We headed to my dad & stepmom’s up in Jacksonville for Memorial Day weekend, and we had a great time with them. We don’t get a chance to take many overnight trips, or ‘get-aways’ so it’s always nice to head up there when we can.
It was a relaxing & laid back weekend, overall. Those are always the best ones, right? Liam loved helping his Papa-G and G-Ma with various tasks around their house 😉 …Here’s a pic we snapped of Liam helping bake some cookies ❤
We all enjoyed some fun in the sun out at the MOST gorgeous beach house in the Ponte Vedra area. The weather was beautiful & the we soaked in the rays & splashed in the water. This view will never get old….
Love this sweet boy ….
He was the best swimmer all weekend. We were so proud & we know Ms. Katie would be, too 🙂
Hanging out with his Papa…
Swimming with G-ma…
The house had it’s own private boardwalk out to the beach. So very nice….
We played on the sand & in the waves for a bit. The rip currents were pretty strong, though, so we didn’t go too far out.
Love this family of mine ❤ ….
We will definitely be frequenting the beach this summer! Liam loves it just as much as I did as a kid, and still do!
Memorial Day Weekend is upon us , friends! While many of us celebrate this as the unofficial start of the summer (my family included), let us not forget that this holiday weekend is not really why we are all taking a pause from work & the dailies….
Here are some facts I found to begin to teach Liam about the holiday:
It started on May 30, 1868.
Union General John A. Logan declared the day an occasion to decorate the graves of Civil War soldiers, and thus, was called Decoration Day.
Twenty years later, the name was changed to Memorial Day.
President Richard M. Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday in 1971.
Going through our pics in recent weeks, I found that we have made a tradition of photographing this holiday. So, here’s a look back…
2012 — 1st Memorial Day at 10 months old. He didn’t want to keep the hat on & wouldn’t give up the paci for this pic 😉
2013 — We placed American flags in our yard to help begin to teach our little man about the importance of this holiday.
2014 — I will admit that this weekend has become our family’s tradition of our 1st beach trip of the year. Even living in Florida, we do take a break from the sand for a few months, so this does kinda kick things off for us for the summer. I think it’s more because it’s the 1st long weekend we have off of work in a while.
2015 — Last year, we did American flags & pinwheels in the yard. Liam was a great helper!
And now, a look at this year…
2016 — It was essential that we got our American flags, again, this year. Liam actually saw them in two different neighbors yards earlier in the week, first, while we were driving to school. He remembered that we had put up our own flags, and specifically requested to get ours out after school that day. You bet we did 🙂
I’m definitely not a fan of over scheduling our family time – which can be easy to do these days! I want to focus on making memories this summer, so this post gives you a simple list of activities to do together this summer!
I mentioned in my previous post that through the craziness that is life, I’ve gone on a hiatus from blogging, so let’s try to catch up! We’ve definitely been busy these last few months….so, here are some highlights:
At the beginning of March, Liam went on his very 1st field trip! It was to the movies with his class at Pre-K, and they saw Zootopia. He had a blast, but I have to tell you that his most favorite part of the entire experience was riding the school bus! The director took this pic of him before they left. She said his face lit up when they got on the bus & started pulling away. It was all he could talk about when I picked him up. They could have just drove around the block & he would have been thrilled. LOL! He has seen the daycare’s school bus for the last few years each day, and has always asked when he would get to ride it. So, you see, this was a BIG deal!
Easter came early for us this year. It fell during the last weekend of March. We really love the Easter Bunny in Casa de Murphy & he brought lots of fun goodies for wee-man again this year ❤
Liam woke up before the sun came up….although at bedtime, he cautiously asked if EB would be gone before he got up. He loves him but he does not want to see that gigantic guy….lol! Can’t really blame him for that…I think the mall EB’s have left an impression on him. However, all of that was forgotten when he woke up, and he was stoked as he went through his basket & checked everything out.
The EB always hides eggs in the front yard & this year was no different. However, there was no deterring this 4 year old’s excitement. So…..we hunted eggs in the dark (before 7 a.m.) WITH a flash light. It was awesome!
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I wanted our little family to get back into church, as well as give this essential foundation to Liam, so he could build his own relationship with the Lord. I’m very happy to say that we found a wonderful church home early this year & it’s just been a blessing for us all. Service on Easter Sunday was great!
Easter weekend was jammed packed for us! It also brought on Stephen’s BIG 40th Birthday! We always share Liam’s milestones, but this was definitely one for Daddy 😉
Since his big day fell on a Friday, we had a yummy dinner out at Kobe with friends.
The next day, we celebrated with our little guy ❤
The festivities continued right after the weekend, as my mom flew in from North Carolina for a few days. Liam was so excited to see his Grammy, as we hadn’t visited with her since she moved up there last summer. It was a great time with her 🙂
While she was down here, we spent the afternoon at Disney Springs. I hadn’t been out there in forever, and was really impressed with all the renovations & changes. We will definitely be back, again, soon!
So fun that there are a few rides for the littles there now, too!
In April, I had the pleasure of working alongside my fellow Orlando Moms Blog mamas for Bloom 2016. It was a great time & a huge success.
Great information was shared for both new & expectant moms by several guests in our local community. We gathered at a local coffee shop downtown — Credo.
City Moms Blog Network gave us these fab swag bags — LOVE THEM ❤
Honored to be part of this team…..
Are ya still with me? 🙂 ….We’re almost caught up!
At the beginning of this month {May}, we met up with our FABULOUS swim instructor, Ms. Katie Mosley from SwimSproutfor our spring swim refresher lessons for Mr. Liam. If you’ve been following along with us over the last few years, then you know we’ve been swimming with them & Liam has been doing amazingly well in the water. Here’s a look back HERE and HERE. This season was no different, except that it will most likely be our last refresher with Ms. Katie, as Liam has been doing so well, and is now at a point with his muscle memory, that he is retaining his skill. So proud of him!
He has quickly gone from his basic swim-float-swim to jumping off the side of the pool & also diving for rings. We can already tell that this summer is going to be super fun poolside!
Last, but certainly, not least, is an impromptu dance performance little man graced us with after dinner over the weekend. I have laughed every time I have watched this. He loves to dance & is SO good at it. Love this kid!! I posted a snippet of this on IG & FB, but this is the full-length feature 🙂 ….Enjoy!!
Casa de Murphy 