Nelson Beach Trip 2010

This past weekend (Thursday - Sunday) we went to North Myrtle Beach for our annual Nelson Beach Trip. We had a wonderful time, but it went by too quickly! We drove down Thursday morning and got there around lunch-time, but it was a rainy miserable day - so we stayed in. We went to dinner and to Walmart to pick up a couple things and Drew and Olivia walked through the whole store holding hands - aren't they so cute!

Friday was much nicer outside - so we got to go out to the beach and pool area. Olivia has LOVED swimming and the beach every time we go. Here she is playing in the ocean with us:

After we spent some time out in the ocean, we went over to the pool area. The hotel was really nice (we got a condo this year) - it had a big pool, a lazy river and a kiddie pool. We spent most of our time in the kiddie pool and lazy river (when we weren't in the ocean!). Here's Olivia playing around in the kiddie pool:

On Saturday, it was another nice day outside and we got up early and went out to collect seashells with Olivia. Here she is sporting her cool sunglasses running around looking for shells:

We stopped to get a quick family photo from some helpful passer's by:

Then it was back to the pool area for some more fun. Susan had picked up some little inner tubes for the kids (and some swimmies), which worked out great for the lazy river. Olivia had a great time floating around it like a big girl - all on her own! (with daddy close by!)

Drew even got into the action:

Then we had our annual putt putt competition. Let's just say that Grant and I didn't win - but we had fun! :) Here's Olivia and Drew riding the train up to the course. Drew LOVED the train! It was his favorite part - every time the train came by both he and Olivia had to wave to all the passengers!

Olivia is still *learning* how to play putt putt, but at least she understands that the ball goes in the hole. Here are the two main ways she does that:

1) She (or we) puts the ball right next to the hole and then knocks it in:

2) She just puts it right into the hole:

It's a work in progress. But she'll maybe have if figured out by next year.

In other news, just since I blogged yesterday - Olivia has really been doing well with the Potty. When I picked her up from daycare yesterday they told me she had been doing REALLY well with it (4 or 5 times just yesterday), and that she was even trying to help Jordan (she's a couple month's younger than Olivia) go potty! She told me she had to go this morning - and she did! Wow, she may be trained sooner than later! (Still not poo poo in the potty, but we'll get there! - ha ha!).

Catching Up . . .

Ok, so I have become a BAD blogger! It has been a month since my last blog! I can give excuses like, I've been busy or life is crazy, but I know you all just want to see Olivia - so without further ado . . .

I had a couple friends over for dinner a couple weeks ago and one of them has a daughter that is 6 months younger than Olivia, Reese. Here they are eating their dinner. They had a good time playing (and getting yelled at) together! ha ha

So, in an effort to get to spend a little time alone, we have created an arrangement with our friends, Randy and Sara, to trade off on Tuesday nights. One Tuesday we get the girls and they get a date-night, then we swap the next week. It's been working out pretty well, but we are both so busy, it winds up being about one date and one babysitting night each a month. Still better than nothing!

This past week I had both girls to myself - Grant had to work Tuesday night (which is usually his night off), so he could take Thursday and Friday off to go to the beach. So, I had the pleasure of the dynamic duo! They play really well together . . . and then they don't! Let's just say that they are both really sweet by themselves, then when you put them together, there is some bizarre chemical reaction that makes them both crazy, deaf, loud and possessive with EVERYTHING! ("mine mine mine"). I made it through, but it was a LONG night! :)

Here they are from the time before when it was our turn to watch them and Grant was home with me. They just got out of the bath and had their matching Jammies on and were singing and dancing. How cute!

Here is a picture of Olivia in a cute little hat my mom sent to us. It goes really well with her eyes!

And now for a couple fun videos of the little one. This first one she's probably going to kill me for posting when she's old enough to know better. She LOVES to wear my shoes and to dance. Here she is doing both:

This last video is just a short one of her with her play stethoscope - playing doctor:

Other than all of this, we had a great July 4th - but VERY BUSY! We went to a family get-together with Grandmom's family down near Shelby, NC. We actually got a picture of all the kids together from Olivia's generation - not an easy feat with 13 kids! (Unfortunately I forgot my camera that weekend, so this picture is from Becca).

They all played so well together and Olivia LOVED keeping up with the big kids! They helped her get onto the slide, pushed her on the swings and had a great time with her and she loved every second of it. She was so warn out when we left, she was asleep before we got out of the parking lot!

That night we went over to see my parents and their good friends, Mark and Bev, at their RV campsite. It was a really nice location with a creek, and we had a campfire and ice cream. We even grilled out some steaks for dinner (yum!). Olivia loved all of that, too! She got to walk through the creek and run around. It was a nice night.

Then we went back to the Nelson's house for the night and back home the next day. We were too worn out to do fireworks when we got back - we'll have to go next year.

Other than that trip, we've just been doing our normal stuff. Nothing too exciting. Olivia has gone on the potty on her own 2-3 times, but we aren't pushing her - just letting her know it is there. I think it will all click for her pretty soon.

I will blog about our beach trip in a separate blog. So until then, take care!