Happy 3rd Birthday Hannah!

So it happened…My Baby turned 3…on 7/14…and if you ask her, she will even show you how old she is by holding up 2 fingers then say,” 2 plus 1 is 3, I’m 3.”  I know it is really cliché to say this, but I am going to anyway, kids really do grow up fast.  I honestly believe that these were the fastest (not to mention best, toughest and most rewarding) 3 years of my life.  Hubs and I have not been able to spend the day of Hannah's birthday with her (well, you know, excluding the actual day of her birth…) because of our work schedules however, this year, Hubs and I decided we were most definitely going to spend the day together, as a family, no matter what…so I took the day off and we ended up having a blast!

Hannah woke up (bright and early, as usual) and made her way into our room, and promptly told me to get off of my pillow so she could lay on it…sigh…I did it, like I always do, but I minded a little less because it was her Birthday.  I asked her if she knew what today was and she said “It’s my birthday!!!” and we were off.  Hubs and I made a plan for the entire day but we did not tell Hannah anything (well, 1- she really wouldn’t have cared what we did as long as it was fun, and 2, she would have asked everyday if we were going t do anything on that list of events and I would have to shoot her hopes down on a daily basis, and I hate the look she gives me when that happens…Seriously, she literally sighs, put her head down while saying “Oooohhh man” and slumps her shoulders and walks away pouting…I can’t handle it).  So we took her into her room and let her pick out the bathing suit she wanted to wear-and much to my surprise, she chose he one piece we got the other day at Target (she LOVES the blue ruffle bathing suit AND her watermelon bathing suit, so I was really shocked about this selection), and then Hubs and I told her we were going to the beach.  You would have thought Hannah had just discovered a giant vault full of ice cream and chocolate milk due to the amount of yelling and LITERAL jumping for joy that happened at that moment.  (Hannah is most def a water baby and I can say that she gets it from me…not the beach water loving part, but the water part in general)  We all got dressed and made our way to the beach.

Apparently this is her new favorite bathing suit

Waiting for Daddy to Load the car

Because it was stormy the night before, and was sprinkling when we left the house,  I was not too sure that we were going to have a successful beach trip, but I was determined to make this the best day ever so we went anyway.  We decided to go to The Isle of Palms instead of Folly.  I have never been out there so I figured that Hannah’s birthday seemed like a good day to try it…BEST IDEA EVER!  We got there, and there were only about 4 other cars in the parking lot, and we landed ourselves front row parking!  Woot Woot!  We gathered up all of our beach gear (towels, sunscreen, hats, toys…the usual) and made our very short trek to the beach.  It was not raining when we arrived and we had our choice of practically the whole beach as to where we wanted to set up camp-it was AWEOME!  Hannah could not decide if she wanted to build a sand castle first or go play in the water…she finally opted for Sand Castle…for about 2 minutes, then it was time for the water…now…as you are well aware, because you are very loyal followers,  I do not DO beach water that I cannot see through…blech… but I will walk into the water with Hannah because a) I know she likes it and b) we only go to about ankle/calf height, and I can still kind of see my feet and if something tries to attack me before it can make its attack…and Hubs is out there too so if she wants to go out farther, he can bring her-it’s a win-win-win. 

Getting ready for the water

She realized that I was not right behind them so she is running back to get me

that was a long run...

on their way back to the water

She is literally running around in circles here

So hubs spent most of the morning chasing Hannah up and down the beach, while I made sand castles and relaxed in the sun…AWESOME.  It was the perfect day to go.  Because of the aforementioned storms the night before, there were not a lot of people at the beach, so it wasn’t crowded, and the rain brought cooler temperatures and some clouds to high the sun so it wasn’t ridiculously hot and you didn’t feel like you were laying on top of any other beach patrons…sadly, this did not make for prime people watching, like I like to do, but don’t you worry!  I found a good one…which brings me to a place where I pose this question to you, loyal followers:

At what point, is it no longer appropriate to wear a triangle top bikini?  Is it age, weight, size, body type related or is it another factor?  I, personally,  do not have the confidence (or body type) to be sporting a triangle top in public…or in the privacy of my own shower, even when the lights are not on, because not even I,  want to see all of that!  I don’t even want to run the risk that a tankini top will roll up and unleash the wrath of this jelly on the unsuspecting beach goers who chose to go to the beach for a relaxing experience, only to end up needing therapy upon their departure…Additionally, I do not want to embarrass my kid and make her never want to be seen in public with me again…no thank you, not on my watch!  I will rock a one piece like a champ (and like my Hannah J).  Also, I saw some females at the beach with their “friends” and/or “loved ones.”  Why the use of the  quotes you might be asking yourself?  Well, I know if I was considering going out in public looking like the hot mess those girls did, my FRIENDS and LOVED ONES would tell me what a hot mess I looked like and not allow me to leave the house like that.  Those girls, did not have real-good- friends.  They had the kind of friends who wanted you to look bad so they could look that much better…not cool.  Personally, if I have to be seen with you, then I would prefer that you don’t look like your suit is 6 times too small for you, I mean, what happens if you move the wrong way and something pops out?  There could be children present!  Unacceptable.  So rest assured people, should you ever have the fortunate opportunity to go to the beach with me, you know I will tell you if you look like a hot mess without the slightest bit of hesitation…(I considered posting a picture of what I am referencing here...but decided not to...you can thank me later...Hubs is still mad that I made him look at it in person...)

On to other beach randomness…I mentioned we were at the Isle of Palms…which is about 30-45 mins away from our house…which is about 15 minutes away from Summerville… while catching some rays, I am startled by the sound of clapping and cheering…on the beach?  I had to open my eyes and scan the beach for the cause of the ruckus… imagine my surprise when I turn around and I see the Summerville cheerleaders…in full uniform…on the beach…I am sorry, what in the world?!  Sand soccer tournament?  No…Beach volleyball game?  No? Why in the devil were these crazies out on the beach?  Oh, because they were taking their team photographs…Um, I am sorry, but when I was in High school (I know. Go ahead and roll your eyes, but I promise this isn’t one of those, I had to walk up hill, both ways, in the snow with no shoes stories so hang in there okay?) most of the “team” photos were taken on the bleachers-either inside of the gym or outside in the stadium (or occasionally on the field depending on the sport), granted, I did go to HS in Virginia, so maybe this is not the South Carolina way…but I swear that even my brother’s yearbooks  form SC were the same as mine were from VA…so what is up with the Summerville Cheerleaders taking over the beach?  Luckily, they were pretty wrapped up in getting their pictures taken while we were there, so we didn’t have to deal with them being loud and running all over the place…

Hubs: "Did you seriously just take a picture of those cheerleaders?"
Me: "Yep, I need it for the blog"
Hubs: World's largest eye roll followed by: "Ugh"-welcome to my life

Hannah had a blast at the beach-she built sand castles, and Hans-zilla attacked, without warning, and knocked down my ENTIRE sand fort…while laughing…not very nice…but not surprising considering that she loves to knock things over/destroy things…sometimes I call her Stitch-you know from Lilo and Stitch, who destroys anything he touches-sometimes accidentally, but most of the time on purpose?  That’s Hannah…and after she knocks it all over, while smiling and laughing, she will look at you, ever so sweetly, right in your eye and say “Oh, sorry…”  (Hmmm…note to self, let’s work on the meaning of sorry….)

Note the lack of sun-making it a great day for us to go to the beach!

She is showing Hubs how to "pat the sand"

I am pretty sure if he messed up her castles she was going to swat him with the shovel

Hannah wanted to bury my feet-but not my toes

My sand fort

Attack of Hanszilla

She is so proud of herself

making sure she got it all...

Around noon, we started to get hungry, so we packed up our gear and headed for the public access showers…which Hannah used as her own personal sprinkler systems and played in them….I didn’t mind too much considering, it was getting some of the sand off of her.  We changed out of our bathing suits and went to Jack’s Cosmic Dogs for lunch.  I have heard that the hot dogs at Jack’s are amazing, and they were even featured on the Food Network, and because Hannah loves a Hot dog, and we were in that neck of the woods, we decided to give it a try…um…well, I wasn’t too impressed.  The place was small (Hubs said. “I bet they have a really low overhead rate.”) and the hot dogs were alright, but they really weren’t as good as the ones at Perfectly Franks-which is in Summerville-if any of you live in Summerville, you have to go to Perfectly Franks-they recently moved locations and are now on Main street, but their menu is about 10 times the size of Jack’s…AND they have their own Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce!  (Healthy?  No.  Delicious?  YES!)

Birthday Girl Cheese

Hans took this picture and She did a pretty good job!

mmm...pickle

After Jack’s we headed home because it was nap time.  Hannah was so tired, but Hubs told her not to go to sleep because she needed a bath when she got home.  So poor Hannah sat in her seat struggling to keep her eyes open-she looked so pitiful that I turned around and told her she could go to sleep if she wanted to, and no lie, in 3 minutes, she was OUT!  We got home, and decided that we would do our best to get any remaining sand off of her so she could lay down.  She took a 2.5 hour nap and so did Hubs.  I decided that a nap would not be in my best interest due to the fact that I had to work the next day so I needed to make sure I was able to go to sleep at a reasonable hour that night, so I made a (bad) attempt to catch up on some GH…ahhh General Hospital…I have watched you since I was in the womb.  When your theme song played while I was an infant, I would fall right to sleep.  I kept up with you through college, and anytime in between, or after, as my schedule permitted.   I was lost…I mean, I knew the key people, Sonny, Carly, Jax, even Brenda (when did she come back?), but the rest of the story lines were lost on me…so I just flipped through some channels trying to be quite so I didn’t wake anyone up. 

Doesn't she look like she is struggle to stay awake to you?

Literally 3 minutes after the above picture...out cold

When Hannah (and Hubs) woke up, it was bath time for Hannah (don’t worry, I washed her sheets after her nap so she did not have to sleep with any sand when it was bedtime) and then, we made our way to Toys-R-Us so Hannah could pick out her very first bike!  She always wants to go straight to the bikes when we are in a store that has them and we were very excited about the fact that she was going to be able to ride one In the store and then take one home with her….

Birthday Shirt #2

Every child's favorite store!

When we walked in, we went straight to customer service, where we announced that it was Ms. Hannah’s 3^rd birthday and promptly received a pink birthday crown and a Jeffrey balloon, and her name was announced over the intercom.  Hannah loved it!  Then we headed over to the bikes, and we asked the sales lady if we could get one of the smaller (Hannah-sized) bikes down from the top, and she looked at us like we had 5 heads.  Well, Lady, if you don’t like doing it, don’t put them so high up, especially when there is a sign that says “Do not pull things down from the top shelf, please see an associate for assistance…”  I digress…Hubs helped the lady get the bike down, and Hannah hopped on and rode it down the aisle…but not before telling me that she needs a helmet to ride her bike.  She is so safety conscious!  Mission pick a bike=success. 

Waiting patiently for her crown and balloon

Hubs would like this lunch box...he has informed me that they are on sale...

All set and ready to go pick out her bike!

Found one!

I love her face here

Kickin it old school

Reading her birthday card that came in the mail while leaving Toys-R-Us

After our Toys-R-Us adventure, we headed across the street to the mall.  When Hannah was born, Hubs and I bought her a charm bracelet.  We buy her a new charm every year for her birthday, and we make it applicable to her birthday (either theme or interest) Her First birthday, it was a ladybug, because that was the theme of her party, and I call her My Lovebug.  We were at the beach for her second birthday, so last year we got her a flip flop charm.  This year, we wanted to get her a bike charm…cute right?  Way harder to find than any other charm though.   I did eventually find a bike charm, and it is pretty cute, but I totally paid more for it than I wanted to because it was the only charm we were able to find in the entire mall…and I didn’t want to have to order one online.  Mission find a bicycle charm=success. 

We left the mall and met my mom for dinner at Olive Garden…I really only wanted to go there because I knew they would sing to Hannah for her birthday…but in the end, we didn’t  even get dessert, so there was no singing…NEXT YEAR THERE WILL BE SINGING.PERIOD.   None the less, Hannah got some spaghetti, her favorite thing for dinner (you know she gets that from me…).  

She wanted to wear her crown...so we let her

mmm...Spaghetti!

Kisses for MawMaw!

Silly Birthday Girl!

We left OG and headed home.  Hannah wanted to read stories, which is always okay by me, and we picked out the Dr. Seus (or Dr. Zeusey if you are Hannah) Happy Birthday to You Book, then a few princess books.  Then it was time to get ready for bed and when she was all ready, we read her (new favorite) Time for Bed book. 

 

I had an amazing day with my amazing family that is no inclusive of one AMAZING 3 year old.  Happy Birthday to you, Hannah, My Love.  May this day be a day you cherish forever, because I know I certainly will.  Thank you for giving me the chance to have the Greatest job in the world-Your Mommy.  You find new ways to make me laugh everyday and you melt my heart with each smile you make.  I don’t care how old you get, you will always be my Baby, no matter How much of a Big Girl you are.



Sleepy Bug