More Beach Pictures

Are you ready for more beach pictures? I got my camera back so here are a few that I took:

One of the best features of our beach house was the deck.
We spent a lot of time hanging out on it.

Jonathan dug a big hole EVERY day for the kids to play in on the beach.

And then, EVERY day the tide washed it away.

Annabelle liked the pool a lot more than the ocean.

Last year we all got a kick out of Lucie wearing this bathing suit. It was Annabelle's turn to wear the "pastie" suit this time. She loves to make people laugh so it was her favorite!

The kids played so well together. Kiah and Lanie loved to play house with the little ones and pretended to put them to bed in Paul and Uncle Jonathan's bunks. Annabelle still makes herself a little pallet on the floor now that we are home.
Something that really struck me this year was how old my boys are getting. Caleb in particularly seemed so mature! He took showers all on his own and dressed himself without any guidance from me. I think they felt big because they were in the "boys room" with Uncle Jonathan and Paul.
I can't remember where Aunt Lorie was for this picture but we had Kiah stand in for her and she just loved that! I have never thought before that Amie and Leslie looked much alike, but they sort of do with the dark hair now. We all kept getting them confused throughout the week.

Here we are for one of our late night dinner parties.
A couple of the nights we even dressed up nicely.
Yeah, I think the dinners and after hour entertainment was my favorite part.
One night we played our own version of the "Newlywed Game". Guess who won?
Jonathan and Beth!
I think they won because they was no pressure for him to do well.

Crabbing was Caleb's favorite activity and he caught the biggest one of the week. The guys took them to a dock close by and they caught lots of crabs by dangling a chicken neck (yes, you read that right!) from a string and then netting the crabs when they tried to eat them. It was very exciting for them and we loved eating them when they got home.

Beth caught a pretty big one herself.

Aunt Leslie and Annabelle bonded on the ride home. She named her new doll Leslie this week.

Seth and Adam enjoying the waves.

Did I mention Annabelle's recent expansion in her vocabulary? Aunt Lorie worked all week with her making her say new things and she says practically anything now.........you just may not be able to understand it.

Aunt Theresa visited us one day and brought lots of prizes for the kids. She spent the afternoon coloring and painting with them. Suddenly Amie and I found ourselves without our kids and lying out in the sun on the beach. What a nice treat. (not to say that the whole week was much different since we had all of that built-in childcare abundance already) The kids had so much fun with Aunt Theresa.

Annabelle would have been completely satisfied to play in the water hose on the deck all week if we would have let them.

All this talk of the beach trip makes me think over and over in my mind:

I miss Leslie!