beach

(I did 3 posts today so keep on scrolling!)


I was so thankful to finally get to go to the beach this year, on Saturday. We left around 5:30am and got there about 8:30. The weather was perfect, the kids had a blast, and the baby did quite satisfactory (for a baby spending all day at a beach). There was only one point I nearly freaked and started to tear up when some people came and parked right in front of us (this is not part of CA beach etiquette). Dennis did not seemed phased by this and reminded me that this was the beach and there were going to be other people there. I did know this, but I didn't like it. SO I said many quiet prayers for a changed attitude and it eventually came. As the day went on the beach became so packed (i guess this is normal for beaches here, they are smaller and there are less of them) that I decided to take the kids for a walk to look for sea shells. The Lord blessed me by taking us to a part of the beach that had hardly anyone else. So we went back for the boogie board (I mostly dragged them on it) and walked back to the less populated stretch. It was so beautiful , I really felt able to quietly worship and soak up the God's creation, and watch the kids play in the waves.

First time in the Atlantic.

He was totally fascinated with the sand, moving his arms back and forth in it...

and trying to eat it. (at one point he opened his mouth and plopped his face right in it)

He spent a good part of the day in here and even napped for a couple hours.

sand castle made by others

sand angel

I have never seen such a crowded beach!

The rest of the pics were taken when the kids and I walked down to a section of the beach that was less crowded, I LOVED it, my favorite part of the day.

Anniversary (and something for the men folk)

Last Thursday Den and I celebrated 9 years of near perfect marital bliss ;)

After getting the kids settled at his mom's and having her snap a few pictures of our "in loveness" we headed out to dinner on the Chesapeake.

We ate a restaurant where the food ended up being so-so in my opinion, but little did I know we'd get a show as well. We sat outside and besides the lovely water view were these coyote decoys to "scare away the geese", we were told. The weather felt fabulous but looming in the not so far distance was a storm. In my optimism I kept assuring D that it would pass right over us, until D said there's the rain. She had just brought out our salads and we could see the rain on the water headed our way. No sooner had we gotten inside and just sat down when out the window we saw tables and umbrellas flying into the water. About 15min later it was calm and pleasant.

This little guy tagged along and if you notice their is stuff on his cheek and near his mouth. It's chocolate. He decided to stick his finger in my lava cake and have a taste. Earlier he grabbed a handful of my pasta and tried to shove that in his mouth. So what do I write in his baby book for first food? Do I put seafood fettuccine alfredo and chocolate lava cake?

Den wanted to hold a sailboat.

Afterwards we had to go back to his mom's to get a car and my phone that I forgot, so we took the chance to take a quad over to the lot and catch the sunset.

Then we took a ride back to the woods and saw this in the soy bean field, attempting to hide.

The main reason we went to the woods was to check Den's deer cam and he was not disappointed. Yes this is the men folk part and yes that buck only has one antler.

Random Catching Up

I feel like I have a lot of blogging to do but I'm needing a little nap today so here are a couple fun tidbits to hold you over.


E has been into horses a bit lately and so we got some horse books at the library. She was especially tickled with the part of the hoof that is called the frog. She kept looking it up and showing us.


J found this bathrobe in his closet and he decided that it makes him look like Obi Wan.



This is the blessing that showed up on my doorstep last Thursday am. Liza has agreed to come and help me clean once a week, in exchange for meager wages. Truly a dream come true for me! She was so cute with her bucket of natural/green cleaning products and her apron. The sad news (for me anyway) is that her family is leaving for the Ukraine is less than a month for 3months to work with an orphanage. You can see their blog here.

9 years....

baseball game

Last Sunday our church gathered at a the stadium of our hometown's minor league team. There was food to be eaten and people to chat with and tons of stuff for the kids to do.

We had our pick of some empty seats and J decided he wanted to sit on the end even though it was about 5 seats away from us.

V's view.

E was concerned there would be fireworks.

Yes, they have a merry-go-round, as well as a couple of bouncy, jumpy toys, and a playground.

I could see the headlines.. "Church Crowds Bridge; Bridge collapes". They were all gathered to watch the bumper boats as our Pastor was in line with the kids.

Someone had an extra ticket and so J got to ride to. Can you find him? Our Pastor is the one holding his heart.

No matter how he begged, or pointed....

the kids had no mercy on him...such a good sport.

J was soaked as well.

happy boy

He was spitting up a storm right before this, decided not to drool for the camera, but he's still a cutie.