Let Freedom Ring!

I'm only a week late posting about my 4th of July, but I hope yours was just as full of sun, family, red, white, and blue, nautical colors, watermelon, hot dogs and hamburgers, and all the fun and fireworks that mine was.

We left for Holden Beach the Friday before the fourth of July holiday and knew that it was going to be hot one way or another, in town or at the beach, so why not spend a few days at the beach? Since I was a little girl, my favorite part after the long 4 hour drive was when we reached this big bridge and could see the ocean and Inland Waterway down below!

My Grannie hadn't been feeling well, and my mom and stepdad weren't coming down with us until later in the week, so Scot and I and the kids actually got the whole beach house to ourselves. This is a rare treat, and we realized how special this was and soaked up as much family time as we could. As always, this includes a trip down to the dock and then a run on the beach to get out the sillies after being cooped up in the car for so long.

And a ride in Ryder's dump truck sure helped break in the beach and get into vaction mode too!

So Ryder has gradually gotten more and more used to the water, whether it be the pool or the ocean, and he was finally ready to ride the waves on the Boogey Board! He did great and I was just able to capture him on this wave before he took a nose dive and decided he most certainly did NOT like warm salt water up his nose and in his eyes. He refused to get back on the board after this, but I was so glad I got this moment on camera before he fell.

We went out for a yummy ice cream treat after washing off the sand and salt water, and Ryder was so happy that they had not only his favorite color of ice cream, BLUE, but also his favorite treat, BUBBLEGUM!

Ryder and Brynley in their matching Holden Beach shirts. I was really trying to persuade Ryder to get the Merman t-shirt and let Brynley wear a cute Mermaid t-shirt, but he was dead set on the shark shirt instead. They looked pretty cute in them I must say!

Scot and I got plenty of time to ourselves, as we would take turns watching the kids while the other surfed and ran (Scot), and I got to read. I actually laid out each morning and read TWO books while I was at the beach! This is a record for me and I am so grateful for the husband I have, as well as my sweet Mom and Stepdad who got in later in the week and gave us time for dates on the beach too!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought what a cute festive way to represent the red, white, and blue than these shots! I started them with the blue jello so they were all uniform and pretty, but then Scot got ahold of them while I was laying out reading on the beach, and he kind of made a mess of them, but that's okay because they still tasted yummy!

I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE these cute pictures I was able to get of my babies! Of course I usually have to bribe Ryder to get any pictures these days, but he ws a trooper and was in a great mood and gave me lots of smiles and was happy to love on Brynley. And she was soaking it all up!

Again, this is my favorite picture of Brynley lately too! She is just so sweet and I laugh because minutes before I took this picture, she'd been rolling around in the sand, not a care in the world!

So to ya'll, all my Blog Friends, I wish you a very belated, but Happy 4th of July!