Hilton Head South Carolina

After a nice long 20 hour drive we made it from San Antonio to Hilton Head South Carolina. It actually wasn't too bad... ok 20 hours is 20 hours. We left at about 9:00 Friday night and drove until around 5am. After a few hours of shut eye in a Wal Mart parking lot in Beau Bridge, Louisiana, we started off again and drove all that next day getting to Hilton Head at about 9:00 the next night. It was a bit of a bruiser but my amazing husband pushed through it and my sweet little men were troupers as well. Although it was long, doing it essentially in a day allowed us to relax and enjoy Sunday in gorgeous Hilton Head Island. We caught a 10 o'clock church meeting, and then had the rest of the day to just relax. I do love having low key Sundays.
Monday was spent getting things in order. Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning etc while Danny hit the links. Monday night we had a fun little family barbecue and family night outside on our sweet little patio that we had at the RV resort and Jack, Patton and Danny had batting practice.

Tuesday Danny and I participated in the PGA Tour Wives Golf Classic. Pretty much the wives play in a 9 hole scramble while the guys are on the bag. We had such a blast. We were on a team with some of our good friends, Michael and Kristina Putnam, Bobby and Lauren Gates, and Scott and Jen Stallings. Did I mention we had such a blast!! So, for the record, I'm horrible. I can't think of a clever way to phrase that more delicately. Danny's face in this picture pretty much says it all. I think since I've had kids I've hit balls maybe 3 times. However I was well matched because 2 of the other girls on our team were at about my same skill level. Fortunately Lauren Gates played in college so we had our ringer. Also luckily for us they allowed us to purchase 3 mulligans each (all the money went to a local charity and to the wives association) which we did so our boys got to hit 3 shots each for us, definitely helping us out off the tee especially since we were playing from the ladies tees. Despite our incredibly low expectations we started heating up. We (the girls mind you) started making some big puts which when combined with our boys getting us to the green in one shot makes for some sweet magic.
About 3 birdies and 2 eagles into it we really started believing we could win it. We all started getting all fired up (boys included, since they're not competitive at all) and putting the heat on. Even down to the last hole we had a shot. We had about a 50 foot putt from the fringe and after being coached by Danny I stepped up and the line was perfect. Still to this day I don't know how it didn't drop. And Danny will tell you this too, it literally jumped over the hole, defying gravity. Sadly we lost by a shot but again, we had so much fun and just have some good ol' vengeance built up for next year:)

Another of our highlights of the week was taking the boys to the children's museum and the beach. We didn't get in the ocean since it was super crowded and I was by myself but we got to play in the sand and at least see the gorgeous Hilton Head shoreline. Jack rinsed off the sand by getting soaked in the fountains out by the beach. Patton wasn't so sure about it this time.

Now for the golf report. Thursday was an ok day. Danny felt a bit better about things and ended up shooting 2 over par. Not great but improvement and not too bad in comparison with the rest of the field. Friday however was a really fun day. Danny got a hole in one on the 17th par 3. Apparently the crowd went wild and gave him a standing ovation. One of those great moments that as my dad says, "keep you coming back for more". Ironically after all the rounds of golf I've watched, I wasn't there. I stayed home with the boys that morning so they could sleep in. That's all right though because there was much more where that came from. I got there on the back 9 in time to see 3 more great birdies. It was so fun getting to watch all his hard work show in his score a bit. He went on to shoot 5 under that day and it was more than enough to get him to the weekend. And even if the weekend wasn't quite what he hoped, it was so nice to have one of those days that remind him what he's really made of.
We also had a fun Easter morning with the boys. Jack was fascinated with the idea of the Easter Bunny and was so excited going to sleep Saturday night. I was trying to make sure he understood the real reason we celebrate Easter and so I was telling him the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. He really responded well and I could tell he understood it but he kept trying to figure out how the Easter Bunny fit in to all of this. I have to admit I wasn't completely sure what to tell him. I tried to tie him in to spring and new life and how Easter eggs are like the empty tomb but ultimately Jack just satisfied his own mind by stating, "mom the Easter Bunny must love Jesus". I agreed:) This picture is the boys in their new Sunday clothes brought to them by the very Christian Easter Bunny:)

San Antonio

What a fun week we had in San Antonio. We spent the week before in Houston with the Diehls (it was the week of the Masters so we had it off) and then drove down to San Antonio on Friday night. Saturday we took the boys to Sea World. Ya know to be completely honest we don't really do a whole lot of big touristy things in each city. First off we're not really on vacation so Danny still has to work and also, if we tried to tour every city we go to, we'd get really tired real quick. So most weeks we keep things pretty low key just going to the park, grocery shopping, library etc while Danny goes to work but since we did have a week off we decided to have a vacation day. So fun!!!
We eked out every possible moment of fun out of that place and thoroughly covered the whole park. We saw the sea lion show, Shamu (this picture was taken in Shamu Stadium)and even caught the dolphin/acrobatic show twice. We met the sesame street characters, cooled off at the splash pad, rode rides (all 4 of us got to ride the log flume together) played on the playground, fed dolphins, and together consumed six frozen lemonades (it was quite warm). By the time our shuttle came at 6:00, we were all about ready to pass out on the bench but man did we have fun!!
We parked our motor home in an undeveloped cul-de-sac(sp?) right there by the course. Amazingly they managed to fit 7 of us big buses in the circle and although they were slightly tight quarters we had such a blast. For family night on Monday we promised Jack we'd play baseball so we went outside in the circle and within 20 minutes there were 8 other kids and parents in the outfield. Another thing I love about traveling in the bus is the feeling of having neighbors. Almost every night we were hanging out outside riding bikes, playing ball and just chatting. Fun people out here.
Tuesday night the tournament put on a fun fajita party on the driving range and they let the kids hit balls (which of course my kids hated:)) We were the last ones there and only convinced Jack that it was time to leave when he could barely see his ball.
Another fun element of this week was that we had access to the JW Marriot's swimming pool/water park at the resort. We easily clocked over 10 hours there over the course of the week. They had a great kids pool/play area, water slides and an awesome lazy river. It was also a central gathering spot for other tour moms and kids which made it even more fun.
Patton pretty much owned the kiddy pool boldly manipulating the water fountains while Jack would have been content swimming with his floaties down the lazy river all day. One of Jack's little friends had some goggles and when Jack figured out that he could see under water with them he became fixed on getting some goggles of his own. So we grabbed some kids goggles for him at the store and he was so pumped to try them out. So this picture was taken before Jack got in the pool and discovered that for whatever reason those goggles were not going to stay on his little head. So sad!! He was a champ about it but I think it kind of killed his zeal for swimming for a bit. I'm not sure if it was that or his discovering the sweet lounge chairs by the pool, or him just being completely warn out but the vast majority of the rest of our pool time, Jack spent wrapped up in a towel "taking a little rest" on the lounge chairs watching Patton fill and refill his little bucket of water in the fountains.

Another highlight of the week was the gripping, neck in neck, heart stopping competition that was... the rubber ducky race. Jack and Patton each got to decorate a rubber ducky in childcare and then on Friday morning they got to race all the other kids' duckies down the lazy river. It was pretty intense, not gonna lie. Danny and I had been prepping the boys all morning for the big race. Even though we were the only parents there, Danny and I knew what a big race this was. Patton's had a chance but then it lost quite a bit of ground coming up to the second bridge. Jack's kind of got lost in the crowd from the initial dump. Although in the end the Summerhays clan didn't come home with any trophies we came away with something much more important... new bath toys!!
While golf didn't quite go our way this week, we found that a BBQ chicken pizza and a chocolate chip Pizookie from BJ's Grille did wonders to boost our spirits. And even when golf is a little rough in the end it's just a tough day at work and Danny is amazing at keeping his perspective and his priorities in place. And really when you get to come home to a smokin' hot wife and two of the cutest kids on the planet life just isn't that bad:)

Houston Shell Open- Jack's 3rd Birthday!!

Ok so while all of Houston was really fun, the highlight was definitely my Jackers turning 3!! We had such a fun day with him for his birthday. We started the day off with a shopping trip and then lunch at... where else... Chick-fil-a. Danny came home from the course early and took him golfing just the two of them and I'm pretty sure Jack would have been completely satisfied with just that. 5 hours before they were going to leave Jack went out into the bay and was getting his clubs ready and had them set out by the front door. However Danny got PING to send us a little set of clubs including the cutest mini bag that even has a little kickstand and Jack got to open them before their golfing outing. Jack was on cloud 9 getting to golf like a big boy golf cart and all. By the end he had even memorized Daddy's pre-shot routine and had made it his own. My goodness I can't even stand how cute he is.

That night when they got home we had a little party set up for him in front of the motor home. We had the basketball hoop out, ladder golf and we even got our bounce house out for the kids to play on. The best part by far though was that Jack's cousins were there!!! Danny's sister Mary and her husband Mike and their four kids live in Houston and came up for Jack's birthday. They had so much fun playing together as did the adults:) We had pizza, cake and ice cream and even got to completely destroy a Lightning McQueen pinata. Good times!! We also had the Bertch family over. They are some of our friends out here who also have a motor home. It was also their little girl Brianna's birthday so we made it a bit of a double birthday party. It's times like this I'm particularly grateful to have the motor home. It would have been significantly more difficult as well as boring to have a party in a hotel room.
Other highlights of the week mainly revolve around the Diehl family. We piled in the car one day and took all 6 kids to the zoo. We had a memorable time even if we didn't get to see a ton of animals:) In addition to losing one of Joshua's shoes in the sea lion tank Patton fell off a chair and got the biggest goose bump on his head I'm pretty sure I've ever seen. Poor kid had a 3rd eye. And as for the shoe, we decided that even after the 3 hour intensive disinfecting that the zoo felt necessary to do on the shoe, we would leave it there as a memento to our day. It just goes to show that it is much more important who you're with than what you do because we still had a blast:)

Mary, Mike and the kids even came out to watch a little golf. Margaret made it a whole 9 holes while the boys seemed content with 1/2 hole:) They were all troopers though.
Although for Danny the week meant another missed cut, we again made the most of it. We ended up being able to listen to alot more of General Conference (a conference held every 6 months for our church via satellite)than if he had been playing on the weekend (well as much as any other parents of a 3 and 1 year old get to listen to). We even got to participate in conference bingo with the Diehls (ok lets be honest we were just tanking back on the marshmallows) and got to hear Dad Summerhays' name read over the pulpit as he was sustained as an area authority. So excited for him in his new calling and for mom because we know who keeps everything running:) So for the weekend we ended up moving the motor home back down closer to Mary and Mike's house and had a fun weekend with them.

Now for my quick Jack update for his birthday. Oh how I love my Jack!!! He is such a smart little whip and just continues to learn more every day. He loves anything with a ball and is pretty darn good at about anything he tries. He is super social and loves people. He'll often just stick his head out of the motor home window and start yelling/talking to whoever happens to be parked next to us that week. I am so grateful he has the ability to make friends anywhere he goes since he seems to be doomed/blessed with a life of constant change. He is such a fun and sweet big brother and is completely adored by his little bro. Patton can't go to sleep at night unless Jack is in there with him and most mornings the first thing out of his mouth is "Jack". He is so full of life and spunk and anyone who meets him loves him. I am constantly amazed at the things that come out of his mouth. He is my little buddy!!! Happy Birthday Little Man!!!!

Orlando-Bay Hill

Orlando... ok since I'm so stinkin' behind I'm just going to try to give at least a short rundown on each of the last 4 weeks for posterity's sake as well as for the sake of my sweet mother-in-law who convinced me to continue to update:) Thanks mom. We had a great week in Orlando. We stayed at Disney's Camp Wilderness which what could it be but the happiest campground on earth right? The park was awesome with beautiful sites as well as so much to do. We clocked several hours in at the pool where Jack and Patton owned the kiddy water slide. On Tuesday night we went to the Chip and Dale sing along (no the chipmunks...family friendly folks:) which was a little campfire show starring... you guessed it, Chip and Dale. The boys loved it and let's be honest, Danny and I were singing right along with them:) One night they showed "Cars" for their outdoor movie and so we let the boys stay up past their bedtime so we could go. I'm pretty sure we went through 3 big buckets of popcorn (Jack and Patton pounding 2 themselves) but we had a blast! The boys and I also went on a little outing with my friend Erin Walker and her little boy to Downtown Disney. We walked around for a bit and then grabbed lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (so cool). Then we had planned to let the boys play in the fountains there but the boys didn't get the memo. It was still a fun outing though even despite getting on the wrong shuttle on the way home. It's nice having other friends out here to go explore with. On Wednesday Danny and I left the kids in the Tour Childcare and got to go to the Orlando Temple. It was starting to become a joke that every temple we happened to be close to was closed for cleaning the week we were there. We finally made it though and it was so great to be there. We were starting to think the church was trying to keep us out:) The boys and I went back later that day so they could see it too. Thus the picture. Another fun event of the week was the party they had for the players and their families. They had dinner, a face painter, a balloon artist and just enough other kids to make it heaven for my boys. I don't know how they didn't knock down any of the gorgeous table displays and in the end we only had one casualty, a basket of forks. But I guess they should have known what they were getting into when inviting the families:) Always an adventure throwing kids into this crazy country club/resort lifestyle called the PGA Tour but they definitely keep it real. So a couple of the tournaments have put on these family parties and they usually have balloons and face painting as well. Every party Jack asks to be a pirate (or in this case a viking pirate) and he has really started owning his role. Luckily once Jack is a pirate other boys seem to take on the role as well so at least I'm not the only mother with a little boy running around screaming "rrrr" and trying to chop your arms off with a balloon sword... what can I say he's a leader:) Patton was every bit as lively just in different ways. Like for instance climbing all over this little scooter statue and... well going back to the forks:). Man I love these boys!! It's easy to laugh at them now as I write this while they are sleeping:) Another highlight was that they had the BYU basketball game on. The low point was that we were watching it in Orlando with a bunch of Florida fans... so sad:( That's all right, great season Cougs! We ended up staying until the end of the game so you can imagine how wired our little pirates were by the end of the night. So despite the earlier than planned departure from Orlando (missed cut) we had such a fun week and then continued on to Houston:)

Tampa- the Transitions Championship

Good ol' Tampa was a good week for a couple of reasons. First was that we were parked right at the course so the proximity made it really nice to get around. It was also fun because there were several other players and their families parked in our little parking lot with us which allowed us to get to know some of them better. Tuesday night some of our friends Rori and Amy Sabbatini had a little BBQ at their bus in honor of his win in Palm Beach and so we went over and ate and chatted with them as well as some other people for a while while the boys played with their kids. It's so nice to have a little neighborhood of sorts. Another highlight of the week was a little service project/luncheon we had with the PGA Tour Wives Association. Quick side note: The Wives Association is made up of, you guessed it, the wives and significant others of the players. It is primarily a service organization that find opportunities to give back to the communities the tour goes to. It is also a support group of sorts for the women out on the road with their husbands. Pretty cool! End side note. Anyways we got to help out a bit with an activity involving a bunch of local school kids. After we had a nice lunch where we met one of the owners of the resort (pretty amazing woman). The next highlight was St. Patrick's Day. I love holidays!! Any excuse to celebrate and add a little spice into every day life I'm all about. We had a breakfast of Lucky Charms, way too much chocolate and a great excuse to talk in an Irish accent... can't go too wrong. It was also Danny's caddy Danny's birthday (his caddy's name is also Danny) so we took him out to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse (quickly becoming one of my favorite dining out options since we get great food and entertainment. The boys were awesome. Saturday morning I took the boys to the little "kid's zone" the tournament put on. We were the only ones there for a while so Jack and Patty got to drive hotwheels to their hearts content as well as get thier faces painted. After while Patton napped Danny took Jack golfing (with his face still painted) Fun day!! So while Danny may not have the same opinion I've loved having him around on the weekends to play with and have some help at church:) Despite the frustration that is golf Danny has maintained an incredible attitude and is still happy and optimistic about the direction golf is going. So we're happy and as always loving being together as a family getting to have these awesome experiences together. Life is good!! On to Orlando... PS sorry about the layout... we've been having issues with blogging lately. Help Jules!!