Our beach vacation (half way through summer break) - visit to Grammy and Granddaddy's house

We saved our sparklers for there. I thought 30 would be enough (that's 6 a piece) - I think they could have used about 30 each! They loved them. (For most it was their first time). We'll get fancy and write words next time, but for now, I had fun just catching the scribble and they had fun (cautiously) with the sparks.

Alee lost her first tooth! (At first, I really thought she lost it when she came into the bathroom bleeding without a tooth, but I have good eyes...well, with contacts in...and I found it in the carpet.)

We needed to go swimsuit shopping (last year's were outgrown for most and none of the hand-me-downs seemed to fit right.) Seth also did some shopping for some swim gear.

Matching would be fun...no, these don't fit right...moving on

We finally found the perfect suits for everyone's size, taste, and needs.

We let some balloons go in memory of Noah (my cousin who died in 2007 - each year on the date he died we let go yellow smiley balloons in honor of him and watch them "float up to heaven").

Here are all the beach pictures - we went twice during our stay there:
(David works at the beach, so we visited at his assigned spot where he rents out chairs and umbrellas to beach goers.)

Sand Mermaid

Trying to learn the art of net fishing...

The first day she insisted on cleaning her feet over and over again when she sat down, but she dumped a bucket of ocean water (including sand) over her head...her standards of clean baffle me!

Caught something!

 Day two we put shirts on over swimsuits! (we did beach and pool the first day and forgot to do sunscreen in between the two, so everyone was a little pink and sore for beach day 2)

 (Yep, that was posed)

Swimming Pool time!

Rob helped Alee and Natalie increase in swimming skills

Fun at Grammy and Granddaddy's house:

She's wasn't really that upset when it collapsed - (we just like a little drama in our day)

the pig!

(Carolyn loved these tiny little pigs...all my kids like little bitty toys - they kept appearing in the oddest places - do you see one in the fingernail picture? look closely!)

A little marble slab/coldstone at home...mmmm

We let them choose 1 fun non-beach thing - we did MagiQuest (which was way more expensive than I had anticipated. This was the first wand-purchasing time I have gone. It was Alee's first time, so she needed everything to get started.) But it was fun...and a little funny when she announced she was bored 15 minutes into her expensive experience. (She did enjoy the full hour though.)

And before we headed out the last day, we went by the park (mostly because the kids wanted to feed the ducks, but also because they needed to burn some energy before we stuffed them in the van for nearly 3 hours).

My little monkey

I think she burned enough energy...

What?! They're getting along for 5 minutes? quick fan me before I go into shock!

They all took turns with this furry thing - caterpillar?

Rob teased Grammy that she couldn't just swing - she had to swing and be on the phone - or as he called her her "not a camera".

My favorite part of the park. The poor turtles had to fight for their food (and Seth when he saw that didn't want the birds to get any) - We fed them probably a loaf worth of bread.

I have the next week of pictures ready too, but I'll let you enjoy these for a day or two before I post more! We had so much fun.