Smile Fridays -week 7

This is a KU edition of Smile Friday...

Man, all of these things make me super proud to be a Jayhawk!

Last night T-Rob and Tyshawn Taylor were both drafted in the NBA.  Ask me their Freshman years if I thought T-Rob would be going #5  and Tyshawn at all...prob not.  That Uncle Bill and his staff are pretty incredible at developing players to their highest potential.  I couldn't be happier for Thomas Robinson, he has endured a lot in the last couple years and now he can financially take care of himself and sister, all for the love of the game.

Our 19 point 2nd half comeback against MU is up for Best Game.  I just love the Espy's and the hilarious Rob Riggle is hosting...he's a huge KU fan!  In all the promos for the show, he's sporting KU gear.  I have voted, have you?

Congrats to Mario Chalmers on his NBA championship and one he played a vital role in.  He is only the 6th active NBA player to hold a NCAA and NBA championship.  We are definitely not Heat fans and were pulling for the Thunder-but still love a Jayhawk winning.

Ok, this isn't KU related (in fact, I have chosen to ignore the purple shirts these boys are wearing:)), but it is Kansas related.  Coming from a Kansas farming family, I just love this!  Coop and I have watched it several times already.  Watch it here and share it with your friends, it will totally lighten up your Friday.

Special lunch outing to Lulu's

Our beach house was a bit secluded, we were about 25-30 minutes from any grocery stores/restaurants.  Needless to say we didn't get out much, especially since we were traveling with 5 kids.  But, we knew we had to hit up LuLu's, a dining experience owned by Jimmy Buffett's sister.  Anything owned by a Jimmy Buffett sibling must be great, right?  It was!  It had delicious fresh fish, the best frozen drinks, beautiful bathrooms (i should know, was there 4 times between me and the kids) and lots of entertainment for kids.  Had it not been for a storm blowing in and nap time quickly approaching, I think we could have stayed for hours.

This is where the kids hung out. 

 Oh Doodles

 some sibling love

 He was going after her Puffs hiding in the pocket of her bib.  Love that she is pushing him away :).

 What a view!

 I mean, this seriously screams fun!!!

More Beach Days

Honestly, all the pics from days at the beach are running together.  The only way I am (kinda) keeping them separated is by what everyone is wearing.  Are you sick of beach posts yet?  Hope not, I think I still have a couple more to go!

 The kid crew-Cooper, Laney, Corban, Paige, and Dagan.

 Loved all the kids' footprints in the sand.

 Man, Adam really should layoff the junk food and start hitting up the gym.

 A few days after the storms had passed, the water was so calm.  It was awesome!  The kids were all willing to be more adventurous.

 People have been asking if the water was clear, I think so.

 Here was our beach set-up.  The best part was that we left it all here every night and never worried about any of it being gone in the morning.  Well, except the tent, a rough storm got the best of it and it was never to be seen from again :(.  Thankfully it was the last couple days.  Did I mention how quiet the beach was?  It was great, felt like it was our very own and we had just invited a few other families over :).

 This sounds horrible, but what would we have done without the IPads?  Cooper has not touched or even asked for it since we got home!

We became OKC Thunder fans.  It didn't take much persuasion-they do roster 2 former Jayhawks in Nick Collison and Cole Aldrich.  We watched a couple good play-off games, the 2nd and 3rd NBA games I had seen all season.  

The sun shines again and nighttime crabbing

Another fun day at the beach!  While I was up putting Laney down for a nap, everyone else took a walk on the beach.  They came across some stingrays and a lady who had caught a baby shark, pretty neat.  

 Laney is ready for synchronized swimming-watch out Olympics!

 Oh my gosh, I love this face!

 An uncooperative subject...imagine that.

At sunset we headed down to the beach to look for sand crabs.

He was pointing out the oil rigs to me.

As usual, Coop wanted to take a picture.  He got us both in it, so that's a success.

Hello little man.

 After lots searching the kids found 3 sand crabs!  Coop loved walking with the flashlight and seeing them in the bucket, but he was definitely not laying a finger on them ;).

Beach Mornings

Under our beach house deck was a perfect sand area.  The kids spent many a morning/evening collecting shells and building castles.  

 A lot of effort was put into this particular sand castle ;).

 With their shells/rocks.

My view while I was supervising the sand play :).  In case you are wondering, it was Catching Fire (2nd in Hunger Games series) and it was fabulous!  For me, a dream life is the beach and stacks of books to read. 

You should all know that any picture from vacation that looks professional, probably is!  Kristin is a professional photographer so she was snapping away all week and editing the pics.  She graciously shared all the images with me!  How lucky am I?  Check out her website http://www.kristincookphotography.com/ to see all her work.  She is based out of Norman, OK, but does a few DFW shoots throughout the year.

The Sun Shines!!!

It was a sunny morning so as soon as breakfast wrapped up, we were beach bound!  Hello Sunshine, so good to see you!

 There was sandcastle building until the kids 2 minute attention span took them elsewhere.

 Hello handsome!  Check out the waves, they were pretty intense after the 3 day rainstorm.  In fact, so intense that Adam had to be lifeguard and save 2 pre-teens that had gone too far out and couldn't get back in due to the undercurrent.  They were with their Grandparents who would have been more hurt than help in any rescuing.   He's our superhero:).

 Because when you are the beach, someone has to be buried, right?

 Like 2 peas in a pod.  The little boys wanted no part of being buried.

 Tried to escape and came back with sand, "what is this stuff?"

 Best Buds.

They filled and emptied this dump truck hundreds of times.

 I am sure they were solving all the worlds problems, or at least deciding what to have for lunch.

 All the kids just loved the sand, ocean and waves.

 Love this action shot!!!  I was inside with Laney, but apparently before/after this wave, another came in and completely took them all out!

My 2 favorite guys.

 pre-dinner entertainment on the Ipad.

 Lots of fresh seafood for dinner!  We had shrimp, red royals, and crawfish.  The guys treated it like their job. 

These guys were finished off by the adults, the kids wanted no part!  So, the kids had PB&J while we had delicious seafood-yum!