Labor Day In Florida!

This past weekend we counted down one month since Andy has been away, packed the car, and headed to Destin, Florida!!  We were all pumped as the kiddos and I have taken on a small deployment project of MOVING this month OURSELVES!!!  So a much needed relaxing vacation was needed for all of us.

We were beyond excited to be staying at the Sandeston Beach Resort, as one of our friends here had gotten married there and other friends from here had vacationed there!!  MapQuest said it would take three hours with traffic it took close to five and the kiddos did beyond amazing in the car!  

We ended up in a studio apartment that over looked the golf course and had a mini kitchen.  It couldn't have been more perfect!

Just a walk away was the "downtown" for the resort.  There were several band stages with different live music (the kiddos were watching the band get set up) tons of kiddo activities, shops, and every authentic restaurant you could think of!!!  We didn't start our car once while on vacation:)

In the middle of it all was a bay area with a board walk around it and the kiddos loved feeding all of the fish!

Across the bay area was a zip line for kiddos to go on.  This truly is the BEST place!!!

One of the restaurants we ate at over looking the water.  All of the restaurants take such great pride and have great ambiance and many of them have live music.

In the middle of the restaurants was a park.  The kiddos loved playing on it in the dark.  I don't think we were home before 9:30 one night!  (which is rare for me to keep the kiddos out that late!)

This is how we rolled to the beach daily.  I had a system down and the best part was that Drew and Claire LOVED to pull the wagon!!  

Ready to catch a wave!

I know I keep writing this, we were all in heaven the entire vacation and having SO much fun!

They are both at such great ages and enjoy the water so much.

Taking a break from the waves with a strawberry (virgin) daiquiri! 

This vacation was exactly what we all needed and we can't wait to go back with Andy!!!

Deployment Started

Helping daddy pack for deployment.  They had fun trying on his gear!

A few weeks ago Andy left for a deployment.  The kiddos are doing well and school started last week!!  We have a fun calendar for every month he's gone filled with fun activities and things to look forward to, which will help the time pass.

4th of July Palooza

The 4th of July is hands down my favorite holiday!  And this year was extra special and the entire Kerr clan was at our house for a weeks worth of 4th of July activities!!  We had a great time with never a dull moment!

Before the guests arrived Andy cranked through and finished grad school!!  I give him so much credit with the balance of family, upcoming deployment, and finishing graduate school close to two months early.   Whew... we're all glad that's behind us!

(We LOVED Madison though!!)

We kicked off the week of the 4th with watermelon

One of my favorite things of the 4th is the 4th of July parade!  Growing up in a small town in Iowa we had the BEST parade!!  I looked on the internet to try and find us a parade and had THOUGHT I had found one...(it was even on the news for things to do over the 4th...) so we drive about 45 minutes to the "parade" and it consisted of about five WWII trucks and that was it...  

Maybe next year...!!

Our week consisted of perfecting the perfect bloody mary

Our housing community has a great pool and is walking distance from our house.  There is hardly anyone ever there, which was a good thing for us...it was pool party 2013!!

Jeremy (my sisters husband) and Andy, had a great time together in the pool.....!

Jeremy flipping Andy off of his shoulders!

Raft races!!

One of the days the girls all went to a crab festival while the boys went fishing.  Afterwards we went to a fun seafood restaurant on the beach.  This above photo is a photo of all the napkins that one of my family members went through (I won't write their name...) in one place setting!!

Cards Against Humanity in the evening!

Andy, Jeremy, Cade, and Drew spent several hours fishing, even braving it in the rain and wind!!  It all paid off when they brought dinner home!

We had a great week with the family and ended it with awesome fire works in the neighborhood!

Al's Visit To The Deep South!

The kiddos and I have been in Mississippi without Andy from the end of May till the end of June while he finished up graduate school in Madison.  FINALLY he was done and his awesome dad met up with Andy in Wisconsin and drove down with him.  Drew and Claire were happy to see daddy, however ecstatic to see silly Grandpa!!!

Al was here for just a long weekend before he had to fly back.  However we put him quick to work with a few house projects and assembly from the move!

The first task  Al and I concurred together was to assemble the hammock... I think Al sat on the hammock  ten times testing his weight....

At last the hammock is safe!!!

Al booked his flight out of New Orleans, which means VacAtIon for us!!!  So we booked a hotel room and saw ALL of the sights in the 100 degree weather!!  We did it Vegas style with drinks in our hands out on the streets!  (Claire's cup had water....)

Thank you Al for helping out and making the road trip with Andy!!  We loved having you and sneaking you into our hotel!!

May Madness!

May has been one of our busiest months on the books!  We celebrated Drew and Claire's Birthday, moved out of our house, bought a new car, moved in with friends, ran a mud run, went to MN, drove to Mississippi,   Andy flew to California, and the kiddos and I moved into a new house!

Drew celebrated his 6th Birthday

Said good-bye to our house in Madison.

Drew and Claire ran a half mile mud run race in Madison!

Since all of our house hold goods were packed we stayed at our good friends house in Madison!  The kiddos had a blast!

Claire celebrated her 4th Birthday and Grandma and Grandpa's house in MN.

Two days later we jumped in the car for the twenty-two hour drive to Gulfport.  The kiddos did AMAZING in the car!

Back to the beach life we missed.

Exhausted from the crazy May month in the hotel.

And this past Wednesday the movers came with all of our stuff!

Whew, how I hope June will be a calmer month