A Fabulous Beach Day

Last Saturday, the stars aligned and we had an amazing beach day with Grandma Jan, Auntie Jamie and Cousin Emma! I have to tell this part of the story though. Dowses only allows residents so we had to figure out how to get the 3 kids and 3 adults onto the beach with only one beach sticker. Chris played role of chauffeur and brought me and the boys in my car while Jamie and Emma rode with GJ. We had so much crap it took several trips to get all of our gear and the kids onto the beach. When all was finally there, I went back up to get Jacob (who was sleeping in the back of my car), and Chris had left! He figured it out before he'd even left the parking lot but it was pretty funny! OK...it totally freaked me out, but it ended up funny!

For my regular followers...you may have been wondering what the heck happened to my nieces. Miss Emma and Miss Maya have been conspicuously missing from the blog for some time. Well the wait is over (for one of them anyway)...Here's Emma! It's insane how big she's gotten. At 11 months she is one funny, busy little lady.

These two really seemed to enjoy each other. It's always funny to watch little ones figure out that each other exists and that toys can come and go and so far it's still ok.

Ethan was mad at me in this picture. He came out of the water with wet sandy shoes and walked right onto the babies blanket that we'd just set out. Of course I asked that he not walk on the blanket and he was very upset with me and told me that I couldn't keep making up new rules. I had a reason for being a bit particular about the sand. Jacob loves to grab handfuls of it and eat it. If I just sit him on a towel, he will bunch it up until he can reach beyond it and just go for it. That's why he looks like such a bumbo prisoner in all of these pictures.

Baby bum!

While Jamie and I had the kids in the water, GJ had some time with just Jacob. I've talked about this day several times since and I keep referring to the "round robin" we had going on. We each had a kid at all times and they each needed something at all times. It wasn't a terribly relaxing day, but we all really had a great time.

Ethan wanted nothing more than to be in the water all day. Usually he will play in the surf at the edge and be occupied for quite a long time. Last weekend, there was seaweed along the edge so he had to be carried over it and then we splashed, played and swam for a long, long time. At one point, GJ tried to give me a break and take him in but it wasn't long before he was back at my side asking me to come back in. Apparently Grandma Jan wasn't doing a very good job (in fact, that's exactly what he told me).

I love the next series of pictures. Like I said...they were pretty darn cute together.

The big boy was digging the baby toys too. He seems quite puzzled by this phone for some reason.

And then it was nap time.

Emma fell asleep a bit later and we packed up all of our gear while she slept. It was really funny actually. She was the last thing left!

And then it was back to Grandma Jan's...

and the killer pool that she and Chris set up for the kiddo's, complete with "water slide".

While the babies couldn't keep their eyes open on the beach, Ethan couldn't keep his eyes open at the end of this amazing day. Luckily he did wake up and have dinner, but it was so cute that he fell asleep.

Look at this face. I cannot stand how quickly he it turning into a little man. Before I know it, he'll be running around after Ethan. I am not at all ready for that...

Sandy Neck Sunset

Yesterday the kids and I drove to Grandma Jan's house first thing in the morning. We were here before lunch, but she had to work all day. You can only imagine how many times I had to answer "when will Grandma be home?". The following sequence of a million pictures gives you some idea why we were all so excited for the day to end. We were heading to the beach for sunset! As if that wasn't good enough, we were picking up pizza on the way.

A little too tight there big brother.

You don't even want to know how many pictures my mom and I took to get one that both boys were somewhat looking. In fact, between the 2 of us, we took 90 pictures last night. This could be why I have bloggers block and haven't been updating as frequently. The sheer volume of material is overwhelming!

It was really a gorgeous night. The sun stayed behind the clouds until just before it set.

It was not warm out at all, but when has that ever discouraged our little swimmer.

Ethan has been really pushing his boundaries and running a little farther than he should in too many places.

Ho-hum. Being at the beach is SO boring! Actually, this was after he'd been running, running, running, and he ran out of running energy. Or so he told us.

Laughing at me while Grandma takes pictures. I just love these guys.

I had to rescue Ethan and his spent running legs.

There's no love like grandma love.

Ethan was so excited to climb up in the lifegaurd chair. It made me so nervous with his sandy feet and the cement slab at the base of it but he did great!

Grandma told him to pose like a lifeguard.

I got to climb up too. I love that he tried to put his arm around me for this one. We've had some really great moments so far this weekend. It's nice to be away from home and all the chores that home brings. We're sad that daddy isn't here with us, but I have to say that I've gotten to do more with Ethan without Steve around and it's been pretty cool.

Jacob!! My happy, happy baby that was pushed too far this night. He was NOT happy by the time we left and let us know about it the whole way home. It was way past his bedtime, but at least he slept all night last night.

The moonrise was amazing last night! The colors were spectacular but so hard to capture.