Kerri makes it to the beach....

After my quick visit to Dothan, my dear friend Kerri and her two boys, Will and Eli, came down to spend a few days with us. I brought Holden home with me so he and Will could play together. Holden is 9 and Will is 7. It worked out great! They played and played and played. the little ones played hard too! It was a great!

Kerri came down on Wednesday, July 8th to visit. We've been trying to work it out for her to come down and visit since I've lived down here...5 years!! I love having friends and family to visit. I love having my house filled with the sounds of laughter and conversations. I love entertaining.

We all settled in and let the boys check out the playroom and have snacks before changing and all heading down to the beach! The weather was perfect! We made a stop by the Tom Thumb and Kerri bought 2 nets for the big boys...she's the best :) Once we got down to the beach with all the toys, towels and bags, the big boys took off for the water, boogie boards in hand. They were so engrossed in the waves and completely lost in summertime fun! Kerri and I sat up with William and Eli and played in the sand...well...I played in the sand...Mrs. Kerri is not too much for sand :) I just have to be given where we live! Eli loved loved loved the buckets and shovels and tossing sand everywhere! William did his usual bucket run to the water. He must have scooped up a gallon of water! He discovered OH HO was in the water and he wanted to be right with him! I got in with him for a while and we played in the waves while Eli and Kerri watched from shore. Eli was not too sure about the water. I managed to get some great pictures of everyone. We stayed down until after sunset. It was a perfect afternoon on the beach!

Philip was pulling up to the beach as we were leaving. Once William saw his daddy, he didn't want to get in the car, but OH HO helped me out. He talked to William to distract him while I buckled him in his seat. After we got home and got everyone bathed and cleaned up from the beach, we settled on pizza for dinner. The boys had a frozen pizza while the adults had Rachel Ray's Red French Bread Pizza. It is so delicious and easy to make and perfect for a quick fix. Once the babies went to bed and the big boys were settled in downstairs with a big bowl of popcorn and some movies, Philip sent us girls upstairs to hang out on the porch and catch up. Philip cleaned the kitchen and made sure the boys were settled before he joined us for some fun and laughter. The night was great! Lots of memories revisited while new memories being made. We laughed and laughed and laughed together and somehow ended up with lots of fun and crazy pictures.

Oh, how I've missed Kerri!

Thursday morning was a bit hard b/c of how LATE us mommies had stayed up the night before and how EARLY the babies wanted to get up. Thanks to Holden and Will for being such great helpers!! They played with the babies after breakfast while Kerri and I crashed on the couch. I will say that both William and Eli were so sweet and would occasionally crawl up on the couch with us to snuggle. A little before lunch time, Will and Holden announced they were going to outside to play for a while, so off to bed for naptime we went...babies in tow. I think the boys stayed outside for about 10 minutes before coming in to watch a movie again. After nap, we loaded everyone up and went down to Seaside for lunch at Pickles. The kids loved the cool playhouse area. It's right behind Pickles and between the 2 children's stores. It's a great area for kids. There is a small little playhouse with cute beach chairs as well as a crate full of hoola-hoops and beach balls. They also provide a ton of buckets, shovels and Frisbee's for the kids. We enjoyed lunch and then off to the beach we went. Kerri took Eli back to the house for his afternoon nap while I took Holden, Will and William down to the beach. I loved it! I felt like I was getting a taste of my future....remember, my heart's desire is to have 4 children one day :) Holden and Will took off for the water again and crashed through the waves. They managed to catch a few sand fleas and wanted to try to save them to bring back to Philip. We secured them in a bucket, then hid the bucket under a towel so William couldn't see it...he's my bucket boy. He loves to tote his buckets around and scoop up water. He thinks EVERY bucket is his bucket. It's cute to me how he will set one up, leave it to gather water, then return to the 1st bucket and dump the water into it. Oh, while I was walking behind William as he chased after the big boys, a lady stopped me to tell me I had 3 precious boys and that I must be so proud of my sons....I smiled and politely explained that William was mine and that Holden was my brother and Will was a friend's son. She gasped and said, "I can't believe those two ( Holden and Will) aren't brothers! They look so much alike." Then she said "You will one day have a large family of your own." I thanked her and smiled. After about an hour, the thunder clouds rolled in and started crashing, so we packed up and headed on back. Bummer!

Kerri's favorite place to eat while down at the beach is Dynasty, so we called Philip and had him meet us there for dinner. It was great! The big boys loved eating with chopsticks. The little ones loved the noodles. We had a great dinner together and had plenty to take home for lunch the next day...perfect to me!

Now...back in the day...at Troy, Kerri's husband Jay was a Troy police officer and often worked the night shift. Several of those nights, I would stay down at Kerri's. We would stay up all night talking and watching chick-flicks. Our favorite thing to do was to go to Walmart in our PJ's to get a cake mix to bake a cake. I can't tell you how many times we would be walking out of Walmart in the wee hours of the night/morning and be greeted by that Troy Police Car...busted!! Jay would quickly tell us to get home and stay home :) I think it became a game for us. We would bake a cake, eat a little, then leave the rest for Jay. Those were the days.... Oh, the memories in Troy and all the good times. I loved my time in Troy.

So...we continued the tradition with Holden and Will...less the late night trip to Walmart! I had brownie mix so we made brownies together! So yummy! We even added a scoop of ice cream and chocolate syrup. I took a treat up to Philip and woke him up so he could enjoy his brownie while it was warm and fresh out of the oven. It was an early night for all. We had a great time together.

Friday was Kerri's birthday. We wished her a happy birthday. I hated to see our visit end, but I had to take William to "Mommy and Me" art class. She took Holden with her for the day. They ended up going to her Aunt's house in Miramar to play on the beach a little more, so after art class, I met them again. We didn't stay long, but it was fun. I'm so happy that we finally got to spend some time together and hang out over the summer. Kerri is such a sweet person and is a true blessing to all who know her. She is an amazing lady.

I'm glad I can call her my friend.