Goodbye, Ocean Isle!

 We pulled in the driveway today and all of us were excited relieved to be home again! I think it was good for Micaiah to realize that we didn't completely up and leave home altogether. I think he was beginning to think we had completely left home for good, because his behavior towards the end of the trip was downright ridiculous! As soon as we were in the car heading home, he was literally back to his normal giggling, laughing self... uh huh, little boy, I see how it is.

This week ended up being pretty trying for me as a mom and not as much of the much needed vacation I was longing for. Well, it was that at times, for sure, but it was also probably one of the hardest weeks, amidst the fun, dealing with so many various issues that completely stressed me out.

 "Ahhhh, this baby is driving me crazy!"

No, really, this is us chasing after the sea gulls. He thought it was awesome and I love my fussy messball, so I run around chasing birds for him.

Remember the days when you could go out on the beach ALL DAY LONG? Yeah, those were over, which I already knew, but definitely discovered to be real. All 3 of us and others in the house got sick. We dealt with a really fussy baby due to ear infections that seemingly got better after our doctor's visit mid-week, and then regressed again making me wonder if he is still having issues. If I was in Cai's line of vision for even a second, he would go into hysterics that he couldn't be in my arms. I mean hysterics...high pitched screaming, crying, the works. Then, I got a little touch of something that kind of made me feel sick in the night and some of the next day, which in turn I passed to Hart, who was sick the last 2 days of our trip. Hence no Hart in this photo:

  We weren't the only ones that dealt with illness. Cai passed his gunky nose junk to Naomi, who has also been struggling with ear infection/sore throat issues the last several weeks. Naomi also broke out into terrible hives from eating Strawberries for the first time, which you can see a tiny bit in this family photo of the Dixons.

It was kind of bizarre we dealt with all that, yet, God showed us so much mercy and grace, giving us great weather and a fun time, too. Even rainbows, my favorite!

 We still had an awesome time. We still walked on the beach, swam, laid in the sun, and laughed til our tummy's hurt playing games and making jokes with all of Hart's family.

 We star gazed and lit sparklers.

 That was worth it. We became a closer knit family because of this beach trip. We made memories.

 We enjoyed the sunshine and our blessing babies.

 We wouldn't trade any of that for anything! I just hope next time, everyone is healthy the whole time!!!

My sick boys (above). Yes, my husband is so wonderful, he would go dress up to take family photos on the beach with me, despite feeling nauseous. He loves me and knows how much family pictures are important to me.

Thanks, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Jiffy for everything you did to get this beach trip together! We love that God gave you four siblings to your parents and in turn we get to enjoy things like this as a family!

"The 4 Macs" - The McKeowns - Otherwise known as: Hart's Aunts and Uncles and his Mom