Bumgarner (Birthday!) Beach Week

With all the grandkids getting older and starting school, in a variety of school districts with varying school district schedules, we opted last year to move our family's beach week to August instead of spring break. So we had to wait several extra months this year to scratch our beach itch, but we finally made it! And celebrated Charlotte's birthday there, to boot!

(Girl's going to start thinking she gets a trip every year for her birthday.)

I made a laughably fundorable janky sunshine cake, per her beach birthday request, and it was... something. (She loved it.)

In better crafty news, I also made that shirt myself with a roll of iron on glitter paper and a blowing up a fun font and tracing it, oh yes I did, LIKE A BOSS.

Her one birthday request for the beach was to have an egg hunt. Normally we have always been there near Easter of course, and we often do a big family egg hunt outside on Easter afternoon after our beach arrival. Egg hunts aren't really part of our Easter celebration at home, so she totally associates eggs with the beach, not Easter itself. And. So. She wanted one for her birthday. At the beach. BECAUSE EGG HUNTS ARE A NORMAL BEACH ACTIVITY DUH.

After her birthday, the rest of the week was full of drinking and ice cream and watching the Olympics together, which was sort of fun since we hadn't done that together since we were kids.

We also took some of the kids to a tye dye event in the little pavilion by the town hall. Excellent activity.

We waited by a turtle nest for some turtle rescuers to shepherd some babies into the ocean (Holden Beach is a turtle sanctuary and we were there exactly the right week!) but it had already mostly hatched, so we only got to see leftover eggs, no babies.

John and Mark and the kids built a lot of sandcastles. Like, a lot. A LOT. Sometimes I think those two only pretend to be into it "for the kids" because they just legit like digging themselves.

Anneliese figured out how to ride waves in on the boogie board, and spent literal hours doing it. At one point during the week she asked me if there was an olympic medal for boogie boarding. "No reason, just curious."

We had some lovely evenings out on the beach, too. Our normal (little kid) routine had been to bring everyone in by 4 or 5 for dinner and then into bed afterwards. But this time of year, when it's hot in the day and everyone doesn't need to be in bed super early (because Olympics) (and getting older), it became easier to have some a/c time inside in the middle of the afternoon, and play to our hearts' content in the evening. Just so amazingly beautiful.

And fun uncles make things pretty fun too.

Thanks for a fun week as always, Dad and Cathy! It's so fun to see how the kids grow up all crowded around you at the beach every year. We are lucky to do this and lucky to have you.

It seems every Carolinian family has "their" beach town that they go to every year, a thing that is apparently unfamiliar outside of this part of the country. But it happens, it starts to feel like home, everyone has one, and this one is ours.

See you next year, Holden Beach.

Clemson, Brene, Sunshine Charlotte

When I was in Illinois, Mark took Nathan to Clemson for a football game, and he met up with his college roommate Jeff, and his kids, and they all watched the game together. I can't remember the last time I have gotten happier sweeter texts from Mark while I was gone. It turns out that thing we all did in college, where we dreamed of the day we would be back in the fun college places we loved, with our college friends, and our college friends' future hypothetical children? Yeah, men do that too. And it's just as sweet and happy.

I love seeing Marky share his special joys with our kids. (The girls will get their turn next.)

I went on another road trip, too, just a quick jaunt yesterday to Charlotte to meet up with my sister and see Brene Brown give a talk downtown. We knew she would be good, but we weren't expecting her to be so funny. She was great. She is brilliant and sassy and somehow makes both her brilliance and her sassiness super... accessible? Yes, accessible is the word I think I want. Everyone should go and read all of her books, immediately, stat, post haste, yes right now.

A bonus of our night (besides our super ability to find the most flattering light for selfies, OBVS) was that we stumbled into the most random of random Mexican places for a snack before the event (like, random as in, they looked a little surprised to have customers at all, much less white lady mom types) and anyway it ended up being freaking delicious, but on top of that, a group of older men (post-work types? grandpa types? we don't even know) bought us drinks, and tried to buy us more, and just... whaaaa?

That is the first time a stranger has ever bought me a drink in public. It was not what I was expecting. They also did not speak any English. SO. Random adventures for the win.

This has nothing to do with anything, but look: here is Charlotte and baby Claire at the bus stop. She got lots of waves that day.

Also, it's a good thing she is basically a ray of sunshine (at least here) (ha), because this picture was taken the last time the actual sun was out. It's been over a week of rain. COME BACK, SUN.

I don't even remember anymore what this post was intended to being about when I started writing it but! This... (?) is apparently what it's about now! Hi!

Bluffton

We went to the Savannah area to see my brother Brad!

Yes, on the road again. Just a few short weeks after being on the road for many many many days. But it was worth it, because he has a new house and new job and he lives near the beach! Yay!

Y'all, it rained. Boo.

(Charlotte was basically reduced to abject weeping by the time we left town and she still hadn't seen the beach.)

But Uncle Brad was still sweet enough to take Nathan out to the Savannah harbor where he works, and show him his boat, and the container ships coming in and out, and even let him sit in the captain's chair. Which probably isn't called a captain's chair. That's what they call it in a minivan. I assume on a boat it has a better name? A bridge maybe? Is this even a boat, or is it a ship?

I don't know the lingy loo. I am not boat savvy. WHATEVER BOAT NERDS.

And we spent the rest of the weekend lounging with coffee and snacks and Netflix and target toys, which was just fine even though it wasn't the beach.

On Saturday night my sister came down with her whole family too, and one other brother Collin from Hilton Head nearby, and we threw the kids in bed and drank a lot of Draaanks and played Cards Against Humanity and here is what I have learned about my family while playing drinky card games:

1.) Brad has a super sick sense of humor. Not sick in a good way. Like, sick in a wide eyes way.
2.) Ashley's husband John cannot make a joke without explaining it. CANNOT.
3.) I miss Marky when everyone else is hanging out and he's not there.
4.) Collin's girlfriend has no idea what she's getting into if she wants into this Bumgarner mess.
5.) Brad and Marija were champs to have all of us in their house at once. Champs I say.

CHAMPS, I SAY.

It was a weekend of bad sleep and I came home exhausted, but I am so glad we went. It's fun whenever we can all be together, and it doesn't happen enough. Also, the kids and I didn't mind at all being on the road even more. We have gotten good at it! We listened to The BFG on the way down, and Matilda on the way back, and the kids loved both of them. I had forgotten how either of them ended, and was startled on both counts.

And now I need to crawl in bed and sleep for many days. I am officially traveled out.

Mt. Holly for the Fourth

We spent the weekend with my sister and her family in Mt. Holly for the holiday weekend. Let me tell y'all something about small towns: they know how to do patrotic holidays in the best most 'MERICA ways possible.

On Friday night we made a campfire at Ashley's and lit sparklers for the kids, and made s'mores. It was hot as the blazes and John's idea of a campfire is basically FOREST FIRE (just kidding) (except kinda not) but the kids loved it and baby Everett didn't seem to mind the cloud of ashes blowing around his head too much.

But! The s'mores were fantstic, and the sparklers were SO FUN, and John even got some long rainbow ones for Anneliese, because he is an A++ uncle, for real.

On Saturday morning we got up early to take the kids to a parade in town. Except they were actually in the parade -- one of those things where all the kids can dress up in red, white and blue and ride a bike or a wagon or whatever, and wave. Since they are so little, we all decided to walk with them.

Which is, apparently, what everyone else decided to do too. Because basically everyone else who showed up for the parade was also in the parade. There were maybe ten bystanders along the whole route.

Basically, the whole town took a walk together, is what I'm saying.

And then afterward there was free ice cream for all the participants! (So, the whole town.)

(And yes, it really was free. I finger-erased those quote marks for them.) (I also erased the ones around parade but Ashley pointed out in hindsight those probably could have stayed. Ha.)

So here we are, parade completed and eating ice cream, all by 10am. 'MERICA!

After the parade we went to John's dad's house, where he lives in a compound of sorts with his mom and sister. (It's not really a compound, they just call it that. Their houses all back up together and they share a pool and tennis court and such. It's cool!)

The kids swam in the pool and John jerry-rigged the slide with a hose so they could use that too. We had pizza for lunch and the baby slept in the outdoor bar area and then it started raining and we still had trouble pulling the kids from the water.

Anneliese did this slide easily a hundred times. Just, on repeat, never less delighted with it.


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch on YouTube.)

That night, John set off a bunch of fireworks and... okay. Here's the thing. They weren't fancy by like anyone's downtown official fireworks show standards. But they were waaaaay fancier than what any one person should be shooting off at home in their front yard. I mean. It was very cool to see, and also a tiny bit terrifying.

John had some noise blocking ear covers for the shooting range (of course he does) so Charlotte wore those until she fled away with Anneliese.

The boys were impressed and the girls were... impressed from the window inside the house.

Happy small town fourth of July, everyone!

And Then March Happened, Apparently

That thing where you are months behind so you just post a lot of random thoughts, because people like that better than carefully crafted themed posts anyway right? Hi, welcome to the March (waaaaaay later than March) edition of I Don't Even Know What This Post is About.

Okay so the most important thing is that my sister had a baby! After a pregnancy lasting forty weeks plus four months (she is a dolphin, you didn't know?) (ask me how I know about gestation length of dolphins anyway *side eye*Nathan*) she delivered her third son (yes THIRD) (yes, her oldest is Charlotte's age) (yes, she would accept any of your prayers for sanity) and anyway, meet my newest nephew Everett! He is perfect.

Also! Ali turned one! ONE! I can't believe it's been a year. I love her so much.

The weather got warm and the girls had been asking Mark to plant something, so he took them to pick out flowers and some veggie seeds, and he pulled some dying shrubs out of an area near the pool, and they turned that space into a little garden.

The girls are totally taken with it. (Nathan too, although mostly he is too cool to act like it.)

Oh! Speaking of cool ("cool") Nathan also did a weather project where he needed to write a report including a media/visual component about some weather phenomenon. He chose monsoons. He did a good job researching and writing the paper, and then he made a little video to show why monsoons can damage houses even if you put plastic on your roof, like some people in monsoon-prone areas have to do.

I'm not sure this video actually proves anything, other than he likes to build with legos (and make videos), but it still tickles me. You know you want to see it. Right?



Another random Nathan thing, from the grocery store one night: "Hey this is the same kind of bread Jesus ate! You can tell by the shape!"

(Pretty good endorsement for Kroger, yes? JESUS HIMSELF ETC ETC.)

Hmmmm I... have no idea what else happened in March. Let's look at some pictures.

Anneliese, wearing a lot of colors, and not one but two headbands, including one with a donut on it, because obviously:

Me with all the kids, taking a walk on the greenway, proving once again that it is difficult to get very many people to look at the camera at once:

Charlotte, looking half teenager and half baby:

Perfectly reasonable outfits for a Target run:

And! Marky made me a brownie in a skillet one night when I had a random hankering, and he sort of made it up from a boxed mix, and then he throw ice cream on top, and it was delicious. You know how some things are just exactly what you had a taste for, except even a little bit better? He wins everything.

We ate it on the couch in front of Netflix, because we are good at being grownups.

The Christmas When I Forgot Pants

Well, we had ourselves a merry little Christmas. We did the traveling portion of the celebrations before Christmas this year instead of after, which is different for us -- it made the shopping and prep part feel a little rushed, but once we got out of town and got back, we were kind of glad to be home and settled and relax here, just our little family. It felt like far less frenzy than it does some years.

I managed to get all the way to Huntersville, for four family celebrations within three days, and I packed no pants. Zero. NONES PANTS. I wore leggings and a tunic to church on Sunday, and went straight from there out of town. I had packed a bunch of shirts and sweaters but no pants to go with them, and no other tunics or long tops, and no room in our schedule of gatherings to run to Target, so! I wore that tunic and leggings for daaaaaysssss and the good news is I didn't even burn it afterwards.

Anyway. Pictures of Christmas. My outfit on repeat x1000 is barely pictured. Because I can't stand the sight of it. Because obviously.

Reading on his new Kindle, wearing airplane
slippers and reindeer antlers... #doingitright

Anneliese had been asking for colored streaks in her hair for months,
and then Santa put hair chalks in her stocking! She was... excited.

It might be Christmas if your parents let you ride a scooter in the house.

Charlotte also got a new baby doll (she named it Claire, her middle name)
and an Elsa nightgown which we passed off as a dress-up dress. We are smart. 

That awkward moment when you're trying to pretend-
straighten your hair and your dad keeps photo-bombing you.

Giant wall atlas!
Hey Nathan, your Bumgarner is showing.

These magnatiles we gave Nathan were a hit with *all* the kids. RECOMMEND.

Taking pretend selfies with Daddy. Ahhh child of the new millenium.

All the kids/spouses/grandkids were able to make it to Dad's this year! Whoa!

Anneliese and Grandma

Decorating cookies at Ashley's house with my mom.
I'm not saying my decorating was the best, but... it kinda was.

And then I came home and put on jeans and it was awesome, the end.