Spring Break Wrap-Up

What a fun week we had!

We wrapped up the week with a trip to the beach, a date night, a St. Patrick's Day party, oh... and one more trip to the beach!

Let's start at the beginning.

On Friday morning, we headed out to Honeymoon Island, which is a beautiful state park only 20 minutes from our house. Both boys had a great time hanging with our neighbors.

 

 

Payton found an "abandoned" sandcastle and decided to take over and play there for the remainder of the day.

Of course my little man couldn't hang as long as the big kids, so I took him home for a nap while my sweet neighbor took Payton and her kids out for lunch and ice cream sundaes!

(can you tell she took these pictures with her awesome camera?)

 How cute is this kid?!?

That evening, I surprised Brian with a babysitter and a date night at a new local restaurant called Cafe Carmel. SUCH amazing food! And after a week of being run ragged by Payton, I need a calm, quiet night with my sweetie.

The next day, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in several ways.

First, I made green pancakes sprinkled with Lucky Charms (e.g. packing in a day's worth of sugar in one meal):

 Then, we went to our community's St. Patrick's Day celebration... complete with a giant leprechaun. Yikes!

And men dressed in kilts!

And boys playing in the grass listening to the live music.

That evening, we had some friends over for a low-key Irish dinner. My friend Bethany made the most amazing chocolate cake with buttercream Bailey's frosting. OH MY! It was SO good! Sorry... no pictures of it. I think we all devoured it too quickly!

Sunday felt like we were falling back into our normal routine. Church, Sunday School, laid-back lunch at home, read the paper, etc. But then, at the last minute, we decided we just weren't quite ready to part with Spring Break quite yet. So we packed up the car, and headed out to the beach! Again!

 Payton & Brian built a sandcastle complete with a bridge that was "so strong you could walk on it!!!" He was so excited, he made me take a picture:

 My boys just love the beach.

 Who can blame em?

Once Parker made it clear to all of us that he was hungry and ready to go, we headed out for a cute little beach cafe for some burgers & beers.

 Not the best pictures of the boys, but they were having such a good time playing together & listening to the live music.

And let me tell you... after a week of doing theme parks, museums, beaches, play dates, sleepovers, and special surprises in between... we're all pooped!

We're ready for life to go back to normal. Well, some of us are at least. :)