the 2010 beach trip: presentations, beachtime & lottie's new mudder

the official photo, the gang's all here

(shon, chris, cj, tony, suzy, kristina, andy on greg, jennifer, spencer, megan over ronny, lianne and tommy over matt, moi with rowdy, lottie sue, lucy and sam, mary ann and then max)

we got back on saturday from a week of fun in the sun, it was another venable beach trip and was so much fun! i have some photos that i will put up here, but with two kids we noticed there is less photo-taking. i am SURE megan will post about it and will have 100 photos so i will link to her blog once it's up. i did steal a few photos from her but there were so many i was overwhelmed. anywho, here we go - and please note that their is not way that i can convey ALL of the jokes (inside and out) of this trip. it is rich, people. rich.

matt made the yummy pimento cheese (mild and spicy) for everyone with lottie sue's help.

after shredding, a mountain of cheese

lottie sue working the food processor

we left on friday and spent the night at the gilmore's house. it was super fun and we packed up early to head over to ocean isle.

the caravan from the smiths' car

once we got there lottie sue started with beach shenanigans, it was pretty funny.


then it was tommy's turn.

mazola

if i go anywhere the first thing i do is unpack everything - i like to have my room like my house. i put everything in the drawers and organize the bathroom and whatnot. tommy and megan live out of the suitcase so this year i offered to unpack their room and make it all martha stewart.

everything has a place in its place

the first night we arrive we have presentations and this year was the best! first, you will notice the queen of ocean isle here...this year she signed a new proclamation.

our queen bee

megan reads the proclamation before all

sam and mary ann enjoy the show

i'll have to get the actual proclamation
for you (or i bet megan will put it up)

then suzy and tony had an awesome presentation, they had special t-shirts for everyone (as in, everyone had their own special t-shirt that relates to them - yes, like i said - awesome). i have a few here that we took shots of...

matt's shirt states the truth - proud to be an american!

i'm a rowdy raider!

sam's shirt says "sin kills" - so funny

lottie sue got a hannah montana shirt, and even though she has no
idea who hannah montana is she LOVED it and wore it every day

our presentation was also great, we made a video titled "deaton the odds" - i can't post it here (soooo very sorry) but believe me when i say that there was a lot of time and effort put into this video that honors one of our brothers, the great tony deaton. he is america's new hero!

there were testimonials, doctors, jezebels (former), UT kickers, bag boys and so much more. you will have to trust me on this one. tony loved being the center of at all! we also made writstbands a la livestrong for the group. it was a winner.

all natural talent, never had a lesson

every night after dinner we walk out down to the beach together. usually the kids end up naked and in the water.

lottie sue maneuvering a sand castle

every afternoon around three, man time happens. man time consists of smoking meat, cocktails and LOTS of laughs for everyone. it is the most entertaining time of the day, lemmetellya.

let me introduce one of the stars of the show/man time...the smoker.

please don't crowd him, as he has to be able to catch his breath

it is rare that we get into the "ideal" zone

here we have a few more shots of the beach, lottie sue loves her some beach. she cries when we have to leave.

i put her in this hole someone dug and then
four people told me how dangerous it was, i missed
the 20/20 show that recently aired on the topic

our first and only (the horror, i know) family photo

there are many underwater meetings at the beach. we really try to solve world issues and come up with new business models.

rowdy's first attendance

matt chillaxes

i can't get by without mentioning the food - OH THE FOOD. matt gained seven pounds this past week! but don't worry, he can lose weight so easily. he'll be back.

megan made some yummy bruschetta

ok, more photos...

we are cute, yes we are

more man time fun

my kiddos

tommy loses an arm to lottie sue and her light saber
(don't worry, it grew back)

there was someone near us that made awesome
sand castles, alligators and so forth

lottie sue on the beach, carefree

here i am with the rowdyman

cj gets a beach feeding

lottie sue and matt run around together

tommy and chris

lottie sue did this one night sans underwear
(yes, sand was EVERYWHERE)

me and my cutie pie

oh yes, i leave you with this photo. lottie sue absolutely LOVES mary ann. i think she may love her more than she loves us. she called her "mudder" all week and the first thing she asked me every morning was "where's my mudder?" - true story.

lottie sue and her new mudder

i have a few more photos that i can't get to right now (mostly about the turtle nerds but i think i have more presentation-time photos). matt is doing a two-city tour this week and they are on his laptop. i'll get them and post later. i also have many things to post about the past month. i am WAY behind on posting about our happenings. forgive me.

but i will, of course, leave you with a few interesting reads. you're welcome.

• louis c.k. interview gets npr's fresh air banned in mississippi, their loss
• metallica says the 2004 documentary was a big, bad mistake
• here's an interview with paul buckley, he's the book cover design guru behind penguin books
• i love stuff like this, check out persona - it's an original photo series that displays a subject and their essential daily items
• i'm sure you've heard about post secret, people send in their secrets via postcards - if you are nosey like me it's a great thing
• here's a site that can tell you song meanings, lyrics and trivia
• you should bookmark this site, it's ALL about television shows
• the word detective can tell you everything you want to know about word origins
• pastemagazine is a great resource for anything in music, film and culture

buh bye!

clearwater, greenville & may 9th

Matt had to go to Clearwater for work and Lottie Sue and I tagged along last week. It was AWESOME for us, maybe not so much for Matt since he had to work but Lottie Sue and I sure had fun. I had an absolute blast with Lottie Sue, we had nowhere to be and nothing to do unless we wanted. The weather was perfect, 80 every day and sun sun and more sun. They had terrible storms the afternoon we flew in but by the time we got there they were over. So of course we have a zillion photos (taken with the lesser of the cameras) for you to enjoy so I'll just start going.

This was Lottie Sue's first plane ride and she was very good! We had to make sure she was entertained but we didn't have any problems.

flying the friendly skies

A typical day went like this (for Lottie Sue and myself, poor Matt had to work):

7:00 - Wake up and mess around, fitting breakfast in
9:00 - Lube up and pack for the beach
9:30 - Arrive at the beach and make camp, spend time playing in sand, making friends and splashing in water
11:00 - Make our way back to the casa and hit the pool
12:30 - Head back to the room for lunch and play time
2:00 - Quick bath/shower and then down for a nap
4:30 - Wake up, have snack then head to the park for swinging (Matt is home by now)
6:00 - Dinner time - we enjoyed delicious food every night - SCORE
7:00 - Walk on the beach and watch the sun go night night
8:00 - Lottie Sue goes down and Matt and I play cards while watching tv (I lost every round)

As you can see, we had nothing to complain about. Lottie Sue would not walk in the sand right away but warmed up pretty fast. She also did not want to get in the pool at first but soon fell in love with the shallow parts. She was a social butterfly, it's very cute but forces us to chat with more people than we normally would. She would spot a couple/group on the beach, tell me "bye" and walk on over, making herself at home. She is not shy at all and traded me in a heartbeat for an older couple from New Jersey. I had to run after her a lot and she would get so mad at me for bringing her back. What am I, chopped liver I ask? The New Jersey couple were all over her, they had a hand held radio and once Lottie Sue had that she would walk around with it to her ear just chatting it up with them. They were right next to our spot and I just sat there and watched her work her magic for a while. They would have taken her home I think...

this is the first day on the beach, lubed up with 70 spf
(which worked like a charm)

here is lottie sue that night after dinner

Here are a few shots from the next day at the beach. Lottie Sue is in her one bikini and I think it's too small...

staying hydrated

hands in sand

walking around, looking for friends

she enjoyed rolling around in the sand, she kept posing
funny here but none of those shots turned out

what a cutie pie

Our very good friends from Chicago moved to the Tampa area a few years ago and we went over for dinner. It was great seeing Adrianna and Ron - PLUS meeting their two little boys (Ryan and Reece). As you can see, Lottie Sue had her sights on Ry-Ry here - kisses and cuddles.

making her move, he was mildly interested

We walked pretty far up the beach the next night, here are a few photos of my two favorite people.

awww, too cute

Saturday morning we headed over to the Clearwater Aquarium. It needs some funding people so if you have any extras dollars please help them out. Wow. They had one fish tank that Lottie Sue loved and you were able to see the dolphins pretty close. Those were the two standouts, this was fine for Lottie Sue but if it was just the two of us then it would not have cut it.

lottie sue and matt watch the dolphins swim around

two of the dolphins we saw, they were playing with a hula-hoop

After the aquarium we packed it up and went to beach for the rest of the morning. Matt and Lottie Sue made a sand turtle, they even decorated his shell with shells we picked up.

this was a very good project for lottie sue, she loved decorating him

She also LOVED sitting in the chairs and wanted them to be for her and Matt - not me. She got mad at me for sitting in one and kept telling me to move, that it was "Daddy's" - burn.

laid back (notice the cute swimsuit courtesy of auntie shon)

That night we went off the island for dinner and had a hard time finding a place. We were about to turn into Applebees (ew, I know - but we were STARVING) but Matt took a turn that landed us in a little community with a little diner named the Whistle Stop Grill. Um, it was fabulous - fried green tomatoes with goat cheese and cilantro, then a grilled veggie with black beans and rice meal for me and fish tacos for Matt - followed up with a cinnamon and peach ice cream sundae. Seriously, delicious. We had such a good time and Lottie loved her food as well.

good food, good times

After dinner we went the beach for one last sunset. Here I am with my baby girl.

my bff

So that's our trip! We are going to San Destin next month with the Apples and I can't wait! Lottie Sue will have a playmate with Harlan and she will love that. She lights up when she's around other little ones.

So here are a few photos from our trip to Greenville for Easter. I will need to steal photos from Melinda's facebook page since we have none from Easter day. We had a wonderful time, Lottie Sue fell in love with Claire and Jane - at night time she cried and wanted to hug them over and over again.

the three amigos at dinner with everyone on saturday night

Here are photos from the egg dyeing session. Lottie Sue was a total mess but she loved doing it.

it went really well and this egg is lottie's masterpiece

And you know that the Easter Bunny came (he acutally came two additional times but Lottie Sue was not complaining one bit). Everyone was so generous!

checking out these basket things

the bunny gave her a cow, she likes cows

the girls going through the baskets

this is cute and calm lottie sue before the peep incident*

we didn't think she'd get an easter egg hunt but boy did she - she was all over it

Let me end the Easter section with Harlan's Easter Bunny photo - he cracks me up. The Apples and the Gilmores were in this past weekend but we missed them because we were gone - poo poo poo. Becce left an outfit for baby boy and I am totally taking a photo of it to show you - it is so sweet. Oh yeah, back to Harlan...

what a cute little man

I also wanted to show you a few photos of Mandy and Jeff, Jeff is Matt's cousin on his mom's side (please notice the blondness - they all look like this!) and we saw them last summer in Little Rock. They are adopting a little boy and it is such a blessing! Aunt Jan sent these photos and they made me cry because I could feel the joy they have for little James. Everything is in motion and he comes home with them on May 9th. What a lucky kid!

mandy and james bonding

happy happy happy

jeff and james, life is good

OK, that wraps up my post here. I hope everyone is well - I leave you with a few randoms...

• Here is an interview with Junot Diaz on life after Oscar Waor and all things pop. If you don't remember, Diaz wrote what might be my favorite book of all time, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
• Netflix is now going to stream tv shows from Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, the future is NOW.
• Hulu for my iphone??? Please, make it so!
• For those of you looking forward to The Hobbit (I AM), it looks like it will span two movies.

OK, bye now!

*We let Lottie Sue have ONE peep on Easter morning (before milk or food) and she went berserk - I mean CRAZY. She's never had anything full sugar like that and she didn't know how to handle the rush I guess. Matt and I agree - sugar is BAD.