Sunny Days

We just spent a week at the beach. With three small children. And we loved it.

In what was possibly the most enjoyable vacation since Costa Rica '08, all 13+ of the Greater Shaw Clan traveled on the annual pilgrimage to historic Pawley's Island SC, arrogantly shabby, home of the Grey Man, land of sun & surf but with none of the crowds of Myrtle or the uppityness of Wild Dunes. We have been going to Pawley's for about 23 years - hard to believe - and every time it feels like a little sliver of home. There are those that would argue it is better to rent than own at the beach, gives you the flexibility to go when and where you want. But there is a counter argument of the value of permanence, of tradition, of timeliness - of having Bud's grandchildren play in the same sand and on the same stairs that Jupe's grandchildren once did. Regardless, this is where we go, and it suits me just fine.

This year, in addition to our 13+ (Jim, Janet, Stephen, Kim, Jack, Caroline, Sam, Sara, Pete, Sidney, Alex, Drew, & Anna+), Granny had a whole host of Other Shaws down for the big celebration. Bob and Sue, Kena and Robin and Audrey, Rachel and Dave, Dee, Jere, even Tim Debbie and Roberta for a day.  So the Other Shaws stayed at the big house this year, and the Greater Shaws holed up in some very nice condos at the Pier Village - which worked out great. The kids loved having the pier and the pool in addition to the beach, Mom and Dad got a great cabana for some shade, and we could not have been closer to the beach. Nearly as important, in our condo at least - all of the kids slept through the night for the most part, despite all sharing the same bedroom. Actually, I think they kind of liked having their own little den of iniquity, and Sam definitely liked being able to wake up and see his siblings. 

On Sunday, once everyone was down and settled, we celebrated Granny's 90th Birthday. 1923 she was born, and she is still dancing and flitting around and smiling and laughing as if she was still 21. The party was a blast, it was great to see everyone and we had a huge shrimp boil and all the cousins (from three different generations) loved running around together. 

 

Robin and Rachel put together matching t-shirts for everyone, and Anna and Drew brought our koozies that said "Shake your hiney, Granny's ninety.". In particular it was great to see Tim and Debbie and Roberta, who we definitely don't see enough and who are boatloads of fun. We also got to celebrate Caroline's Third Birthday, and had a baby shower for Anna and Drew's new bundle of sex-indeterminate joy.

I was amazed at how much fun the kids had, and how agreeable they were. They really got used to playing on the beach, getting suited up and greased up and heading out in the sand and the water. Caroline did great, floating way out beyond the breakers with Dad and I, and seemed to show a lot of potential as a little fish. I think once Caroline figured out she could jump off the side of the pool with enough floaties to pop back up like a cork, she must've done 200 cannonballs.

Jack loved building sandcastles and then jumping on them, or finding shells with Nana, or darting in and out of incoming waves like a little plover. Put Sam in a big hole full of sand and seawater with a shovel and a bucket and he was good to go for at least an hour, until he noticed the breakers and started running headlong into them. Sunscreen and rash guards worked great, no one got burned or even a little more than a light tan.

Once we'd had enough on the beach, we'd roll in to the pool and grab a snack and jump and splash. The first couple of days, we skipped naptime and tried to push through to dinner, thinking that would buy us a better night time experience. But after a few days, the older kids started dozing off in weird places and we brought naptime back for everyone. That way Doc could nap and it gave me some time to catch up on work stuff, which was unfortunately very crazy at the time. Next beach trip, I hope to just unplug and not worry so much, but this time there was just too much stuff going on at the office.

 

We got to go to the hammock shops and eat fudge and get silhouettes, and all the middle cousins (i.e. young adults) took off to Georgetown one night sans rugrats to enjoy the fine dining of The Rice Paddy. We got to take the boat out a bit, and fish from the pier. And you would not believe how easy BOTH car trips were for our crew (although I know Sara and Pete had a little less fun on I-95).

I really love our family, big and small. What a good vacation - one that actually felt like a vacation, and one that no one wanted to end. I can't wait to go back.

Welcome home, Samuel James

Look what the Easter Bunny brought us:

Welcome Samuel James, born quickly and easily on Wednesday March 28th 2012 at 9:42pm, and weighing in as our largest baby at 6lbs 8oz and 19.5in long.

And then there were Five...

Birthday Fun

Jack (and the rest of the family) enjoyed a solid three-day stretch of birthday celebration this weekend. Choo-choo trains, fire trucks, water fountains, truck books, pillow pets, balloons, streamers, and little cakes shaped like our favorite animal, the Monkey. It even warmed up enough to go for a walk today!

  

GG showed up Friday morning and got to pal around all afternoon. She even got to spend the night in Jack's room, which is always a good thing because you never know when there might be a Tickle Monster on the prowl. They are sneaky little devils, and often come camouflaged as mothers. So fast, you can't even cathc them on camera, they blend right in, but the smiles they leave behind are unmistakable evidence of their existence.

 

   

Saturday morning the other guests started arriving - Bud and Nana got here while Mommy was picking up her new car, and Matt and Rachel and Callie were just a few minutes behind. We were so lucky to have such wonderful people to join us in celebrating Jack's 2nd birthday - I know he enjoyed the company:

And the attention:

And the cake:

I can't believe this little guy is 2!

   

White Christmas

For the first time in a long time, that I can remember, we had ourselves a White Christmas. Now granted, the snow didn't really get going until the evening of the 25th, but hey, that counts!

Greensboro and the surrounding areas (meaning most of the Carolinas) were blanketed with 4-8inches of powdery white goodness, turning our normally nondescript neighborhood into a winter wonderland.  By the time we went to bed, we had a solid half-foot in the yard and on the cars.

Nice wet snow and below freezing temps gave us good accumulation and plenty of snow sticking to bushes and tree limbs. We got up early on Sunday morning and were the first people in the neighborhood to go tramping down the sidewalk (I mean, who else gets up at 6:15 on the day after Christmas?). We bundled up in our snowsuits and had a jolly time tramping through the powder, watching Dean run around like a ninny. I think he has a different gear that he reserves for bunnies and fresh powder, and the gleeful expression on his face would make you swear he's a heli-skiier. He also likes to eat snowballs, which is good, because Jack and I like to throw them, and we make a good team.



We also got to build a snowman, which despite the protests of some other household inhabitants, I insisted we do before Sunday was over, even if that meant suiting up at 5pm to catch the last half-hour of light. It took some cajoling to get Jack out the door, but once he was out in the snow he didn't want to come in. All in all, we are one goulish snowman and several great snowdays richer this Christmas.

 

Dean, Ghost Dog of the North

Jack in the Box

Jack had the most fun this year with a cast off container of another present - I had forgotten just how much fun a big empty cardboard box could be. But fortunately for us Gran remembered!




Christmas was surprisingly fun and low stress this year. It is just so much fun having kids, because they add a dimension and dynamic that you seem to lose a little more with each year, and they just bring it right back. Jack in particular had a great time, really getting into the presents and santa and hugging new relatives and taking ornaments off the Christmas tree.

Family Photo

December 11th, 2010 - Greensboro, NC

Holiday Cards

Well, it is that time of year again.. time to order Christmas Cards. Except this year, it is even harder to get all five of us to look at the camera at the same time.


Here's a refresher on last year's choice, courtesy of Shutterfly:

That one is gonna be tough to beat. I know several folks that have kept it on their fridge all year long. But we'll give it the old college try.

The process of sending Christmas cards has gotten markedly easier over the past few years, with the advent of businesses such as Shutterfly and Snapfish. In fact, they even send you envelopes for the photo cards. I wish they would add a mail merge feature, where you could design a card and upload a contact list and the little buggers would be printed, stuffed, sealed, stamped and delivered. It seems like that would be a very popular turn-key service for folks as busy as we are.

We also have gotten into the habit of printing yearly photo calendars as gifts, which is remarkably easy to do once you have done it once, because you can recycle the previous year’s work. The hardest part is just finding the perfect picture of Aunt Hilda.


Shutterfly is running a great promotion right now, where you can win 50 free cards if you blog about there services. Wink.

The Trouble With Three

Getting two of us to look at the camera is relatively easy:

Three or more at the same time is exponentially harder:

We'll get this right eventually.

Anna's Wedding!

Congratulations, Anna and Drew Harmon! Enjoy Guatemala!

The rest of my pics are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.forest.shaw/AnnaSWedding#, and hopefully the photog will get her stuff done soon so we can add Drew to this picture! We had a great time, and it is always so fun to get all of the family together, especially since it keeps expanding (congrats, Robin!).

Family Fun

It didn't occur to me while we getting the kids ready for bed last night, but the growth of our little family is more than just the simple addition of Caroline. There is an entirely new product, maybe even exponential dimension now that she is added to the mix. Like we jumped suddenly from Shaw³ to  Shaw⁴ - that's a big deal. And it is a good thing to see, even though it took looking at a couple of pictures to make it sink in.

We were playing on the floor in Caroline's room, and Jack dragged out the big copy (yes, we have more than one) of Goodnight Moon.  It is less of a story and more of a poem/lullaby, the way the words and phrases weave about and repeat and suddenly come together in a soothing cadence. This edition is a particularly well-worn book, even though it is not yet two years into its hopefully long life. There was a period a couple of months ago when Jack liked to stand on it and try to rip the pages/cover off. So needless to say, it has fought its share of battles. But it is also the book we read to him nightly when he was just 6 or 7 months old, and barely big enough to turn pages, and certainly not old enough to pick his own books - which he now does, recently opting for one about fire trucks or bulldozers, or maybe Hand Hand Fingers Thumb, if he is in an introspective mood about the meaning of the universe (I mean, how else can you interpret "millions of monkeys, drumming on drums....").

But it was the funniest thing having Caroline there, because he brought it over and laid it on the floor and started flipping through the pages, narrating as he went in his lilting pidgin non-english language that we barely understand. I am pretty sure that "Li smo kat funan wip pig, li smo fat yon" means "Goodnight clocks, and goodnight socks". I was able to step back and take a picture or two, and looking at them later I realized just how big of an added dimension that Caroline brings to our lives, and to Jack's. It is fun to have a family.

    

Goodnight stars, Goodnight air. Goodnight noises everywhere.

Little Sisters

It has been really fun to watch Jackson try to come into his own as a big brother over the past week, even though he still doesn't quite get the full import of what has just happened to his life. Just tonight, he got visible pleasure from making sure that Caroline's swing was rocking visibly, that the built-in rasta music was at a volume which she was certain to hear, and that she had as many pacifiers as she might need stuffed in her mouth.

I think being a big brother is probably a harder task than it gets credit for - it certainly seems more challenging in retrospect for me, because I have to wonder what sort of effect I had on my little sisters. Lord knows you don't get an instruction manual (which Shaw men have an impeccable track record of reading before departing on any task). I think it is easy to be selfish as a kid and damn-near impossible to see your own actions in the greater context of a family that is all growing up together. But somehow it all works out in the end (hopefully).

I stumbled across this picture of me and Sara at some point early in our childhood - possibly when it was just the two of us. It is a fun picture to look at, but probably wouldn't have been as pleasant if it was taken after I hid her favorite doll for several hours, a prank that I was prone to repeat every couple of months. Still, I do really enjoy having sisters and I think that Jack's gentle soul has the makings of a good older brother. Even though he is a little more stressed out this week than on last Tuesday (maybe he just got spoiled by being at Bud and Nana's, or maybe he is acting out a bit), he still is (relatively) gentle and considerate of Caroline. So far, he directs most of his angst to me or mommy, and treats her with equal parts awe and the sort of curiosity one brings to biology lab on dissection day.

Good luck, little guy. It's a tall order to be a good big brother, but I'll be with you the whole way.