Its been a {beachy} summer

Our summer beach time has been incredible! 

Luckily, Henry is a beach baby...and that makes this mama so happy! 

Both our Griffin beach time and Hardin beach time are an annual trip, now spanning 5 generations.  

Here's our trip from last year, just for fun. (2013)

And the year before that. :)   (2012)

And the one before that. (2011)

More here. 

It's so fun to see how everyone has changed from year to year! 

Back to the present.

In late June, we headed to Mexico Beach for the annual Griffin Beach Week. It was so nice and Henry had a ball playing with his older cousins! 

He is enamored with our nephew Ben, and Ben is so sweet to Henry. 

Here they are playing with the outdoor shower and faucet. Henry LOVES water. He could play with a water hose for hours. 

We spent some fun afternoons on the beach with everyone. The older kiddos loved fishing in the surf. 

And this little man loved running on the hard sand. 

Kacie is only a few months younger than Henry so they'll be playmates as they grow older. She's such a little love! 

Here are all the cousins together! That's Wyatt on the end, then Rodney, Lizzy holding her cousin Kacie, and Ben holding Henry. 

How sweet is this?!?!

Henry and Daddy...so precious! 

She was really checking him out! 

Henry likes to be in the shade (like me!) but has fun playing with the sand.

After a few days at home post-Mexico Beach, we headed back to Florida for my family's vacation. 

The resort has added a kiddo splash area, and Henry wasn't quite sure what to think. He liked it ok, but I think he'll really enjoy it next year. 

Henry's not crazy about the pool, so other than our little splash area visit, we stuck to the beach. We were blessed with lovely weather all week! 

Henry had a ball spending time with everyone! 

He sat in Brince-O's lap....

 and climbed on the beach chairs with Mommy.

Henry loved exploring around the chairs...

playing in his pool....

and taking naps under the umbrella!

He even spent a little time in the buff! 

He loved playing with his Aunt Bren...

and with his cousins Hugh and Ivy.

More playing...

and more napping.

Lots of happy memories spent under these umbrellas! 

Jamie, Bren, Bengie, and Mom

With such a big family, there was lots of coming and going during the week. But we managed to get a pretty large majority of the group together for dinner at Boondocks one night. 

Tana, Katie, Gracie, Mollie, Ivy, Chandler, Hugh, Jamie, Bren, Abbye, Jill, Mama, Beng, Gongaman, Me and Henry

Gongaman with his two daughters! 

Me and my sissy! 

Henry loved playing on the boat! 

More beach time on the last day! 

Priceless moments with his Gongaman!

Hope you all have had a nice summer, with family and friends! 

Hilton Head and Mother's Morning Out

We've been having so much fun! 

The start to our summer has been wonderful! 

Henry began a Mother's Morning Out a few weeks ago (he goes 3 days a few for a few hours), and we've found a little time to travel too. :) 

He'll have July off and then he'll go 2 days a week in the Fall. He's having fun, and the teachers love him, but I miss him so bad when he's there!

Here's Henry in his "school" clothes a few mornings before leaving home:

Last week, we loaded up the car and set out for Hilton Head to visit Aunt Abbye. With Aunt Laura Lyn in tow too, our trip was easy peasy and we had a ball all week! 

We went swimming....

And enjoyed time on the beach...

Those curls! 

Played in the sand...

Squinted in the sun....

And got messy! 

The next day, we played in the tide pools all day long! 

And were so excited to play with Napp and his mommy Maggie! 

We even found time to see my friend Stephanie and visit her new cheerleading gym! 

It was a great week! 

This weekend we're heading to a wedding on St. Simons, and from there to Mexico Beach for Griffin Beach Week! Don't worry, Henry and I have plenty of sunscreen! :)) 

ps. for those who have been wondering, Henry is wearing an Amber Teething Necklace. I love that he looks like a little brown hippie baby, but it actually has a purpose too. 

He's been wearing it for over a month, but honestly, I wish I had gotten it for him at the first sign of teething. It has helped tremendously. Beforehand, we were relying on Motrin and Tylenol when he would be particularly fussy and having a hard time. Since he's been wearing the necklace, we haven't had to use Tylenol or Motrin one time since then. I have no idea if this is a placebo affect (do those work on infants?!?) or some hoodoo voodoo. Either way, its staying on and I give it a soaring recommendation. :)