Well after a great night of sleep, we woke up to crazy rough water and wind, and two red flags (meaning don't go into the water). So we headed to the pool.
Me and Jenn chose to read next to the pool while the boys played. Grady had a blast jumping into Jason. Griffin got cold quick and decided to cuddle with me :-)
All day planes flew by with this message to stay out of the water on them...
During Gradys nap, I finally got to play Ticket to Ride! And I really liked it. Jenn killed us all though :-)
Jenn and Griffin made some delicious chocolate chip cookies while Justin, Jason and I played sequence...
We decided to eat out tonight and went to Captain Jack's for an all you can eat buffet with crab legs! Sooo good!
There were crawfish too, which Griffin played with like toys the whole night.
This was the view from our door when we came home, how gorgeous?!!
And I asked Grady to give me a kiss while we were hanging out, instead he laid down on the carpet and pretended to sleep... And then did it again everytime I asked. I tried to get it on camera but you know how that goes! Haha!
I took this pic to try to show how close the water had come in today compared to yesterday... If you look at the chairs you can tell...
We hung out and played games with Griffin and then slept. Grady fought it tonight but did sleep well once he got there.
We may have slept horribly night one- but we are ready for some fun day two! We started the day with delicious breakfast made by the Bosticks... I am going to be majorly spoiled this week! Ha! Then we headed to the Beach!
(our balcony view!)
Grady liked the waves, if someone was holding him. But once he got out he wouldn't go back in!
Grady also hated the sand, so he sat in this chair the rest of the time we were there. He liked the waves coming up and he likes watching everyone. At least he was content!
Griffin LOVED the waves and the sand. He jumped waves with Daddy, he looked for sea shells, he built a sandcastle, and even buried Jacob!
A view of our sandcastle/looks more like a temple or mosque daddy, haha!
Griffin riding waves with Daddy.
He was proud. Jacob was a champ.
*the mermaid was made by Jennifer and Dustin, not Griffin ;-)
We came up for nap and lunch time, and then the boys headed back down to play volleyball and at the beach some. We could see them from our balcony, which is pretty cool.
When Grady woke up from nap we went down to the pool too. It felt so good!
We ate some Italian pork roast for dinner and hung out around our room mostly that night. We had a quick Walmart trip, and some late night ice cream :-)
Grady actually went to sleep easily and we were able to put him in the pack n play- score! So the Pates slept beautifully night two. Woo hoo!
We set out for our first ever family vacay yesterday! We headed to Panama City, Florida to spend a week with the Bosticks (minus Katie), Uncle D and our party of four. The Bosticks have graciously invited us to their vacation, and they may be regretting it soon ;-) haha!
The Bosticks and Dustin headed out Saturday, but we stayed in BG for church and a baptism service Sunday. So we loaded up (feels like we brought the entire house!) and hit the road at 3pm. This is our boys first long car trip, and first trip to the beach!
They really did great. Grady had some fussy moments, but it was so much better than I had anticipated! We made great time and only stopped 3 times total in our nine hour trip, which with two littles I found impressive.
The only three problems with the trip so far...
1. GPS offered us a 4 minute shortcut close to Montgomery AL... This took us off the main road and we never returned! We ended up driving back roads and tiny country roads and scary roads in the dark... We were a bit terrified and super thankful we had plenty of gas!!
2. We finally got into Panama City at 11:15ish... And both kids woke up. Grady started crying and gagged himself and puked all over himself and his car seat. 10 minutes from the condo!! #areyoukiddingme It was so gross!!! We just stripped his clothes off and threw them away, wiped the seat down as best we could and then got to the condo. We washed his seat cover and Mr.Pate threw the whole seat in the bathtub to hose it down! Haha. It needed it anyway right?!
3. The kids were wide awake and pumped to be here at midnight... So we all walked down to see the beach and then got unpacked. My kids were not tired at this point, since they had just had a 4 hour nap... So last nights "sleep" was horrid. But oh well! We are at the beach, so let the good times roll!!
I have not been to Panama City since I brought BCM groups down here for BeachReach mission trips... And that was a much different environment! Haha. We are actually staying close to Club La Vela, so we have our own dance music on the patio- which my kids are loving (me too!).
If you asked Griffin Pate, Gia Alan Pate would have been the name of his new baby sister, who was due to enter this world at the beginning of January (if you asked me, I would have said Grayson or Gretta or Gwen). I say would have because instead of continuing to grow safe and sound in my womb, she has passed on to her forever home. We were 14 weeks pregnant on Tuesday, the day I went for a D&C because our babies heart had stopped beating a week earlier.
This is not the news I thought I would be sharing here this week. In fact, I really thought I would be sharing this video with the world instead:
If that doesn't make you smile I don't know what would. How cute is his excitement?!!
But when I walked into my Dr appointment Monday morning, plans changed. They couldn't find the heartbeat. It's early I thought, not that big of a deal. My dr wanted to do an ultrasound just to be safe. We tried the abdominal one, but she said we needed to switch to vaginal for a better look... When she came back in she had Dr Gass with her. "He just wants to get a look too..." She said. I think I knew as soon as he walked in. I watched their faces and I knew...
The hardest part of this? When we found out we were pregnant with baby number three I begged God for it to be a false positive. "Lord, I am not cut out for three kids... Grady needs to be older... How will we afford them..." The doubts filled my mind and many tears were shed, For many weeks. Mr.Pate was excited. He trusted that God knew what He was doing and jumped on board. I took much longer.
In fact, I didn't get fully onboard until we told Griffin and got the above video filled with excitement. His excitement over this new sister (we did the blood test and found out we were expecting a girl!) never wore out- he was seriously so so excited. And it was what my soul needed to see the Lords plan and jump on board. Seeing Griffin be a big brother has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and now I would get to see it as a protective big brother to a sister.
I stopped crying every time I thought about the baby and started daydreaming about names. Would I get another red head or a blondie like her oldest brother? I was all in...
Then Monday happened. And not only did my heart break, but I came home to see Mr.Pate and Griffin's hearts breaking too.... Words can't describe it.
It's now Thursday and we are no longer crying all day. Life does have to move forward. Grady Pate has no understanding of any of this and continues to play and be hilarious. Griffin has rebounded and had moments of pure joy, though he is still mentioning it and having moments of sadness. We are living, because there is no other choice. The emotions come and go.... And I am expecting it will be this way for awhile.
We are being well loved, prayed for and cared for by family, close friends, and even from distant facebook friends. His grace abounds.
How I am changes moment by moment. But I couldn't not share this video with the world, even if it was intended to tell the world a message that is no longer happening for the Pate family. I will forever watch this video to remember the joy this baby brought to our lives, if only for a moment.
"He giveth and giveth and giveth again."
(A friend sent this to me, may it encourage you also)
Baby girl (who resembles an alien here) at 10 weeks...
Jeanice and Adam invited all of us up to their house this weekend to try our hand at fishing in their pond! Griffin has been wanting to go fishing for over a year, so we were pumped.
Gammy Becky and I were trying to prepare Griffin that it sometimes takes a while before the fish bite and reminding him to be patient. Wouldn’t you know, he casted out and got a bite in less than 30 seconds?!!!!
Now in full disclosure, this is their personal pond and they feed these fish at this time every night, so they were primed and ready for us :-) But we were excited for him nonetheless!
Grady even caught a fish!
Griffin caught several fish and just loved it! He did great! Grady got bored after a bit and was back to playing ball, haha!
We had dinner, fished, played in the yard, then ended with a fire. What a great visit!!
