Arning Family Beach Vacation - Part II

More pictures from our beach vacation to Hilton Head...

Charlie was very busy at the beach. There were holes to dig, water to fetch, trucks to race,
waves to ride, busy, busy!

Poppy had a great time, too!

The boy LOVES the ocean!

I love that Grammy and Chase have practically the same expression on their faces.

Happy Charlie!

Doesn't Matthew look relaxed! He better enjoy it now.
Med school starts soon!

Chase, takin' a load off.

Dada /Chase bonding time.

The men. Hard at work.

The boys. Hard at work.

Dada, relaxed and enjoying some down time.

Great picture of Matthew!

Matthew, teaching Charlie how to surf.

He's a natural!

More father/son bonding.

Ahhh... don't they look happy?

Arning Family Beach Vacation - Part I

Well, I'm so sad to say this, but our 2012 family vacation has already come and gone. *Sigh* It FLEW by this year, mainly because we spent a good deal of time tending to a sick Chase.

Before we even left for the beach Chase came down with a fever. We nursed the fever for three days and it eventually went away, but the cough that accompanied it never did. It just kept getting worse and worse.

We should know by now that anytime Chase gets a cough, nine times out of 10 it will turn into bronchitis or pneumonia. It's just the way it goes with Chase. And, unfortunately, we did not have Chase's nebulizer at the beach. If we had brought it with us, I'm fairly confident that we could have nipped it in the bud, but alas, we didn't have it and as a result, Chase's cough turned into pneumonia.

So, Chase spent Wednesday afternoon at Urgent Care where he got a steroid shot to open his lungs and a breathing treatment to help him breathe.

On Thursday morning, we took him back to Urgent Care for another breathing treatment because he woke up sounding horrible.

Friday and Saturday morning, we went back to Urgent Care for additional breathing treatments. All of this was in addition to the antibiotic and steroid medicine we had to give daily him as well. And, by the way, the steroid medicine made him totally crazy, bonkers, lunatic, manic, psycho mad. Thank the good Lord we're done with that medicine!

It sounds like our vacation wasn't very good, but in fact, it was great. We absolutely love Hilton Head and we had great company all week. Charlie ADORES the beach and the sand, and Chase loves the pool. Our house was totally amazing and we did a whole lot of nothin'... outside of the Chase drama.

So, while we had a few minor hiccups, all in all we had a wonderful time. We can't wait for next year!

Chase, by the way, is totally fine now... back to his ole self.

And, now for the beach photos. I won't tell you how many I took. Too embarrassing. But, as I was looking through pictures, I couldn't figure out which pics went with which day, so instead, I've decided to post 15-20 photos per blog entry.

With that said, here's Part I of our beach vacation. Dang, I wish we were still there!!

We got to the beach late Saturday afternoon and headed straight for the pool.
No objections from the boys.

Grammy and Poppy joined us for the first half of the week.
Grammy's got the right idea here!

We had a hot tub, too! (Although it wasn't hot at all.)

Our walk to the beach was a bit longer than in years' past,
but we got smart and put all of our gear in the bike trailer.
Mike was the lucky one that got to ride to the beach.

This is our first full day at the beach. Charlie was so excited to be there!

Chase wasn't a big fan of the ocean. He liked to get close to it, but wasn't too happy
when the waves hit him. He preferred to be carried into the water.

I get so excited when the boys stand or play remotely near each other.
I rarely am able to get both of them in one picture.
So, YEAH! A picture of the brothers playing together at the beach!

Until the next beach blog entry...

We Love Summer!

We are having the best time this summer. Truly. And, that's saying a lot because for the last five days, it's just been me and the boys.Yep. Just me and the boys. No help. Nada.

Anyway, on Saturday, we headed to Birkdale for haircuts and to play in the splash park. It was a beautiful day, but a little chilly, so the boys didn't quite get to do the splashing they'd hoped.

Regardless, they had a great time. I, of course, took my camera. The result is several fun photos to share with you.

Enjoy!

This might be one of my all-time favorite photos.
First of all, I love little boys in pajamas. There just isn't anything cuter.
Second, I love that they have the exact same look.
Third, I love that they love each other so much.

Both boys SMILING in the exact same photo.
I played the lottery today.
I am SURE to win.

Sweet Chase

Charlie loves his new Razor trike.
It has a brake handle that makes sparks when it hits the pavement.
Super cool!

This photo is HILARIOUS.
Believe it or not, Charlie is giggling in this photo.
He had just run through the sprinklers and was giggling uncontrollably.
Sort of looks like he's ready for battle though, doesn't it?

Here he's thinking, "Ok, that was fun but ridiculously cold.
Not sure if I'm gonna do THAT again."

Having fun no matter how cold the water is!

Chase didn't care if the water was freezing or not. He loved it!

I love this photo. I just think Chase is adorable!

I think Chase is realizing here that he's stolen this toy boat from some poor kid.
We eventually returned it.

That's a fire truck passing by in the background.
We brake for fire trucks.

Still watching the fire truck go by.
(With Chase showcasing his inner "situation.")

And the summer fun continues.

Until next time...

Welcome to Summer!

Last week, the first day after school was out for the year, I held a very informal "Welcome to Summer" party for Charlie, Chase and four of their school buddies. I vowed to keep it simple, because as we all know, when it comes to parties, I like to go all out! But, with Mom Prom in my very distant memory and all of the end of school craziness that time of year brings, I just couldn't do it this time.

That doesn't mean that I didn't want to be as fun for the kids as possible. I gathered up sidewalk chalk, bubbles and squirt guns. Mike set up a slip 'n slide and a big inflatable ball that shoots water, and my friend, Erin, offered up her bounce house. Throw in the sand table, some cupcakes and a few snow cones and you have yourself a party!

My backyard was so festive, I had fun just looking at it! I know the kids had an absolute blast because they were all grinning from ear to ear the entire time. The slip 'n slide was the big hit of the party. If they slid once, they slid 100 times. They LOVED it!

There's nothing more fun that hearing the giggles of kids in the summertime.

I just had to make a "Welcome to Summer" banner.
Well, I use the word *make* very loosely.
I took some paper and wrote with magic marker.
But, still. Look how cute it is! And, balloons make everything more festive!

My friend, Erin, let me borrow her bounce house.
It was like a little festival in my back yard!

And, here we go on the slip 'n slide.

You, too, can buy a ton of fun for only $20

Now we're working on our form.

I mean seriously. Just look at the utter joy in his face.
He loves it!

Charlie, trying out the long jump version.

So fun!

Charlie gets style points for making the biggest splash.

This is my friend, Michelle's little boy, Colin.

This is who I carpooled with all year. Jessica and her littlest, Brody.

Colin is giving Charlie a run for his money in the splash category.

And, now we're adding some flair.

This is sweet little Jackson playing with the bubbles.

Chase and Lexi (Charlie's girlfriend. Chase better watch out!)

These are the cupcakes I made. They were ridiculously cute!
And, SUPER easy. Blue icing, Teddy Grahams, Life Savers, M&M's and gum.

We made snow cones, too! In three flavors no less!

Charlie was a big fan of the snow cones.

W E L C O M E

T O

S U M M E R !