Beach Trip 2014 {part 1}

As always I took a million pictures while we were on our annual Memorial Day Gillups Beach Trip.  I’ll try to limit the blog posts to just my favorites or I will end up with 12 parts! 

This year the Hart family joined the group.  I can say with confidence they passed the test and will definitely be invited back next year.  The real question is whether the Gillups passed their test! 

Everyone had a great time again this year and the trip truly gets better {and easier} each year the kids get older.  Everyone could play on the beach and in the ocean with minimal requests to hike back to the pool or the house.  That may have had to do with the fact that the pool at the house was about the size of two bathtubs!  Despite the small size, while in the pool the kids didn’t seem to care.  Our first two days at the beach though the ocean was as calm and almost as shallow as a bath tub.  The sandbar was very close so the kids could play in the water while always touching the ground.  There were a few meltdowns {by kids and parents} and little sassiness {again by kids and parents} but overall everyone behaved and got along marvelous.  I’m already missing the feel of the sand between my toes but admit that its nice to not feel it in my sheets!

Meet…

    

The kick off for a fun filled weekend always begins with the kids swimming in the pool while Dax and crew prepare fish tacos and margaritas.  This year was no exception.

 

GO CARDINALS!

The pictures really tell the story for this post.  Mac. Loves. T-Ball.

3yr old soccer was more for us than for Mac.  4yr old soccer was enjoyable for us and Mac, but the actual skill set was more like herding cats.  The first t-ball game started off on about the same level with 9 out of 11 kids on the field running for every ball hit.  Kids running from 3rd base straight to the dugout while the crowd yelled “run home”.  And multiple kids on the same base b/c one teammate forgot to advance a base.  I have to say the first game was amusing, but I wondered if we were going to be stuck in the sandbox league.

I missed the 2nd game b/c of an Easter egg hunt with Coe, so you can imagine my surprise when I went to the 3rd game and our team all knew where to stand on the field, which base to run to and when, and they actually got a player or two out!  We had a lot of rain outs for t-ball, but overall the boys {and girls} learned a ton this season, made vast improvements, and most importantly had a great time. 

Mac told me that next year he will play coach pitch and he is pretty sure the next year his team will play the Wahoos – our local minor league team!  Once again we don’t lack in the confidence department.

GO CARDINALS!