Fun in the Sun (and Rain)

Vacation detox is in full swing. We battled Reese going to sleep last night for too long, and we were up with her a bit during the night. She acquired a pretty fun new habit while we were gone. Don't nap, and only fall asleep at night if mom or dad are with you and at 10:00. (The "pretty fun" comment was sarcastic.) Graham is basically MVP of the past 12 days. He barely made a peep on the drive down to the beach, slept like a champ, played hard, laughed often, crawled everywhere happily, and then didn't disappoint on the drive home. I know it's the different ages they are right now, but we are praying Reese catches on to the ease of life when you just allow yourself to fall asleep and rest.
But it was vacation, and it was glorious. We left last Wednesday afternoon and drove to Conway for the night. The alarm clock went off at 3:30 am, and we got loaded up and headed south. It was my birthday, and I honestly enjoyed getting to spend so many hours of it with my little family. When I plopped down in the passenger seat at 4am, Wes had left a little present right there for me to open first thing. Every stop we made, my mom (who was in the other car with my dad) pulled out the birthday hat and let me open a present from them. It was fun, and they made me feel special which is really what birthdays are all about, right? We pulled into our hotel for the next two nights at Inlet Beach /Rosemary Beach area around 5:30pm, and we let out some energy before getting kids settled in bed (Reese fell asleep with Wes at her side). With kids asleep, I met up with Brooke in the lobby and hopped in the car to meet some of our besties from college. It was wedding weekend!!! We went to a bar nearby and just caught up with lots of my favorites and got excited that LT was about to become LW.
Friday was the Bridesmaids Brunch hosted by my mom and a few other ladies, and it was perfect. I'm so impressed by my mom's ability to pull off a fabulously decorated and put together party hours and hours from home and in such a short amount of prep time. Shout out to Mopsy who also took the reigns in decorating for the wedding reception! It was beautiful and perfect for Lauren and Casey.
Following the brunch, we went out to the beach for pictures and to lay out for a while before showering and getting ready for the rehearsal and dinner. Let me just say that this Rehearsal Dinner was about the most awesome one I've ever been to as long as I can remember. From the incredibly well-delivered toasts to the yummy dinner to the absolutely perfect video showing parents and grandparents being interviewed by LT about love and life together as a married couple. My description does not do this thing justice. It was awesome. I laughed and cried a lot. And to just simply skip over explaining the toasts is saying a lot. Those toasts were solid, and everyone at my table (shout out table 2) found ourselves nodding our heads a lot. So good. Wes and Ryan took Reese and Stella home mid-way through the dinner, and us gals went to a karaoke bar. Perfect way to end LT's last night as a Thompson. Lindsay performed her spot-on rendition of Ike and Tina's Proud Mary, groomsmen sang Party in the USA and so many others I can't name right now. We danced, laughed, and partied hard...and I went to bed TIRED.
Saturday came around soon, and we got up and started the crazy day. I'm just going to skip to the wedding at 5pm. The weather ended up being great, Reese was a beautiful flower girl, and the reception was so much fun. Again, we all had a blast. We had to pull Reese off the dance floor a little before 10:00, Graham was Mr. Content and stayed up WAAAY past his bedtime, and we all found our way to our beach house for the next week and went to bed quickly.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were perfect days at the beach. A nice Breeze, not too hot, lots of happy kids with umbrellas, sand, baby pool, ocean waves, and heated neighborhood pool. Then the rain came. And it never stopped until we were into Arkansas on our drive home Friday. Y'all. I've never seen rain like this at the beach. It was crazy, but we didn't let it dampen the mood. I'll let the {many} pictures speak for themselves.

Completely out of order. These are from the few hours we had on the 4th that weren't raining. 

First stop on the way down. Breakfast in Dumas I think. 

And first gift from mom and dad. 

This is huge.

Lunch at Chick-Fil-A in Hattiesburg. 

LT made a road trip mix for those traveling to the wedding, and we were getting pumped.

Getting some energy out at the hotel.

Birthday cupcake once we got to the beach.

Our buddies. The Ceolas.

Pretty Flower Girls at the Bridesmaids Brunch...watching Tangled.

Some of my most favorite people in the world.

Serenade by Lindsay. Tears.

Rehearsal hugging.

Can't do life without this friend.

Rehearsal Dinner. 

The Thompson family rented this beautiful house for the week, and here is my view getting ready for the wedding. Not bad at all.

There she is! Ahh...GORGEOUS.

Flower Girls and Ring Bearers. Adorable. And quite a hoot.

Curls.

 One of the kindest and strongest friends I have.

Reese kept telling LT how pretty she was all night.

Wish we could have kept this night going a lot longer. 

Reese was entranced watching the bride and groom dance.

Mopsy and Popsy were two of the first out on the dance floor. Besides Reese.

Relaxation. View from our deck at the beach house.

Riding Rody Max in Seaside. She's obsessed with Rody, so this Max version was pretty awesome in her eyes.

Evidence she wasn't getting enough sleep. Yawns. All week.

More evidence of lack of sleep. She wasn't asleep here...just extremely tired. And letting her eyes rest a few minutes.

Mom grilled teriyaki turkey burgers, Grouper, and Amberjack last week...each one delicious.

We met up with the Lashlees one night. Beautiful chaos.

Monster waves.

No one had been on the beach in a few days. Then the rain stopped for a while on the 4th...and this happened all up and down our strip of the beach. par-tay.

Potty break in south Arkansas.

Handsome fella eating dinner close to home.