Benjamin and Caleb came in this week and we have had so much fun with them! We spent an afternoon at the park having a huge waterfight in the heat.
Then we headed to the beach for a day trip. The kids are waiting in the trunk while we load up the cart.
Katy wanted to get right in the water!
The kids went boogie boarding with daddy while the little girls played with me on shore.
Katy ate a whole lot of sand and had a stomach ache later. It was a great whole-system cleanser :)
Michael was boogie boarding every chance he got. He absolutely loves being in the waves!
We stayed closer to shore than normal because of a high number of shark attacks along the NC coast. The beach we were at was not close to those areas but we figured not to tempt fate :)
The day was beautiful! Partly cloudy and warm with a light breeze.
Jake likes to see if he can just stay in one spot and keep riding waves. Sometimes works. I love watching Michael and him riding together.
Nicole riding a wave in!
Katy could barely see when her hat drooped over her face. She had a wonderful time!
The little specks in the distance are Diana and Jim. Diana loves to wander off and explore sometimes.
Our canopy is a great shade spot when it gets warm and is helpful especially for Katy to get a little cooldown time.
Jake and the ocean
Sheri and Leyla drove down and we were also joined by Daniel, Benjamin and Caleb.
Katy loving the attention from her uncles. She was very good at destroying anything they made.
Uncle Caleb showing Mike how to find tickly crabs.
The kids lasted until 2pm and were still doing great! So, we took a drive to the aquarium and got in free with our zoo membership.
Albino croc!
Jacob as a giant crab.
We had some tasty seafood at a restaurant. The weather was so nice, the kids were so good and I got to eat some Alaskan king crab. A really amazing day!
Tiny cantaloupe from the garden. Cute little personal serving size.
I was watering the plants and couldn't resist getting the kids. Turned into a water playtime with them all soaked. I love summer fun like this.
Corn all from the garden!
Michael earned these battle tanks and he and Jake were battling at every opportunity.
Caleb and Benjamin played the boys a few times.
Then decided to make obstacles, traps and other tactical toy placements. Benjamin's camp.
Caleb's camp. He was unfortunately trapped by his own trap but it was so creative and fun to watch.
For the fourth of July we had the Koffords, Ostler boys, Becca who was there with Daniel, and the Truehafts. We started with a basketball game because how else could you start? :) Benjamin and Brandon determining who is taller. The verdict is still not out because the heels on their shoes were different. I'm still not sure who won their jump ball to start the game.
Organizing teams
Dessert time! Daniel and Becca made a huge fruit salad with fresh stuff from the farmers market as well as this flag cake!
The kids watched a Scooby Doo cartoon movie while we talked on the porch. The kids were so into the movie that the adults came in and ate dessert and then were able to call the kids over when we had eaten. My favorite was serving Kaitlin a humungous serving of whipped cream over her ice cream. She was in heaven :)
Benjamin led the kids in a game of water brigade. He also poked holes in each of the kids cups so everyone had ample opportunity to get wet.
Daniel rigged a target game where you hit the target to pop the balloon.
If you throw the ball and hit the target to get the person wet, then you get to sit on the chair! Devon was thrilled to get his cousin wet, not so thrilled to get to sit on the chair, so Brandon sat with him and took the majority of the water.
Nicole about to get soaked!
We had hot dogs which the kids all love.
There was a downpour after we set everything out. We were able to save everything and wait it out until it cleared less than a half hour later. The concrete pad made it easy to go back outside to play and eat. The humidity was pretty thick though!
Caleb made a "car wash" and the kids loved driving around and around!
Dessert time
The kids each got a little bag of poppers and enjoyed doing their own "fireworks"
Waiting for the show to begin
Some watched from the front porch
Benjamin and Caleb did the fireworks. Caleb announced the names and everyone else did a great job of oohing and aaahhing over how amazing the fireworks were. And we were fortunate that we could see a much bigger firework show over the treetops from our driveway. We tried playing some classical music in the background but our station was playing Ave Maria which really is not patriotically inspiring. :) It was a wonderful 4th with family and friends!
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