Old friends

While at the beach, I met up with some old friends from high school. Megan moved to the Wilmington area several years ago, and Donna and her family just happened to be vacationing there at the same time we were.

We all met on Tuesday afternoon at an indoor jumping arena. The kids had a blast, and we were able to catch up with each other . . . well, as much as we could while trying to wrangle 8 kids.

Here's Claire flying down one of the slides. She had a ball! Shawn and I were both pleasantly surprised to find that she was willing to try out all the slides and jumping rooms.

Jumping in the Princess castle.

After wearing out the kids at Monkey Joes, we all headed to Chik Fil-A for kid's night. The kids got balloon animals and swords from a clown there who was also painting faces and various other body parts. Claire got a mermaid painted on her hand. If you ask her, going to the "jumping place" and getting her "tattoo" were the highlights of the beach trip.

The picture below is in front of the restaurant after dinner. It was SO good to see these girls!

Wrightsville Beach

We just returned from a four day trip to Wrightsville Beach. This annual trip started three years ago when Grandma and Shawn took Claire while I was in Jamaica. That first trip was only for a day, and we have added a day to the trip every year since. We had a great time, good weather, great food, and lots of sun and sand . . . lots of sand . . . everywhere.

I took fifty gazillion pictures, but I'll try to just post some of the better ones.

"Hmmm . . . do I dare enter the waves?"

"Yikes! Not ready yet. Run for it!"

Ben is checking out this water that keeps moving . . . weird! Notice the sand already encrusted on his forehead. That kid had sand in places I can't even mention!

Ben's absolute favorite activity at the beach. He was in heaven.

Claire soon became much more comfortable with the ocean. It's hard to see in this picture, but she is playing in the "swimming pool" that she dug out of the sand.

Very proud of our sandcastle.

Ben and dad - jumping the waves.

The training has started early.

Ben was super impressed with the sea turtle that mom made for him. Poor turtle only lasted about 15 minutes until he was trampled by some rude kids!

Beach buddies.

July 4th

Grandma Linda came down to celebrate the 4th and spend some time with us before we all headed off to Wrightsville Beach for a few days. We went to the pool, and Claire debated all day long whether she would brave the fireworks show that night. She finally decided to give it a try, as long as she had ear plugs! In the end, it rained, so the fireworks were scrapped.

Grandma did bring some sparklers though, and after many, many attempts, Claire finally got up enough nerve to hold one. As you can see, she was still pretty nervous.

Much more confident now!

Ben's First Sentence

Ok, so it's not really his first sentence, as, technically speaking, "Hush, Libby" counts, but this was the first "long" sentence that I've heard him use. And, well, it was . . . perfect.

If you know me at all, you know that I hate the mornings. My college roomates still joke about how I wouldn't speak for the first hour after waking up. I hate getting up, would sleep well into the day if I could. This has been an impossibility since having children, of course, but I still relish those mornings when the kids sleep in a bit.

If you know Ben at all, you know that he is not the best sleeper. Whenever he is uncomfortable, his sleep is the first thing affected. This, of course, made for a really LONG first year during the height of his reflux. Now he does fairly well, but when he's teething, he's a mess. He teethes incredibly slowly, and right now he is working on all four eye-teeth, the supposed "worst" teeth to teethe. Thus, he has been taking forever to fall asleep at naptime (sometimes not napping at all) and has been getting up at first light which, in the summer, is REALLY early.

So, this morning, after hearing him waking at 6:20, I rolled over and prayed he would go back to sleep. I don't think he ever really did, but he quieted down enough for me to fall back asleep. The quiet lasted for about 45 more minutes until I heard him yell:

"Mommy, wake up right NOW!"

I think he was ready for me to get him out of his crib.

Happy Belated Father's Day, Papa Bill!

So, Hallmark carries these really cool cards that not only play music upon opening, but you can also record a voice message for the recipient. After hearing that the Father's Day card we sent to my dad (a.k.a. Papa Bill or Papa Dude) arrived without the voice message intact, I thought it would be nice to send my dad a video message instead. As you can see, all went to pot fairly quickly. It's the thought that counts, right? Regardless of the outcome, these stinkers crack me up!

And here's attempt number 2:

"Hair" today . . . Gone tomorrow!

So we finally bit the bullet and took Ben to have his hair cut. Despite being in love with his sweet little wisps and curls, we were tired of people asking if he is a boy or a girl. I really wanted to wait longer, as I knew that once his hair was cut, my sweet little baby would look all grown up. Sure enough, he looks like he's ready for kindergarten now! OK, not quite maybe, but it's still a little sad. Here are before and after pictures.

I wanted to get a picture during the actual haircut, but he threw a fit. I ended up sitting in the chair myself with him on my lap. He still wasn't having any of it until the hairdresser gave him a sucker. Then he calmed down and didn't make a peep for the rest of the time . . . a bit like a lamb led to slaughter. :-)