Our vacation

Well we just got back from the beach this weekend. We had a great time and the kids enjoyed their first visit to the beach. The first thing we did when we got to our destination was ... go to the beach. Nathan looked in the sand for sea shells and the girls headed straight for the water. It was great to experience the beach with them and by the end of the trip they were pros at navigating the water, catching sand crabs, applying suntan lotion, discarding of sand trapped in their bathing suits, etc. We were definitely out of our element our fist couple of days. As traditionally non-beach goers and midwestern folks the week at the beach taught us a lot about what to bring and what not to bring.

Our Buddha bank came with us and provided good Karma for our trip.

Day one:
Non-beach family enters the beach with our beach tent, towels, and fold up chairs. We slowly realized that we were the only ones with this tent and no umbrella or pop-up tent. The tent was really hot since it only opened to one side with windows on the other two. The back was not accessible so the wind did not flow through very well. The folding chairs were also too hot and did not sit well in the sand. Nathan was like a dead fish in the water. When he got knocked down he could not get up so he was stuck in the undercurrent while another wave crashed over him. So we had to stick close to him and resuce him many times.



Nathan testing the water for the first time. He wanted to wear the water shoes so that he would not step on a crab. That was the last time he wore those shoes.




Getting Nathan out of the water.

He was so tired after day one he fell asleep under the table while we were playing Life.

Day two:
Set up our breach equipment early because we learned form day one that people stake out their spots early. On day one we were father back and could not see the kids playing in the water from the tent. Traded our tent for our borrowed One Step Ahead tent with an open back. Much more comfortable but still we were the only ones with a tent like this. Went out and purchased a cheap beach chair. D, who is not large a large man, sat in the chair and the chair collapsed after 10 minutes. Darn cheap chair. The kids took our pre-purchased beach toys to play in the beach. Julianne takes the large plastic shovel and digs into the sand. Pulls the sand up and the plastic shovel bends and breaks under the weight of the sand. Yikes. Another bad purchase. We notice that everyone else had wood handled shovels that did not break.

Day three:
We purchased two better quality beach chairs and a boogie board. The boogie board was a blast. D and I loved riding waves on it. We had several good runs and lots of good wipeouts. D suffered sand burn on his back as a result of catching a rather large wave at the wrong time.

Our stake in the beach by day three. Good spot.




Nathan always getting food.


Day 5: We purchased more fun water toys like paddle ball, a ball that skips on water and a football. The kids enjoyed those as well as daddy and mommy.


Nathan's great throwing form and his bony ribs.

By day 5 we finally got Lindsay to take a nap on the beach. She was not a fan of the windy noisy days but did take a few naps in her little One Step Ahead bed and in the front pack with D.

Our last night we took the kids out for a walk on the beach and reminisced about our trip.



Goodbye beach...until next time.


The last night the kids wanted to sleep together because it was a special night.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-taking a great vacation with the family
-not getting into any car troubles/issue on our way there and back
-seeing the kids enjoy the beach for the first time.
-have a great husband who can drive long distances at a time and will hold Lindsay in the front pack on the beach.

Middle of summer?

I cannot believe that is it is the middle of summer already. D got us U2 tickets for Christmas and we just recently enjoyed our trip and concert. I remember thinking that when we got them that it was so far away and our youngest daughter was not even born yet. So time just seems to fly by. The concert was great. We had a great time and rocked it out like a young kids. The weather was perfect and it was a perfect getaway. We slept in and enjoyed our quiet time together. D's mom watched all the kids and everything seemed to run smoothly.

The kids had a few weeks of summer camps ranging from basketball, soccer, art camps, and horseback riding camps. Here are a few pictures from their latest art camp.



Mallory and her toothless smile.

Our lovely tree in the back yard has a fungus. I guess from all the spring rain it has developed this condition but I was told by a few arborists that it does not hurt the tree and an anti-fungal spray will help in the spring. We love this tree and I would hate for anything to happen to it.



Lindsay is growing like a weed. We took her to her 4 month appointment and she was in the 75 percentile for weight and 85th for height. I think so far she is our biggest baby. She is still pretty easy going and loves to just be carried around. She has giggled just a little bit and she is now gaining more control over her hands. Just today I put her in the car and gave her her lovey and she took it with her right hand and put it up to her mouth and put her left hand in her mouth. Before she would stumble to grab it with both hands and hopefully get it up to her mouth. She is a thumb sucker and loves having a blanket/lovey accompanying her thumb. Sometimes she grabs my shirt and buries her face in my chest while sucking her thumb and using my shirt as a lovey. The girls love getting her up after her naps and playing with her after I feed her. While we were gone for 24 hours at the concert I pumped out 35 ounces so it was good to know approximately how much she eats within a 24 hour period.

Here are some pictures of her.







Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-being able to go see a concert with my darling hubby.
-missing my kids then seeing them again.
-listening to Mallory talk about all the horses and their personalities from horse camp.
-watching Nathan just dilly dally around during soccer games but when he had to compete against other kids he was into it. Additionally watching him refuse to wear a soccer jersey.
-Julianne spending an hour reading on the couch because, "she really enjoyed her book and wanted to finish it" (this never happens).
-My hubby organizing and taking the three older kids to baseball game because he wanted them to experience the game with him.

Fourth of July

We had a great fourth of July. Our weekend was full of fun, fireworks, family, friends and exhaustion. It was probably the best fourth I have had in a long time. The kids are really at the age where all these activities are fun for them and they are remembering these events. The weekend started off with the downtown fireworks at my office. The kids enjoyed the time with their cousins and Nana was in town. The weather was great and the fireworks were a hit. Lindsay also went with us and watched these fireworks.








Julianne's new trick.



The next event was our neighborhood block party. It was bigger and better with year with inflatables, slip-n-slides, great grillers, food and fantastic desserts. It was exhausting to help organize, set up, take down, hold Lindsay and talk to people all at the same time. I was ready to be done with the event even though it was worth all the effort.




The next day we had an opportunity to participate in our local parade. We had a great time and it was fun to be on the other side. I did not realize how large the parade was and it was fun to see all the people come out to support the local parade. The kids had fun and Nathan was with me in our car and he was stubborn at first. He did not want to wave and only wanted to wave at people that he knew. Toward the end he ended up waving and was in to it.

Our fancy car.


These horses were right behind our car and the boys loved watching them. They kept pretending that the horse were going to eat them and when they got close to our car the boys hid. The horse were carrying a band so it was fun to hear the music as we traveled down the parade route.



Nathan and his wave.


Here are some other random events that occurred within the past few months.

We were playing cards with our neighbors and Nathan came down and wanted us to do something before he went to sleep. We said we would be up in a moment and we forgot. A few hours later we came up and he was asleep like this with is light on. We kind of felt guilty but it was funny at the same time.



We put Lindsay in the excersauser for the first time ever and her look of confusion/amazement/over stimulation was priceless. She was glued to everything and the kids kept turning her around saying, "Lindsay, look at this, look at this, etc.." That lasted a few moments before mental fatigue set in and the senses overloaded. Since then she has enjoyed it more and the kids are told to leave her alone.

Our beautiful new quilt that my stepmother's mom made for Lindsay. We love all her quilts and I am so happy to be the owner of another one.

I took the kids to a surrounding park that had a lot of paths, secret gardens, ponds, tunnels, and beautiful gardens. The kids really enjoyed it and ran around and around. We had a great time and I really want to do more of these special occasions more often.











Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-nursing Lindsay and our special time together
-sharing experiences with my family
-not having so many activities to do
-appeciating our community