Puppies to the beach!

Last night we finally got it together and took the pups to the beach.  This something we have been wanting to do for a while, but it is slightly difficult since they are only allowed on the beach at certain times and we don't necessarily want to take them to the beach when we want to relax and swim, etc.  So last night we headed out to Isle of Palms at about 7, only to find out that the park closes at 7, oops.  Then we decided to head over a few minutes to Sullivan's Island.  We found a place to park and a doggie friendly beach.  By this time it was about 8 so it was a great temperature and getting closer to darkness (I love the beach at night!).

We headed down the beach for a nice walk to start out with and of course we made the pups walk in the surf.  Apollo was loving it, but Basil freaked out every time a wave came in so she was jerking my arm quite often.  As a result of the initial reactions we just had Basil hang out in the shallow surf area to get the hang of it, but Apollo went out with Ben to where the water was about halfway up to Ben's knees.  It was super cute because at that point Apollo had to "doggie paddle".  He didn't seem to mind it all that much, but every time Ben moved Apollo would follow him; he definitely wasn't taking any chances of being left out there.

After Apollo got done swimming for a few minutes we continued to take our walk down the beach.  Every once in a while Apollo decided to show us his best cockroach impression and rolled all around in the sand.  They both do that sometimes at home on the carpet sometimes after baths, but this was just hilarious to watch in the sand because he looked like a crazy dog.

A bit further down the beach we came to a calm pool of water that looked like it had been left behind at high tide.  This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to let Basil give swimming a try since there were no waves to freak her out.  So we took both pups out to where they couldn't quite stand and they were swimming around like pros.  They actually both seemed to like it at this point, but we didn't want to press our luck to we brought them back to the sand.

So after a nice walk we headed back to the car, both pups managed to poo on the beach (thankfully we had our bags like we were supposed to), and then we had a lovely ride home that stunk of wet dog.  Gotta love it! (not really)  They were a wet sandy mess and when we got home they definitely needed baths.  I am thinking we need to have a kiddie pool for their baths from now on because after seeing them in the water at the beach I think they would like baths a whole lot better that way. :-)

Our first trip to the beach was a success and we are definitely going to have to try it out again.  I love walking on the beach and bringing the pups along was an added treat.  Next time we are going to have to remember the camera so we can catch their cuteness in action!

Here is just a fun pic of them when they were little; pretty much only the size has changed :-)

Ryan and Valerie Reep!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go up to PA and join in celebrating Ryan and Valerie's wedding.  It was about an 11hr drive so not exactly your ideal weekend trip but it was definitely worth it.  We drove up Friday as soon as Ben could get off from work and finally arrived at Amish Lanterns Motel at 12:45am.  Let's just say we were a little pooped and I don't think I have been up that late since I have been pregnant so it was a bit of an experience.  Our hotel was pretty cute, nothing fancy, but we were definitely out in the middle of nowhere in Amish country.  The dogs thoroughly enjoyed barking at EVERY horse and buggy that went by (and there were quite a few).

On Saturday we were thankfully able to sleep in some and then we went out to lunch with our good friend from college, Valerie (not the one getting married), who also happens to live in the Lancaster area where the wedding was.  It was really super nice to get a chance to see her and catch up a bit.  We hadn't seen her in over a year I think.  But hopefully we will have another good excuse to see her again soon. :-)

Saturday afternoon was wedding time.  It was a gorgeous wedding.  They put so much thought into every detail of the service and the reception.  It was awesome to see how they wove their faith throughout the day and demonstrated that they truly plan to make God the center of their marriage.  They had both dad's speak at the wedding, giving excellent godly advice.  Then at the reception, it was really neat because toward the end they had everyone get in a circle out on the dance floor and they passed the microphone around so that everyone could say what they wanted about the couple and offer congrats/well-wishes/advice.  It was super neat to see how many people they have already impacted as individuals and as a couple and to hear how God has worked through them to bless so many people.  And we are super excited because we are going to be incredibly blessed to have them down in SC with us for the first few years of their marriage.  We look forward to seeing how God continues to use such an amazing couple for his glory.  And I am looking forward to getting to know Valerie even better since she will finally be joining us in SC! So far most of what I know about her has simply been through Ryan and the very few times we have interacted.  Congrats to the new Reep family!  Here are a few pics from the celebration:

Beautiful Val and her daddy

Exchanging of vows

Attempted to get picture of the kiss, but then the bridal party started blowing party horns and this is the result.

Toward the end of the night, started to get pretty tired, but wanted a pic of us dressed up

Picture with the newlyweds, but unfortunately my eyes ended up closed, oh well!

One trimester down, two to go!

So yesterday was the first day of week 14, which means that the first trimester is over.  It’s crazy to think that our baby is one third of the way to being in our arms.  Supposedly our baby is beginning to be more active in the womb now, but thankfully I can feel any of it quite yet.  One nice thing is the nausea is definitely calmed down and it only shows up on occasion.  Unfortunately I can’t seem to knock this cough that I have had for about 4 weeks now.  The only thing I can figure is that it’s taking longer to go away than usual because I am pregnant.  Oh well, I manage alright and when I asked the doctor at my last appointment he just told me that sometimes coughs can take time to go away.

This weekend I have had a chance to spend the weekend in MI with my parents going around looking at baby and maternity stuff.  An amazing blessing is that a girl that my mom works with gave me all of her maternity clothes to borrow so at least this time around I will hardly have to buy anything.  She gave me two garbage bags worth of stuff which was basically everything she wore when pregnant.  It is so awesome to see how God provides because I was not looking forward to the financial burden of getting maternity clothes.