Life with the Gilmore's

September 2013

The Gilmore's had a pretty easy-ish month of September...we did not take any trips and just enjoyed a few weekends at home, which was really nice. I was busy with a lot of the local consignment sales- tagging my items, sorting them, dropping them off, then shopping the sales. It is so much fun though and saves us sooo much money. It is also fun now that we have a good bit to sell and I enjoy getting that check at the end of the sale. Sorry for a boring month's post, but hopefully you enjoy!

September 10: Caleb had his 1st class field trip. Now that he is in the 4 year old class, they are doing so many "big kid" things like field trips, going to he library, and attending chapel. I was so excited to see the chaperone list in the hallway and quickly signed up. I was a little disappointed to learn that I did not get to go to the fire station with them, but instead just met them at the park afterward for a picnic lunch and playtime. It was SO hot that day so they cut the play time at the park a little short because all of the kids were a sweaty mess! Caleb really enjoyed it, especially his Mommy being there.

September 16: Several friends from our Sunday School met up with us for our “Bike Riding Gang” at a local park. All of our kids are around the same ages and love riding their bikes, so it is nice to meet up and chat while they ride. Caleb thinks it is so much fun because otherwise he just gets to ride around the block of our neighborhood! There is a creek alongside the path so of course, we all had to stop and throw rocks in…Miss Kailyn got a little muddy, thank goodness I put her in play clothes that day!

September 20-22: Our weekend with Kailyn. Jeremy has been having a hard semester with school and Jeremy’s parents wanted to help out a bit so he could study so they offered to keep Caleb for the weekend. Although we had a little break from not having 2 kids, I don’t know how much extra study time Jeremy really got- Kailyn is quite demanding! Friday night we took her to Baumhower’s Wings for dinner then we went to the park to play and feed the ducks. She had a lot of fun and I really think she realized that she was the only child and was just eating up all of the extra attention! Saturday I took her out and about for a while so that Jeremy could study. I met my Mom at the local craft show then we went to lunch. Kailyn got a few new bows and we sampled a few food items, but that is about all we got at the craft show!

Then on Sunday we went to Church but it was a little different this week!! Our Church hosted a ONE Church service…it was outside, all 4 services together in the field. They had a big stage set up and a good variety of music from both the traditional and contemporary services. Afterward, there were lots of food trucks to get food from and picnic. They also had several games set up for the kids. We really enjoyed this extra fellowship opportunity and hope they do it again next year!

September 27: So our really really good friends moved to Austin recently. They were one of the four families in our small group and we are missing them like crazy. This day Ashley hosted a “Goodbye” party for her daughter, Bella to say bye to all of her Alabama friends. It was a rocky transition for her so hopefully this helped with that. It was a fun party, our kids love play places, but it was bittersweet because the whole time I was thinking this is our last time for our kids to really play together!

**Be sure to keep going and see the previous post about our beach trip that kicked off our September!

Oh yea, and ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!

August 30- The day after Caleb’s Birthday, we woke up and started packing! We were so excited to be heading to Pensacola, FL for 10 days!! Daddy went to work for ½ day while we packed up, then he came home to help us finish up and we set out on the road. The kids did fairly good on the drive, Kailyn was a little fussy towards the end but a McDonald’s milk shake stop made her pretty happy for that last little stretch! We did not take any pictures this day- what?! Once we made it to Pensacola, we made our one stop at Publix for groceries then headed to our condo to unload and get settled in. Once all of that was done, we whipped up a quick dinner for the kiddos and it was bedtime. Thankfully they were tired and not too upset about not getting any beach time this day…there would be plenty of time for that!

August 31- The kids woke up so excited to be at the beach. Caleb, of course, knew exactly what was going on and what we got to do that day. I think Kailyn just fed off of his excitement! We ate a quick breakfast then hit the pool and the beach. Josh, Jessica, and Addison arrived before lunch time, just as we were finishing up at the beach. This Saturday was also special because it was the kick off to Alabama’s 2013-14 football season! We had cheese dip and sausage rolls to snack on and watched the game this afternoon. Of course, the kids did not want to watch much of the game so the Mommies took them to the beach to take some pictures during half time, then took them back inside to put on play clothes and we played on the beach and watched the sunset- it was awesome. The guys made it back out just in time for a fun crab hunt!

September 1- Our first "full" day at the beach with no plans, aka- no football interruptions! We played at the beach and the pool all morning long. Caleb and Addison discovered that they loved playing in the ocean with their life jackets on and had lots of fun. Jessica even caught Addison some Hermit crabs to take home! After the kids' naps, we headed out to dinner. It was a Sunday but it was still a holiday weekend and everything was crowded...except for a crowd favorite, Sidelines. It is just a small sports grill but they really do have some of the best food in Pensacola.

September 2- The girls headed over to Destin, FL for a shopping day!! It was a much needed break and we enjoyed shopping without little ones in tow. We ate lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Cheeseburger in Paradise then shopped at the Outlets most of the day. Once we had shopped until we dropped and then some, we ended our night at the Back Porch for a delicious dinner. Meanwhile, the guys had the munchkins swimming all day then they took the trolley into town to the Margaritaville BAR for dinner...yes, they took the kids to a bar. Supposedly it was fun because they got to order special Sprite (Shirley Temples) and there was a guy playing guitar there. Caleb still talks about that trolley ride and how much fun they had when it was just the boys plus Sissy and Addison!!

September 3- The Mommy's were back in business and the kids were excited we were back when they woke up! Grandmama had bought them all a surprise from the Disney store so they all got spoiled first thing. We enjoyed another lazy morning at the beach and pools, of course! Then we (mainly Josh) cooked a big dinner of fried fish, shrimp scampi, and much more. Caleb and Addison made their own pizza too. It was a good afternoon to stay in because a few storms danced around us. Once we saw that it was clear, we headed out to take some family pictures. Unfortunately with the cloud coverage and time, it got a little too dark too fast. Once the flash starts coming on with the camera, you loose a lot of quality. But we got a few good ones!

September 4- Now it was the guy's turn to take some time away. Great for us Mom's, their Tee Time wasn't until after lunch so they got to play at the beach and pool with us all morning- yay!! Once the kids woke up from naps, we took them to Peg Leg Pete's for dinner. It was a little tough without the Daddies to help, but we still managed to have a good time. After dinner the kids enjoyed exploring the playground, the harbor, and dancing to the live music.

September 5- We started off our morning watching the dolphins swim in the waves right in front of our condo. It was so neat! There were at least 4-5 of them out there playing. Then we did our usual morning out on the beach and pool with the kids. During nap time Josh, Jessica, and Addison went out on the town, so the rest of us went out after nap time to eat dinner at Crabs. We even got a few more family photos in after we ate! Then we all met up afterwards for a fun late afternoon swim and a crab hunt before bed time. AND I must mention that this is the day that Caleb officially can swim without a life jacket. He said he wanted to try it and then took off like a little fish...he never stopped the rest of the vacation!

September 6- Can you guess what we did today?! It was a little sad though because it was Josh, Jessica, and Addison's last morning at the beach. They came out to the beach and pools with us for a bit then had to head inside to pack up. They headed home a little before lunch. Since Caleb was a little upset about Addison leaving, we decided to have a special no nap day for him and we stayed at the pool alllll of Kailyn's nap time. We headed back in with just enough time to get ready for dinner. Caleb swam and swam and swam- this kid could not get enough water!! For dinner we enjoyed a delicious meal at Hemingway's, which ended up being another favorite for us. The restaurant has a nice back porch facing the bay/harbor, which was perfect for a few after dinner photos. Unfortunately, Caleb was exhausted beyond imagination and layed in my lap for most of dinner! He seemed to be ok after dinner, but there were a few rough moments while we were eating...he is just a kid that really still needs that afternoon nap because he plays so hard when he is awake!

September 7- This was our last full day at the beach so we headed out to play in the sand extra early and then enjoyed some pool time. We did everything for the "last" time- seashell hunting, swimming in the ocean, building a sandcastle, jumping in the pool, etc. Caleb kept saying how sad he was to have to go home! After we ate dinner at Flounder's, we surprised Caleb with a night time swim in the dark, which he thought was awesome.