They built this one all by themselves while I sat idly nearby with my book. The beach is the worlds BEST babysitter. Love the beach with older kids. Its a whole new world. Between playing football and wiffle ball and building castles and nap time and walks and looking for crabs in the rocks I actually got plenty of time to SIT and TALK or READ. This was so nice. Also, remembering last years vacation and how painful it was being on crutches, looking at the ocean instead of playing in it...well, I felt very grateful. I had thought Nate wasn't going to be down most of the week, but he ended up being able to be down the whole time. He worked at the house during the day but was there in the mornings for bike rides or runs on the boardwalk, and would knock off around 5 and join us on the beach or wherever we were, which was a very unexpected treat!
We had a lot of fun with this football this year.
They lived on these things. As they are both good swimmers now they were able to boogie board without one of us in the water, I would just pull my chair by the edge and keep an eye on them. We stay on "baby beach" rather than next door on Windsor with the crowd, as that way there is a much more gentle beach entrance and it is much safer for the kids. You can go out about 50 yards and it is still only up to my waist. Perfect.
The Ocean City Boardwalk. An annual tradition that got nixed last year due to my broken hip, we had a blast. They loved the rides, we had ice cream, walked and saw the sights (mummers!) and had a perfect evening.
Julia and her Mom Mom at Uncle Bills. The sight of my first job when I was 14 years old, we make an annual pilgrimage there every year, just to pay homage to the awesome hostess I was. No, actually they have great pancakes.
I just can't look at this without laughing. Luke picked this civil war background (All I ruled out was the bottles of booze one......its tacky enough to do it without making it more tacky!) This was at 9 pm at night, on our way to get ice cream. The kids were so into it, it was just funny on multiple levels. Jake looks as though he intends to win the war himself, and Lukes sweet earnestness just melts me. Julia was so stoic you would think that she had actually sent men off to war. All around Nate and my Mom and I just couldn't stop laughing.
Samantha and Julia fishing for stripers!
Lukes first striper. He was so proud. We caught about 50 on a great day on my Dads boat.
They entertain themselves so well.
Beach naps. This was the one day that Jules wanted to sleep in the stroller so Jake got to sleep under an umbrella. They all insist on taking naked beach naps, so they carefully take off their suits, make up a "bed" with towels (complete with a sand pillow)...crawl in, and go to sleep. Luke and Jules would sleep for about an hour, Jake for at least three. He is out COLD in this photo, completely oblivious to the families, chatter, and children running and playing around him. We would stay on the beach late this year ~ wednesday we were up there from 11-8, eating dinner up there and showering and going straight to bed. Beach naps give us the flexibility to do that, and provide a nice break from the heat and sun in the hottest part of the day.
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