "get good too"!

The verdict; Jack had a totally rockin' vacation!
(If you haven't already seen Alex's version, scroll on down...)

The Powell Beach Experience - Alex's Version (Updated)

Since Alex is the head of our family and since he celebrated his 31st birthday at the beach, I thought he should get to go first. Alex was pretty disappointed that it was rainy our first morning there.

However, he did not allow that to deter him from enjoying the rough serene waters of the gulf. It was cool and rainy on the beach and right after he jumped in a lifeguard came running over. At first I thought that he thought Alex was drowning. The lifeguard asked if Alex was with me and said that there was a bad lightening storm around. That was all it took and Alex got out of the water. The cold he can take, electrocution, not so much.

Fortunately, the weather cleared up and Alex was able to get his beach needs met.

There was a lot of holding Melody (who apparently thought she was Princess of the Beach) until she was comfortable enough to bear touching the sand.

A lot of sea shell hunting

A lot of playing in the surf with Jack. And let's not forget the abundance of Vacations (my family's terminology for a gin & tonic; because drinking one is like having one!)

And since Alex is not a cake person, he celebrated his birthday with his favorite dessert...

Oreo's

He thought this pose was funny

Alex's buddy Shane happened to be playing all weekend at a bar about a mile from our condo. We went down to see him both Saturday and Sunday night and got a chance to hang out with old friends as well. Check out the cool beer holders on their mics!

The verdict; Alex had a great vacation!
I forgot to mention the one unpleasant beach experience Alex had; his sunburn. I'm not going to post pictures, as I'm pretty sure that would not go over well with Alex, however, suffice it to say the sunburn was bad. Saturday afternoon we had some clearing and Alex and Jack immediately hightailed it down to the beach. Alex had assumed that the break in the clouds would be short lived and applied only minimal sunscreen. (I applied full sunscreen on Jack.) Three hours later Alex's chest was still a nice pasty white color while his back was flaming red. Yep, not just red, flaming red. It's actually still red. The moral of the story is apply full suncreen unless you know you will be coming back inside soon.

We're back - but we didn't come willingly!

After squeezing as much fun as possible out of the beach, we reluctantly returned late last night. And by late, I mean, late. This morning actually...we pulled into our driveway a little before 1:00 a.m.

It was worth it though. We had a blast

Our weekend started out with some stormy weather


But it wasn't long before we were enjoying the sun!
And, yes, I had my gin and tonic on the beach. More than one, actually!

To better document our beach experience, I'm going to post several posts over the next few days so I can talk about everyone's beach experience.

For now, I'll leave you with a picture of my little beach bums!
(The shirts were made by my friend Sherry and are just adorable!)