The Reed Family: 4th of July at the Beach

We just got back from a fabulous few days at the beach. It went by way too fast! Carrie and Andres joined us again this time and that made it so fun! We did have a bit of a hiccup on the way down. Andres couldn't come until Wednesday and Carrie really wanted to get there Tuesday night with us so she rode with us (in one extremely packed car--we took turns wedging ourselves in between the carseats in the back!). We didn't leave until 5 and at around 8:30, we realized that all of us forgot our keys to get in the condo. Thank goodness for Larry the Locksmith who met us there at 10 pm Tuesday night and got us in! It was pretty funny--Carrie had to work her magic on him, especially after the first person we called was going to charge us $125 to do it! She was the ultimate "damsel in distress" on the phone. How could he not help?!?! He ended up being really nice and we were very grateful that he drove 35 minutes to help us!

Anyway, my parent's condo has always had a big 4th of July celebration. Carrie and I have so many memories from our childhood of the 4th of July and now that I have kids, I was so excited for them to experience it too!

It started out a 9 am with a parade for all the kiddies. We met in the rec room where they had all kinds of stuff for the kids to decorate themselves in. Hudson even got his first tattoos! Ha! Then, all the kids marched into the courtyard and around to pool to patriotic music and it is always so cute! They have the "opening ceremonies" so to speak and then the games begin! Here we are right before the parade started!

Hudson didn't sleep the entire way down to the beach so he really didn't get to bed until 11 the night before and he was crabby. Phew. He was downright awful at times, but I guess it was expected with the amount of sleep that he had.

The games are for all ages. Each race had heats for kids ages 0-6, 7-14, and 15 and up (I think). The first race was the sprint race and Carrie and I both participated! Hudson was shy and wouldn't go in his age group, but he ended up running with me. I think we came in last. :( Oh well. I wasn't bitter or anything. Ha! When we were kids, there was a prize for the big winner of the day in each age group so it was really competitive. My mom even broke a rib one year when she was doing the sprint race and dove towards the finish line. I think now everyone gets a prize. Oh how times have changed! It is still fun though!

Once we got to the sack race, Hudson was ready to go. Of course, he chickened out once the race started. Carrie and I passed on the sack race. We weren't really dressed for a whole lot of up and down jumping if you know what I mean! :)

Then it was the donut on a string game for the little kids. They had to eat the donut without using their hands. It was so funny because it was quite frustrating for most of them, including Hudson. He just didn't understand why he couldn't use his hands!

Some hula hooping...

Then the beach ball race (Carrie will probably kill me for putting this one up!), but it was too funny not to share.

Harrison finally joined us after his morning nap. Someone was happy to see him!

I think Hudson's favorite thing of the morning was when he got to shoot Daddy's face with a water gun and get all the shaving cream off. He loved it! Daddy was a good sport!

It started raining right before lunch and rained until almost 3 in the afternoon. We got back outside just in time for the egg toss. This is THE game that Carrie and I always won as kids. We are serious about the egg toss (as is most everyone!). Well, we did awful. Carrie will say that I failed her because the egg did break on me, but I will say that she is the one that cracked it on the toss before when she dropped the egg. Whatever happened, we have vowed to practice throughout the year to be ready for next year's toss. We will win! Ha! I'm so kidding...

Later on that evening, they had a pinata and Hudson got to take a few swings. He did so good!

You try telling the kids to sit and wait patiently until everyone has had a turn and all the candy is out. They were like sharks waiting to attack the bait!

And then it was mass chaos and I think Hudson got knocked on the head. He came out crying! If you notice on the left of the picture, there is Carrie running in the mix of all the little kids and grabbing some candy. She says it was for Hudson, but I don't know if I believe her! :)

Hudson recovered and still got a full bag of candy! Don't worry!

We used the candy for bribing Hudson to take some pictures afterwards!

After we took some pictures, the whole place had a big cookout and then we had fireworks. Hudson loved the fireworks! I thought he might get scared because we were so close that we were getting pegged with pieces of the fireworks, but he loved it. It was a late night, but well worth it! We already can't wait for next year!

It rained one morning so we decided to take the kids to the Gulfarium in Fort Walton. I have to say that it was kind of a bust, but I think Hudson enjoyed it. Doesn't the picture below scream tourists?!?!?

We did see a sea lion show and a dolphin show, so that was kind of fun! And then we had lunch at AJ's afterwards and walked the dock and saw all the boats, so Hudson was in heaven! He is obsessed with boats and wanted to get in them all!

We were planning to go out to eat one night this time and as the day went on, we were afraid the boys just couldn't handle it. We let Carrie and Andres go on out without us and we headed to Seaside to grab something quick. They just happened to be having movie night and this little boy just couldn't leave without watching some of it! What we thought was going to be an early night to bed ended up being one of the latest nights out (and we actually stayed out later than Carrie and Andres!). We watched most of Puss and Boots in Seaside and had a great time!