Sunny days, taking my cares away...

Well not really... I'll explain.

Our best friends got us free VIP tickets to see Sesame Street Live this afternoon. We have been looking forward to taking Ella for weeks and they were also taking their little girl Mae who is 6 months younger. Well Ella has started getting her two canines in and also came down with a cold with a nasty cough. Last night she had a hard time sleeping because of the cough and had a low fever which hopefully is from her teeth. We kept going back and forth over if we should go or not. She played in the morning like normal and seemed fine other than the coughing. She went down for a morning nap and we decided we would wait and see how she felt when she woke up. I ran to the store to get some natural honey cough syrup hoping it would help. She never naps in the morning but today she did and we were supposed to leave at 12. We finally got her to wake up and and struggled to get out the door. We decided we would go and if she started feeling bad we would just get up and leave. We were late meeting our friends to get our tickets but thankfully they weren't too mad at us at least I hope not :)

We got to the Bilo Center ( umm I mean the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, I mean really who is ever going to call it that mouthful? ) a little after one. Our friends had also got us passes to a little VIP lounge  for the kids where they had kiddie food and drinks set up and tables where they could color. Why don't we ever score these setups when we go to concerts Jess? They devoured their popcorn and Capri Suns and we waited for the characters to come thru.

Our sweet friends Ben and Jessica with little MaeMae

The Many Faces of Mae

What? I get to see Elmo!!

Finally we thought the characters were coming thru! The Count made his appearance. Mae and Ella were waving at him from afar but once he came up to their table they wanted no part of it!

I just love Andrew's expression here and the Count has no clue where to look!

We kept waiting thinking Elmo was going to show up but he must of been too good for the meet and greet. We suspected he was still in the "Green Room" getting some sort of special blow dry on his fur. Andrew said they sent the reject to the meet and greet and that the Count isn't even on the episodes right now. Yea someone watches a little too much Sesame Street and I'm not talking about Ella LOL. Andrew knew every characters name.

It was time to go to the show! We had great seats and we spaced Ella off away from Mae so we didn't get her sick too. I was surprised that there was hardly anyone there. We had the whole row to ourselves. Ella clapped along in the beginning but as time wore on her little , almost 2 year old wiggly self was ready to get up and 'walk' as she kept saying. We tried to let her sit in her own seat but then she just wanted to climb over the seat in front of her and so on. Andrew was trying to tame the wild goose. I got out her snacks that Jess said I won 'Mom of the Year' award for and that kept her still for a little bit.  Mae was the star child and happily sat in her parents' lap and clapped and danced along. Then there is us wrestling an alligator. I'm sure Andrew is secretly thinking 'I told you so!' :)

You can just see the excitement on his face!

Enjoying the first half!

Poor baby's teeth hurt!

Thankfully we made it to intermission. Andrew thought the show was over, little did he know! We walked out to the lobby and Ella happily ran all over the place. I'm used to the lobby at the Bilo Center being jam packed but there was literally like 10 people there. We decided we would get our stuff and move to the very last row when the show started back so we could get up and leave if we had to. The show started back and we lasted maybe 5 mins before the I want to squirm around started back. As we walked out, we just looked at each other and laughed! Andrew told Ella jokingly he hoped she enjoyed seeing her friend Mae because it would probably be the last time they ever invited us out. We will have to do a park or zoo next time Jess :) We also concluded we have no clue how all of you parents handle more than one child because we can't handle one! We told Ella we hope she enjoys playing with us forever because that's all there will probably be haha!

We left exhausted but that wasn't the end of our day!

We were famished because we didn't eat lunch before we went so we pulled into the only fast food place Andrew will eat at - The Chickfila! We went thru the drive thru and Ella immediately screamed WEEEE ( thinking she would get to go play on the playground since we had also just ate at ChickFila the day before). Oh no Miss Priss you haven't been good enough for that :) You know Andrew has had a bad day when he orders a combo with fries! He is a tad bit of a health nut so I knew he meant business! We scarfed down our food and started to head home but then we came across THE Hobby Lobby! Oh how I love this place and I have been to it at least once a week for the past 2 months shopping for Ella's birthday party! As soon as we walked in the monsoon rain came! So we took our time looking around and then Ella was ready to go. At about the same time my sister sends me a list of a billion frames she wants me to get for her for a collage wall she is doing at my parent's house. Ok maybe it wasn't a billion but when you have a 2 year old screaming and trying to stand up in the buggy screaming WALK! BYE! - it feels like it. Andrew agreed to take Ella to the car while I began the scavenger hunt. Nah I would really do anything for my sister. I got it all and finally was out the door!

Andrew wanted to go to The Vitamin Shoppe to get his protein on the way home. He typed it into GoogleMaps and it said there was one 5 minutes away in Greer. I had never known there to be one there but hey the iPhone is never wrong right? So we head down the road and it says we have arrived at our destination. We looked around and where we were at we knew there was no way The Vitamin Shoppe was there. Instead it was a compounding pharmacy. I guessed GoogleMaps thought well you can shop for vitamins there but not exactly what we meant Mr. Google. So then we decide to drive up to Spartanburg. Ella was asleep anyways so we figured just let her nap. The poor thing was exhausted. I also didn't argue because I knew if we went there then I could get me a Pumpkin Spices Latte from Barnes and Noble next door :) Oh it was SO good! Perfect drink for this rainy day!

So even though the day was very trying at times we still had a fun Saturday together! Thanks again Bruces for inviting us! We promise to be better company next time :) 

Hope everyone had a great Saturday!

Toes in the Sand

At the last minute we planned a Labor Day weekend getaway to the beach! My parents, sister, Ella and I went. My husband absolutely hates the beach so he stayed at home.

We were all so excited to see what Ella thought about the beach this year. Last year she was about to turn 1 and she loved the water but hated the sand. She loves playing in the pool at Nana and Pop Pop's so we figured she would like the ocean again this year. Boy were we wrong :)

My sister, Ella and I got to the beach first and my parents came later in the evening. We first went up to the condo we rented to check in. As soon as we walked into the condo you could see the ocean out the massive living room windows. Ella shouted "WaWa!!" We quickly changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach!

The ocean terrified her! She would point her finger to the ocean and say "No! No! WaWa! Way!". Translation "No! No water! Go away!". She would get so scared if she saw one of us walk towards the water and just scream for you to come back.

She was much more a fan of the sand!

MiMi and Ella

Hanging on for dear life! She did not want to go near the water! 

We then went back up to the room so she could take a long nap while we waited for my parents to arrive. We ended up having to wake her up at 7:30 so we could go eat! The ride and the beach had worn her out!

We went to the Marsh Walk in Murrells Inlet to find somewhere to eat. There were a bunch of bands playing outside each restaurant. Ella would sway back and forth and slap her knee to the beat. We sent a message back home to daddy that Ella was out late going to honky tonks lol!

At the suggestion of our friends we went to River City Cafe and had the best burgers! Then it was a late night stop to Krispy Kreme :)

We were hoping that Ella would like the beach better the next day when Nana and Pop Pop were with us!

But it was pretty much the same reaction. Poor baby would just cry and hang on for dear life!

So it was back to the sand :)

All the other little kids on the beach are out playing in the water or building sandcastles. My child gets out the iPhone and turns on George (Curious George).

A short while later Ella came up to me and said "Bye Bye Please!" I asked her where did she want to go and she pointed back up to the room. I said you want to leave the beach and go inside and her answer was a quick "Yea!" Someone is just like her daddy!

After another long nap, we went to dinner at Sara J's (a yummy seafood restaurant on the marsh). They have the BEST hushpuppies!  Ella sported her Clemson cheerleading outfit as we had a big game against Georgia that night (which we won!). Lots of other Clemson fans were at the restaurant and lots of random people asked if they could take her pic to send to people that were at the game.

What a cute tiger :)

She hugs everything! Even trees!

Day three on the beach went much like the others. Ella came down for a bit in the morning and played in the sand and then she was ready to go back inside to nap after lunch.

Hanging on to Nana to avoid the water :) 

Pretty girl is happy to be back in the room! 

After nap time we walked down to the pier. Well I say we walked but a certain little someone refused to walk on the beach and hence got carried on PopPop's shoulders the whole way. At the pier, Ella enjoyed peering down through the cracks and seeing the water underneath her. A fisherman asked Ella if she wanted to touch a fish he had just caught. She didn't hesitate for a second and immediately reached out and grabbed it. No fear!

That night we ate outside at Bubba's Fish Shack. It was also really good!

 I love her hugs!

Big girl with her Pop Pop!

In the end we still had a great trip even though Ella wasn't that big of a fan of the ocean. Andrew says just to let her stay home with him next year but I have a feeling a certain Nana and Mimi won't allow that :)