Life Update- Beach Trip

Instead of a Monday Must-Haves post I thought I'd share a life update with what we've been up to the past week or so!  We've had a whirlwind past week and the next couple of weeks will be the same. I celebrated my birthday last Saturday, the 14th.  To celebrate, I got a pedicure and went to dinner with my family at a local Italian restaurant.  My mom and stepdad got the best strawberry shortcake for my birthday cake.    Even Josh who typically doesn't like cake loved it.  The very next morning, we packed up and headed to the beach for a short getaway. We only stayed 4 days/3 nights but it looked like we had packed to stay for a couple of weeks!  When you have a 3 year old and a 1 year old there's just too much to pack (and unpack).  We stayed at my grandmother's beach condo while we were there.  She's owned it for more than 20 years now so I have a lot of my own childhood memories there.  Both kids absolutely loved the beach and pool.  Benton didn't hate the sand but didn't really love it either, however, he loved the ocean.  We sat him between our legs and let the little waves come up over his legs.  He would squeal and giggle when a wave would come.  Mary-Grace loved the water too and wanted us to take her in deeper, but we didn't because rip currents have been bad lately plus Josh and I are a little nervous swimming in the oceans.  We had storms about half the time we were there but it would stop long enough for us to run out and have some fun before the next storm would come.  We tried to get seafood at a semi-nice restaurant one night but that didn't go so well.  We had to wait forever for a high chair so Benton sat in Josh's lap.  As soon as we got the high chair and tried to put him in it he wouldn't have it so there went that.  Any other parents who can relate?  On our last day, we rode the ferry to Southport to shop around and have lunch.  We try to go with the flow but also somewhat stick to a routine and not completely throw it out the window while on vacation.  Of course I took a ton of pictures and shared a few below.  I think I may frame the top one of them together walking on the sand.

This week we're getting things ready to paint our living room which we're planning to do this Saturday and we're getting things for Mary-Grace's birthday party which will be August 5th.  We also have some other events coming up that we're planning for and that will keep us busy!  What are y'all up to this week?