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.

2015: We Walked on a Frozen Lake So Nothing Else Even Matters

{I wrote this on New Year's Eve, but I was in a funk and never posted it, so it's getting posted months later and I'm not that sorry. Happy New Year! ish? I guess?}

What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?
     We walked on a frozen lake! We were terrified and amazed! (Yes really, just ask Tinytown Sarah and her husband.)

So basically this was on January 2nd and we might as well have called 2015 a wrap after that, but I did some other new things too, like:
- drove halfway across the country with all three children, and back by myself with them!
- listened to audiobooks 
- got progressive lenses for my old lady eyes
- spent the night in a hotel room for no reason other than alone time (was glorious)

How did you spend New Year's Eve? 
     Sadly we did not get together with David and Another Nathan as we have for many years, since Clemson finally made it to the national championship game (go Tigers?) and Mark and I have had a long understanding that when/if this moment came, he would go. And he's going! To Phoenix, next week.
     Which means this weekend, we are home in Raleigh. We took the kids downtown to one of his company's office buildings for a 7pm "family hour" ringing in of the new year with fireworks. Now I'm fiddling on the computer and maybe we will watch a movie or new years rockin dicken clarken whatever at midnight. Woo!

Did you keep last year's resolutions, and will you make more for this year?
     Last year, I said I wanted to get a real job this year. And I did! I took a copywriting job earlier this fall and I hated it and resigned within six weeks, and then an opportunity came up to do similar work to what I did before the girls were born (a sales job, travel, in the non-profit sector, negotiating contracts with airlines and vendors for people doing mission trips, disaster relief, service work, humanitarian aid, etc). So far it's going okay but it's very new. 
     This year's resolution is but one: find the balance at home. With our jobs and our marriage and parenting and and and, we have been in upheavel/transition since Mark started his new job almost two years ago, and it will break us if we can't find the balance. FIND THE BALANCE. 

How old were you on your birthday, and what did you do? 
     I turned 35, and it was a fun lovely day. We went to worship as a family, and Nathan did his first communion that morning. Then Mark and I had a nice dinner date while Another Nathan was in the air flying down to see me after his own worky Sunday, and made me my most favorite birthday peanut butter pie. I ended the day feeling happy and so loved. Mark and I had a great visit with him that week.

Where did you travel? 
     We took a HUGE family road trip across eleven states and 17 days, and it was wonderful. Mark and I also went to Mexico for a fantastic kid-free getaway. And I went to Seattle in April and got lovedrunk on friend time! Oh, and a girls weekend for the Hoopla in Illinois in September, and a road trip to see my brother near Savannah that month too!

What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015? 
     Balance and heart-shaped feelings on the home front. A fancy new master bath. Jeans that I love. A pretty laptop bag. Sleep, all the sleep.

What would you like less of in 2016? 
     Upheaval at home. 

What dates from 2015 will remain etched in your memory? 
     March 20th, when my newest baby nephew Everett was born. July 30th, when we embarked on our road trip. November 30th, when I started back to work.

Whose behavior merited celebration? 
     At the top of the list, my dad, who becomes a better and better human with each passing year. He came to our house and lived here for a week so we could go to Mexico! He did all the things! ALL THE THINGS. 

I don't know very many (read: any) other grandpas who would single-dad three kids in two different schools for a week, alone. He is wonderful for that and a million other things, but that one is fresh on my mind tonight.

Whose behavior appalled you? 
     (Hmmm, a blog-palatable answer? *side eye*) People who push a pumpkin agenda in August.

Who did you miss? 
     My Grandpa Bumgarner, who died in June. His big 90th birthday celebration we had planned that month didn't get to happen. Suddenly I miss all my grandparents. I officially have no grandparents, and it's weird and sad. Another generation, passing on. 

Who is the best new person you met? 
     Everett! Look how sweet he is! 

What was your favorite show? 
     Frasier. Oh hush, you're not too good for Frasier. Knowing I was going to Seattle in April, I watched the whole series starting last winter. I don't watch a ton of TV so it took me most of the year, but I love it and I'm not sorry. Mark and I also cried like babies at the Parenthood finale, and we still like watching The Mindy Project together. Also! Kimmy Schmidt is pretty darn funny.

What was your favorite book this year? 
     I read A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara, and it was amazing. Really troubling content, told deeply and beautifully. This is a lifetime best book for me. I also really loved Lila by Marilynne Robinson, and I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson. 

What was your favorite movie? 
     Okay this will sound dumb, but Trainwreck. It's funny, it's sassy, it's sweet, and it has THE MOST satisfying end to a raunchy romcom I can ever remember seeing. It's an easy fun movie. Watch it. You're not too good for Trainwreck either. I promise.

What was your biggest achievement in 2015? 
     Oh lawd I don't know if I ever achieve anything that's worth anything, but I did spend some time this year sewing felt into delightful objects, like these cupcakes and this penguin. Totally counts as an achievement, by my math.

Your biggest failure? 
     I remain sleep broken, although there is a new kind of med on the market that works by dampening the awake part of your brain (instead of activating the drowsy part) (yes, those are two different things) and so maybe I'm improving little by little? But mostly I just can't ever sleep well and it suuuuucks to be a sleep failure. Coffee me.

Where did most of your money go? 
     Medical bills, mortgage, taxes, school tuition, Starbucks, plane tickets.

What was the best thing you bought? 
     Plane tickets, to see friends and have getaways in various places around the country. Getting away and outside of my real life and the routine is kind of a pain for planning, but is absolutely worth the effort and expense. It's so much easier to come back to real life if you've had a mental break to fill up on rest and friendship (or romance)!
     Also a new computer! Our broken B key finally found its inner channel to Satan himself, and wouldn't stop typing, so it was like bbbbBBBBBBBBbbbbbbbBBBBBBB and you couldn't even, like, reboot it or turn off the keyboard before it was accidentally overwhelming the laptop with BBBBbbbbbbBBBBB commands. It was terrible. Of all the things to crash a computer! Anyway we have a new one and I can type just one B now. See? b
     Also I bought this airplane bag. You need a fun airplane bag. Trust.

What political issue stirred you the most? 
     Marriage equality. It finally happened. What relief and joy! I cried real tears.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept this year? 
     I have no fashion concept but this year I did dye part of the underside of my hair teal, and I freaking love it. It's subtle when my hair is down, and fun when it's up (most of the time) and it just makes me happy. 

What was great this year when you weren't expecting it? 
     Giving the kids an allowance. I thought this would be a pain but was a necessary Learning Thing, but it turns out it's adorable to let them shop for things themselves when they have a finite limit of what they can get (and therefore what they ask me for), and it's kind of the best.

What did you get really really excited about? 
     Seattle! Winter was long and tedious and icy, with all four kids (including Ali) and I so needed that break in April. I read all the guidebooks and counted down the days, and it was just a wonderful time away with friends.

What song will always remind you of 2015? 
     Shut Up and Dance. Remember when someone made this amazing compilation video of cuts of famous movie dance scenes? That sold me, and I didn't mind hearing it on the radio all summer after that, including a new energizer at Montreat involving moon boots (and a choral version under a sermon that delighted me!) - it's a fun song in any format.  

What kept you sane? 
     Sunshine breaks, group texting, phone dates, coffee, kiddie snuggles, getaways, medication, therapy, and hahahahaha okay I'm not sane y'all. But lets pretend all these things mostly worked, kinda, maybe.

What valuable lesson did you learn this year? 
     I have none smart thoughtful takeaways about this year or life right now. I just don't, We did learn, though, that New Year's Eve without our favorite NYE buddies makes us sadder than we thought and let's not do that again if we can help it.

(Charlotte's biggest achievement of 2015 is her angry eyebrows. Girl's mad face is ON POINT. Happy New Year, etc.)

Days 12-17: Ohio, Grandpa's, Wateree, HOME

{Even more backdated now, etc.}

Day 12: Driving southward

After our sad teary goodbye, the kids and I embarked on the long journey south. We had no real plan except to... drive south. We made it back through Wisconsin and then halfway through Illinois we were invited to stay with Mr. David's parents in his childhood home. Sadly though, Nathan had a bit of carsickness, so we needed to stop about an hour short of getting there.

While we were stopped for some fresh air (while Nathan spent some quality time in a gas station bathroom), we noticed that right smack dab in the middle of nowhere, next to a cornfield (of course) and a random hotel, there was... a bomber plane. In a parking lot.

Like, a plane. In the parking lot. Of a gas station.

It was at this point in our journey that I decided I had seen so much that America was getting a bit punchy on me.

I don't even know.

We made it to the next town and crashed. Hard. It was our longest day of driving, and to end it somewhat green-gilled was not our favorite. But Normal, IL welcomed us just fine and we were all great come morning.

(Charlotte knows how to make the most of a hotel bed.)

Day 13: Cincinnati! Hillary!

We slept late and swam a few minutes in the hotel's pool, and then hit the road for Cincinnati. I had made plans with my friend Hillary months earlier, that we would come stay at her house on our southbound drive, whenever we might get as far as Cinci. And we did! She cooked us dinner and we had beers on her beautiful porch, and our friend Becky also came over, and it was great!

My children were nervous with her kids in their attic bedroom, so they all ended up in/around my bed in the guest room, but it worked out fine. Her house is beautiful and Cincinnati is a lovely city, right on the river.

Day 14: Carolinaside

We kept driving south, through what (to me) is some of the most gorgeous driving parts of the country: through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Kentucky and West Virginia.

We stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere, Kentucky, and had Mexican food wearing fancy hair. Why, what do you wear for roadside lunch stops?

We listened to an audio book, we stopped at a grocery story to refill the cooler (and laughed so hard we cried, because of the horrid smell in the stinkiest bathroom in America -- and let me tell you, it has to be a very specific special terrible smell to become funny instead of just horrid), and we stopped for a dinner right near the Virginia state line. Our last rest stop of the trip!

We texted my dad to see if we could crash for the night, and we made it there before bedtime. We did a little jig for being back in our home state, even though actual home was still many days away. The kids were very giggly and so happy to see him and be somewhere familiar.

Nathan also did a USA puzzle and it was more exciting than usual, after all the states we have just been through! Cue map obsession. He makes his grandpa proud. :)

Days 15-16: Lake Wateree, South Carolina

We made it to Opa and Oma's house in time for his annual birthday gathering! Even more importantly, we were reunited with Marky!

Sadly the vacation! yay! portion of the trip had mostly faded by this point; visiting with in-laws, mere days from our own beds, felt less road-trippy than the rest of our trip. But their house is completely gorgeous, and we had fun on the lake (me: with my buns in the hammock, reading).

And! I finally got to meet my friend Emily! She is a friend of my friend Kelley's, from their years in India together, and we have "known" each other online but never lived near each other until this year. And she drove an hour from her house to come and meet me and my kids and she is wonderful.

You know that feeling when you meet someone and they are exactly as lovely as you knew they would be? That.

Day 17: HOLY CRAP DAY SEVENTEEN (Homebound!)

We hit the road. Homebound. Mark had his own car so it was one last leg with the kids and me. One last pool hair selfie, one last Starbucks, one last snack from the cooler, one last redbox DVD, one more chapter of audiobook to listen to.

And then, the sweet sweet sight of our sweet little house. WE ARE HOME.

The whole trip was fantastically fun and wonderful and exhausting and I would do it again in a hot minute.

Beach Week 2015

Here, have some pictures from the beach. This will be our last spring Bumgarner beach week -- with school schedules all varying between the cousins, we are moving it to August next year. More reliable for warm weather, and a schedule that doesn't rely on spring break, which is different for all the cousins in different school systems. This house at Holden Beach has been really good to us over the years, and for our last April trip, the weather was spot-on perfect.

Reading on the beach means he is a child after my own heart.

We have reached a magical age where they play together and don't get sand on me,
and don't... need me. So I can close my eyes and the beach is relaxing again.
WE MADE IT.

Hey Nathan Y U look like a teenager?

Charlotte talked Brad and Marija's ears off, but what are rocking chairs for?

These two are still cousin besties.

Nathan would only allow himself to be buried in sand
if Uncle Sean suggested it. No one else. No one.

Mark was helping the kids see the dolphin he spotted.
But let's be honest, all I was thinking was *dat ass*

Just kidding, I love him more than life itself.
(Not kidding though, with the ass, I mean.)

I taught him the selfie art of LOOKING AT THE DOT.

This trip is seriously one of the best things we do every year. Thank you, Dad. For real. We love it and we love the time together and we love you.   <3 p="">