Each family had their own room and bathroom so it couldn't have been more perfect really...well, maybe if it had a pool! ;)
My picture taking was all over the place and my downloading was hectic too, so I have pics grouped by download vs. day so the pics in this posting are from my second download. Without further ado, K and her cousins Catherine and Maggie:
We managed to time our beach trips better each day based on tide and we were lucky enough to get some pretty sweet tide pool action which is pretty much where I lived.
All the kids were loving the tide pools too of course. I love this picture - Catherine is so good with the babies and Avery LOVES the "big girls". All throughout the week she'd go grinning and clapping then open her arms real wide to love on them - it was super sweet.
Honey & Avery
One day when my kiddos are grown (which I realize is sweet heavenly forevah away) I'm going to get to sit on the beach and read like this:
Declan's not a super huge fan of the beach but I did manage to get some moments where you couldn't tell he wasn't enjoying it:
Every day we pretty much woke up, ate breakfast, headed to the beach and stayed until the kids were d.o.n.e. and then head back to the house for showers and lunch. After lunch the kids kind of got a second wind, so the big blow up pool is a perfect place for them to go if they so desire and on this day they did - fun, fun!
This is kind of a random picture thrown in the mix, but my niece A made these for each of us with our names and different sea creature foam stickers - so thoughtful of her.
I took this picture of Kennedy running circles around me splashing through the tide pools - sometimes I look at her in situations like these and just think: could there be a better example of pure joy? I think not.
This little swimsuit has seen the beach a TON - it was Catherine's when she was little...seriously! This is one valuable hand me down.
not afraid of the ocean...the.end.
never stopped grinning - seriously!
This was the view from the rockers on our porch. Isn't it beautiful?
Almost every day we got a good ole "toad choker" (as I learned they are called in KY) and our view changed drastically:
For the most part the storms were your typical come and go summer storm, but a few of them were pretty long and drawn out and on this particular storm we sat outside for some of it and I kept quoting the Mr. Brown can Moo book to Avery where it says "Boom, Boom, Boom Mr. Brown is a wonder. Boom, Boom, Boom Mr. Brown makes Thunder" and she was so tickled by that so we did it over.and over.and over again. Oh the things you do to make them smile. Sweet Moments.
Some evenings after supper we'd venture back out to the beach for an evening stroll. These two fit perfectly side by side in my new double BOB - I'm pretty much in love (especially with the price my sister Angel snagged it for off of Craigs List in DC).
Kennedy loves sneaking up on the seagulls...
and scaring them up into the air
once she's confirmed their up for good - not to come back down for re-landing
she squeals with delight - clearly this is a skill one is to be proud of:
Declan called it in early this evening, so big sister took a comfy spot in the BOB
Today when I was uploading these pictures Kennedy said "Mom, I love the beach...I wish we could just stay at that house forever". I laughed and said "that would be fun, wouldn't it?" Something about the beach is so relaxing and carefree. I'm not sure why but for some reason I was more relaxed this year at the beach than all the years before. It's kind of counter intuitive really that I would be more relaxed this year (pregnant, just having moved and no house) but I guess knowing the pressure of work wasn't waiting on me and knowing I'd have time to unpack and get re-organized before the insanity of life was right back upon me went a long way and believe me I was thankful for that - daily thankful. Most mornings after breakfast and bathing suit picking out and sun screen application in our family bedroom we did a devotion with Kennedy and I'm so glad we started our days that way. Usually Kennedy and I do a devotion with or after breakfast, but Tim is already at work so he doesn't usually get to participate - I was so thankful for that family time to be grateful and to just focus correctly before the day truly began. Despite being in a season of chaos as some would call it - I'm daily aware of how much we have to be thankful for: a place to stay, food to eat, Tim's job, a healthy pregnancy, sweet kids (most days ;). Vacation...well it's just like extra icing on top of the cake that is our life right now. I'm loving re-living it by blogging it and lucky for me, there's way more to come.....
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