Sunshine and Basketball
We spent a week at my favorite place over spring break-Seaside, Florida-and even though this year the weather was a little temperamental I loved every minute of it. I hardly had my camera out of my suitcase the whole week-I still haven’t figured out how to lug that thing around and hold onto Janey Pants-who is, of course, much more important than a camera. I have very few photos but that’s just the way life works sometimes I guess.
Our house this year was called Serendipity and had a ladder up to the very tippy top with a gorgeous view of the town. It was high-scary high-and made me nervous. The kids and Jeff loved it of course.
Yes that is a little sunburn, and yes I felt guilty. She had a hat on and I thought I was under the umbrella the entire afternoon, darn it. She is my fairest baby and we were much more careful the rest of the days, cloudy or not.
After our week was up, we couldn’t help but head to Atlanta to see my Uncle John coach Michigan in the Final Four and then the championship game. How exciting! All the wonderful articles that were written about him will be printed out and put into my kid’s scrapbooks. He truly truly is the man he is portrayed as. (These were my favorite here, here and hereand my cousin Ellen’s bloghere.)
We took some great pics with the players and got a few autographs. The hotel was booked full with the team, their families, and Michigan alums and fans.
Before the games, fans bid farewell as the coaches and players board the bus to the arena.
I took this picture only because the abs are pretty darn inspirational I must say. Such cute cheerleaders.
We had three tickets and Jeff, Abbey and Matt went to both games. I stayed back at the hotel with the little ones and we had our own party.
Jeff took these pics at the game:
That’s Zak Novak who graduated last year. Isn’t he cute?
And I took these pics at the hotel:
Poor Patrick conked out before each game. Andrew and I and Janey cheered as quietly as possible. After the final game, Andrew cried a few sweet tears of sadness and disappointment. And then we ALL fell asleep.
We were so sad they lost, but heck, they made it to the end and that’s something.
After 12 nights away from our own beds, I was ready for the long car ride back.
I have loads and loads of laundry to do, and some schedules and routines to re-establish but what a nice break. Still, there is nothing like absence to make the heart grow fonder of home sweet home.
How exciting Sarah! My husband and I cheered for Michigan last night and for me at least it was because of your Uncle John. 🙂
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What fun memories! Your kids will never forget that trip. I may never forget those abs 😉 just wait til they've had as many babies as we've had. They'll look just like us!!
What a great experience for the kids. Not into the basketball but can appreciate the hype and excitment of finals whatever the code and made even more special when family are personally involved. Ah yes and then there is the washing! Holidays over – getting back to "Normal" can be a drag.
Welcome home! I was beginning to wonder where you were. I love to read your blog. I'm glad you got your yearly dose of Seaside.
YEA! You're back! I just emailed you to see if you were home yet. 🙂 SO happy to hear you had a fun trip! And I love that you didn't take a ton of pictures! Sometimes it's so nice to just sit back and enjoy instead of feeling like you need to document everything. Hope you got some well deserved down time Sarah!
Looks like you guys had a really nice trip…love all the pictures.
Missed you. Janey does not look too unhappy about her sunburn. She's a doll. Glad you had a fun safe vacation.
I agree that your uncle seems like a great man and coach. I live in the Buffalo, NY area and because he is from Niagara county they were doing all sorts of stories on him. It sounds like you had a great vacation!
Wonderful post! We just got home from the beach, too! Such a blessing to be able to get away for a bit!
Glad to see you back on the blog! I was thinking of you all week because of the big game! I live in Louisville and I am a big time Cardinals fan, so I was wondering if you would say anything about the game. It was a close one. We call the Cardinals the "Cardiac Cards" because it always seems that they are waiting till the last quarter or so of a game to pull out a win. I am beyond thrilled that they won! All that being said, both teams played a fantastic game and they were both winners having made it to the game. 🙂
I have missed you!! Love the picture of Janey in front of the tv, and Patrick konked out like that!! He was reaaaaally tired you could tell!!!
I have to check out Seaside!! I have never heard of it~we are considering Destin this summer, but this looks better!!!!! Congrats to your Uncle!!!
Sarah, if it makes you feel any better…Louisville beat our WSU Shockers in the Final Four. It was such a tight-tight came. too! WSU was ahead by 11 at 8 minutes to go! Eight minutes is an eternity in a basketball game. I was trying to serve dinner that evening and couldn't even sit down. And on top of that was pacing and shushing my little ones…all for a game. My goodness.
We're still proud of our guys though.
Love that you have shared Seaside with us.
We just got back from a ski trip, and frankly…I'm tired of winter vacations. I have started researching rentals for Seaside. If you have any great tips…please share. We'll be taking the long way…driving. Ha.
Missed seeing your posts.
And, I'm pretty sure I never had a belly like those sweet young things.
xo
What an awesome family you come from; the Beileins. What a great testimony. Printed this one out to read with hubby; he hears about "Sarah" and her blog from time to time. What a great work ethic your family grew up with. Mary Brooke in Atlanta (!)
OMG Sarah! I was looking for you guys in the stands during the game. How exciting. We're here in California, but we were all cheering for Michigan. My boys were teasing me saying, "Mom's BFF's uncle coaches!" So funny! They played a great game and it was so fun to watch. I LOVE all the pictures of Janey. She's gotten so chubby:)) What a fun vacation!
Loved seeing your baby girl. She is such a dolly!
Loved those cheerleaders also…abs to DIE for..however..Why do they have those huge huge yellow bows in their hair??? crazy big!
I have been checking daily to see what you had to say about Michigan and that amazing road your brother and their team experienced. I can't say I was cheering for them the whole way as they beat my alma mater Florida to move on in the championship, but I was glad it was "your" team if it had to be someone. What an exciting time for your family!
I was about to tell you I couldn't be your friend any more because you are a die-hard Michigan fan, but then I saw your uncle is the coach and I had compassion on you.
🙂
Love,
Sandy
(from Louisville)
(Go CARDS!)
Hey, lovely to see you having a break away with your family. You are in none of the pics!!
Yeah – go Blue!! What an amazing season we had! I am an alum and watched every second of the games. So proud of the team even with the loss. Your uncle seems like such a nice man too 🙂
such a fun post! that janey is so so cute 🙂
Oh, my husband cried a few tears of sadness and disappointment, too. And also blew a blood vessel in his eye. 🙂
Glad you guys had a good trip!
I have missed you and your posts! Lovely Seaside never disappoints. (because of you we actually made it our vacation destination last year). How cool that part of your family was able to attend the final four!!! Loved everything about this post. Thank you.
whew…I was worried and didn't think that you might be on vacation…..I love that part of our country….wish I was there now. I am going to check out the place you stayed….did you find it on vrbo?
The basketball game looks exciting…..glad you are home safe and rested……
Was also looking for you in the stands, but duh- of course you'd be with the cutie patooties in the hotel! 🙂 How neat that it worked out the game would be on your way home! So happy for your whole family…read every article. 🙂
Glad you had such a wonderful trip. I was thinking about your Uncle John throughout the tournament. My sister is a Louisville grad, so we were cheering for the Cardinals for this one. It was a great game!
Glad you are back…I was starting to wonder where you had run off to.
Totally random question… I was just mentioning to my husband that your uncle is the coach for Michigan (he's a big fan.) Do you know if you're related to Liz DeRoos? John is her dad's cousin. I guess it would be pretty distant, but just totally random that you're somehow related to our cousin on the East coast 🙂
Happy to see you're back and that you had a wonderful time in a dreamy place. 🙂
She's sitting all by herself! Wow, did time fly or what? I found Charlotte standing in her crib today and a little piece of me cried inside! Glad your vaca was good 🙂
I dream of Seaside because of your posts!
Our friends were at the game and I think they were sitting right by your family. He played football (and maybe soccer) for Michigan and is now an NFL kicker, your uncle probably knows him 🙂
Luv Janey! she is so cute!
I love your family, Sarah! 🙂 And Janey is seriously the cutest thing ever.
How cool that your uncle is John!? I'm a Michigan alum and my husband and I were lucky enough to find a sitter (SIL) so that we could drive down to the games. I'm so jealous of your family's seats though – we were in the nosebleeds. I've been reading your blog for a while, and now I have another reason to love you 🙂
What a fun trip! We're taking our 4 kiddos to Florida this summer!! Got any good tips to traveling with a big family??
Glad you all had such a great trip! I'm a GA girl, and lived in the Atlanta area for 14 years. I know that hotel very well you stayed at! 😉 That's incredible about your uncle, I remembered reading about him a while back. And that sweet Janey is just growing so fast! What a sweet baby!