The Schoon Scoop: A Little R&R

This past week we headed to Ocean Isle beach with the whole Schoonmaker crew for a little R&R. Noel and I were both overdue for some rest and relaxation. The girls didnt quite get the meaning of R&R and thought it stood for running around and restlessness. Despite being busy all day and up all night we still had a great vacation and feel somewhat restored.

The week started off great. We went down a night early to spend sometime with my Grandpa Steve and Naomi-O in Myrtle Beach. It was the first time that the girls had a "sleep over" at grandpa's and it brought back so many memories from my childhood. I really think we need to bottle whatever it is my grandfather's got. He's 88 years old and acts exactly like he did 25 years ago. I love the exchange between Grandpa and Nora in this photo.

Since they are both May babies we celebrated Naomi and grandpa's birthdays at Outback. The next morning we got dressed and went out to IHOP for breakfast before we had to leave to head north. It was a quick but wonderful visit.

On Sunday Noel and I had a quick "church date" complete with lunch and milkshakes at Andy's in Shalotte. Then Maggie and I spent the afternoon building an awesome castle on the beach.

For Mother's Day Maggie and Nora gave Nana a frame with their spring school photos in it. There was a space for one extra picture so we took this photo of Nana and Papaw with their girls to add to her frame.

I tried not to spend the whole weekend behind my camera but I couldnt help snapping a few fun pictures. Here's Nora and Papaw soaking up the sun.

Sweet Nora was friendly to everyone coming down the beach. She loved being out on the sand and even played in the surf.

She also tried to eat sand by the shovel load. Dont worry, we didnt let her eat too much.

These girls have the best time together. I cannot wait to watch their relationship grow over the years.

Toward the end of the week Maggie found a butterfly shell that still had a clam in it. She was worried that it would die and desperately needed to get it back to the ocean. I let her go by herself down to the water.

You would have thought it was Christmas and her birthday all rolled up into one.

Noel, Maggie and I all have shirts from our favorite restaurant in Calabash. This year Nora got her very own t-shirt and we took some family photos in our Ella's shirts.

These sisters really love each other.

Our latest family photo! If we really wanted to show off our shirts I guess we probably should have sat backwards on the couch. I think it's cute nonetheless.

Before packing up an leaving the last morning we got one more picture of the whole crew. We all had a terrific week in my favorite beachfront house.

Just before we left for the beach, Maggie's turtle Rocky decided to move back into the wild. It was probably just as well since we wouldnt be able to feed him while we were gone. Maggie was sad but quickly got over it by deciding we could get a new hermit crab at the beach.

Meet Magaloo the hermit crab.

Magaloo had been hanging out with another crab in the cage and the other crab seemed really sad when we took her out so we decided to bring Rosebelle home too.