Swim, Swim, Swim

This summer is nothing if not the one of the swimming pool.  There is a constant rotation of wet towels, dry towels, pool toys and snacks, swim suits and cover ups in our house.  These little fishes are loving the swimming pool, and I am loving an escape from the Houston heat in the afternoons.  It is officially summer in Texas!

I know I have said it over and over, but I am simply amazed at James's swimming.  He started swim team not being able to swim very far without grabbing the rope or hopping off the pool floor.  I was sure he had forgotten how to swim and even more certain that the swim season would be a long and painful one.  HOWEVER, this boy has worked so incredibly hard!!  I don't know if I have ever been so proud of his dedication and attitude.

We missed two meets while in Destin; however, he did get to swim in the team relay meet.  I didn't take any pictures of James actually swimming because I recorded the race for Brad, but check out this stellar "dive".  Progress, I swear.  I purposely didn't crop the first picture to demonstrate just how many people are at a swim meet and just how chaotic these things are!

In order to mitigate the chaos and wait time, my kids spend a great deal of time snacking

And I snapped this picture while waiting for James to start.  Natalie was on the sidelines holding court with the older girls.

James's final meet was preliminary/finals.  He swam the freestyle in prelims and finished 15th, with the top 12 making it to finals.  He is in the 5-6 age group, so most of the kids that made finals were 6 and swimming their second year on the team.  Again, I am so proud of him!!

game face

 

Check out that form!

James thought this picture of him getting out of the pool was hysterical.  Kinda looks like a frog

His relay team did make finals and finished 4th!  Don't tell James, but there were only five teams, and one DQ'd :)   (William Goldstein is on the left)

Making sure not to DQ

I mean, is this dive not the cutest thing?!  I could look at this picture of this sweet, determined boy all day long.

Almost there!!  It's a loooong pool

Happy to be finished and ready to eat more snacks!

At the team party James received his participation trophy.  After his age group finished I noticed he stayed in the grass while the others in his age group went back to swimming.  I asked if he wanted to go swim, and he said no, that he was waiting on his other trophy (the trophies for the top point finishers).  It was so heartbreaking to explain why some kids got more than one trophy.  Heartbreaking for both of us!   He even asked "does that mean that I didn't do good?"  Seriously, cue the tears from me and him!  He learned a hard lesson that day!

Team photo, if you can locate him----second row, second from the right, I believe.

Pre-meltdown

Natalie has started swimming lessons with one of the swim coaches (Audrey).  While we were in Destin she somewhat figured out how to swim on her own, mainly from watching James.  So while she can swim from point A to point B, she isn't the professional swimmer she thinks she is, which makes me a nervous wreck.  She no longer wants to wear her peddle jumper floaties and has now taken to diving for dive sticks and such.  Fearless.

 

We still spend most of our time on the steps......picking our nose, apparently 

And this little buoyant baby also loves the pool!  He much prefers the big pool to the baby pool, and his favorite thing to do is "jump" to you from the side.  It's more of a counting to three and Luke falling into your arms, but is makes him squeal with delight nonetheless.

 

Keeping him occupied during Natalie's swim lesson.  By the end he was throwing the ball in the pool and having Coach Audrey retrieve it.  So much for staying out of the pool 

 

Happy Father's Day!

This past Sunday we enjoyed celebrating Brad.  He will fuss at me for this later, but this truly is one of the best men and father.  Where he finds the energy at the end of the day to shoot basketball with the kids, read story after story, be silly and play is beyond me.  At times we have different parenting styles, and the kids are certainly the better for experiencing his exuberant love.  We love Father's Day at our house!

I didn't get any pictures (mainly because I felt like I was in a three-ring circus), but the kids and I made Brad the breakfast of all breakfast.  He enjoyed blueberry pancakes, biscuits, cheese grits, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and of course, bacon!  Just a sidenote: Natalie may love bacon more than her father :)  I took this picture of me and Natalie before the chaos began

I tried my best to get a sweet picture of this group, but as you can see it's difficult at best.  Please notice that all three are fiddling with something.  Natalie is making her smile, and we won't point out what James is doing.

Superhero pose!  As I have said, Brad's the fun parent

These were my favorites

After church, we napped and then went swimming with our friends Jordan and Ashleigh (they just moved in one street south of us, and we are thrilled!).  Again, it's difficult to get a picture of everyone

Brad may get mad at me for this picture as well, but I can't resist.  Luke is combing Brad's chest hair :)

We finished the day by watching the US Open.  A perfect Father's Day Sunday.  This last picture was actually taken Monday morning when I got home from working out.  Precious moments and a lot of love.

Annual Destin Family Trip

 Disclosure: this post contains an endless amount of Nix family photos and details.  There are multiple shots of the same child, doing the same thing, wearing the same cute outfit, on the same day.  I realize that a good writer knows her audience and "writes" to them, so to speak.  Well, my audience is my future self.  It is the future self that one day looks back and wonders "what exactly did I do with the law degree"?  Well, Future Sarah, you had an amazing family trip to Destin!

 This is our fifth annual family trip to Destin, and each year it seems to get better.  Thankfully, all three kiddos seem to love the beach as much as Brad and I do, which is good for them because otherwise they would have a miserable time :)

Our trip started off with a three hour flight delay in Houston, but luckily a family from Second Baptist was also flying into Florida and the kids entertained each other in the airport.  Natalie and James have always loved the shuttle ride to/from airport parking---they call it the "bus"

As soon as we landed we headed to the beach to squeeze in a few minutes of sunshine and sand.  Luke was determined to carry this ball with him.

As I said, numerous pictures of the same kid(s), doing the same thing, in the same outfit, on the same day.

The bucket Natalie is carrying is actually from last year.  My mom bought it for her at the dollar store, and she has talked of her "mermaid buk-tet" for the past three months.  She (and I) was elated that Aunt Susan still had it around!  

 

 

This little angel was not excited about the sand at first.  He couldn't figure out whether he disliked it enough to miss out on the fun that the other two were having.

My sweet boys

I was bound and determined to get a shot of the three of them in their cute beach outfits.  (I even begged a friend to monogram Luke's seersucker the night before we left)  By the end of the "photo shoot" everyone was wet, sandy and happy 

The menu at the beach includes a lot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Doritos (aka "beach chips"), bacon, ice cream, BLTs, and a few veggies thrown in here and there.  Luke LOVED cereal every morning.  And he loved pushing this truck around.

Like father, like son.

Luke and Natalie spent most of their days playing in the sand.  There was a lot of digging, dumping, and scooping

 

Much to James's dismay, Natalie thoroughly enjoyed knocking over the sand castles.  Little mischievous thing.

At one point Brad, Natalie and James were building a "pool" down near the water, which looks like this....

Luke and I were sitting in the sand, and he walked back up to the chairs, grabbed his shovel, and came and sat back down with me.  Ready to go in and help, if they needed him.

Lots of burying each other

Brad is the best playmate at the beach.  He will dig, swim, and pull the kids on the boogie board and boat until he is worn out.

 

This little dude.  Of all of our kids, this one has tolerated/liked the beach the most as a toddler.  He is about as laid back as it gets.....

Holding down the fort

"Uncle Jimmy" left a gift in the closet for James.  Needless to say, it was a huge hit!  I think we even managed to make it home with all of the superheroes, which is remarkable.

We also did a lot of cooking and baking this trip.  Here the kids are helping me make a chocolate and coconut pound cake, which Brad so graciously pointed out that I ate about 3/4ths of it.

James loved, loved, loved the beach and water.  Loved it.  He was in heaven running, playing, jumping, splashing, swimming, and boogie boarding over and over and over.   

 

 

 

Natalie was content, for the most part, to sit in the sand and watch. 

 

Two of my favorite pictures of this sweet, happy child

 I couldn't get enough of these cuddles

During nap time Brad and I will alternate--one stays at the house with the kids, and the other goes down to the beach for a little R&R.  On one of my days to stay at the house, this was my sweet nap partner.  Doesn't she look so little and so relaxed? 

Snacks at the beach.  In keeping with the menu, milk was somehow replaced with juice.

One evening Brad grilled burgers, and we had a picnic on the beach.  I believe James ate three ears of corn.  Not kidding.  A very fun and special evening.

One of my favorite things about our trip is breakfast at the Donut Hole.  My favorite pancakes.

Down by the Boardwalk.  

Boiled peanuts and a beer--what's not to love

This train is a rip off at $5/person, but they always seem to enjoy it.

We also make a stop at the go-karts each year.

What a difference a year makes.  Last year Natalie wanted nothing to do with the rides, but this year she wanted to ride over and over again.

These aren't the best pictures, but you get the idea.  On the way to ride go-karts, James said he wanted to ride with dad "so they would win".  

Again, not the clearest picture, but Natalie and I had a fun spin around the track as well.

Poor little Luke will have to wait a year--or two.

We bought kites for the kids earlier in the week, but Natalie somehow broke the string.  The entire week she kept asking when she was going to get to fly her kite.  I'm not sure if she really understood the concept, but she was amazed.  That is, until she just let go of it.  James was an expert.

 

 

In trying to compose this blog post, I went back and looked at our past beach trip pictures.  It is almost heartbreaking how quickly these kiddos are growing.

2013

2014

2015

2015 with an added beach-goer

2013

2014

2015

Still smiling on the flight home

We had a wonderful trip!  Perfect weather, precious time together, and a lot of relaxation.