Labor Day at the Beach

Kaitlyn and Ryan spent over an hour on the porch dumping out water from a water bottle and laughing hysterically.

Oh, the things that keep them entertained

Our first day braving the waves

By the end of the week, Ryan was a PRO!

Ben surfing

Whoever heard of a pacifier on the beach?

Bo being so sweet to Kaitlyn

Pop and Kaitlyn

My kiddos

Ben-3, Ryan-3, Kaitlyn-1, Betsy-5, Bo-6

seriously, trying to get 5 children 6 and under to cooperate for a picture is near impossible.

This is the best one I got

Another take...

and another. You can see Ben is REALLY into this...hahaha

Our 2nd Annual Beach trip with the "B's" and my parents.

This was so much fun last year, that Brian and Beth asked all of us to do it again. It is such a special time to get together and have the cousins get tons of uninterrupted time together. They are all so close in age that they really do get along very well as their interest are all quite similar. Ryan doesn't know some of the things that Ben knows about because of Bo, but he certainly does a very good job of trying to get caught up on all the latest superheroes, jedi warriors, and Star Wars in general while he is visiting.

We were in SC for 10 days from beginning to end and at the beach for 5 1/2 of those. Just like last year, the 4 of us went down early on Tuesday to soak up some rays as a family before my parents came on Thursday night and the "B's" came on Friday after school let out.

Tuesday afternoon was spent exploring the beach since we haven't seen much of it since last year this time. Wednesday was spent in the same way with a break for lunch and nap and then out to the pool. Wednesday night we headed over to Sam's Corner in Garden City so that the children could partake in the timeless tradition that is the open-air arcade at the Garden City Pier. This is something that Brian and I did as children as well and something that you never forget while growing up. Mike and I were able to buy some fresh shrimp and have a nice meal that night in spite of the chaos that is our everyday life. :)

Thursday was again spent in the same manner with beach time, pool time, and nap time. We headed to Broadway at the Beach Thursday night to walk around and get some ice-cream. It was so fun. There was a huge playground that the children loved. Ryan met some fun playmates and had a ball running around and using up all that excess energy he tends to retain. Ryan got to stay up extra late Thursday night to help welcome Gigi and Pop to "The B Hive" and tell them all about what we had been up to.

Friday was more of the same only we now had 4 on 2 instead of even teams of 2 on 2. Makes life so much easier. The kids still only lasted 1.5 hours on the beach, but they wore themselves out and slept for 3 hours again. HEAVEN!!

Brian, Beth and all 3 children arrived in time for supper and the children went wild playing around. (they haven't seen each other since May) It is really fun to watch the 5 of them interact. :) Can't wait for it to happen more in the future.

Saturday was hectic with children up for 14 hours straight. There was a lot of beach time, pool time, movie time, under-the-house time, TV time, eating time, wrestling time, screaming time, and general enjoyment by everyone.

We were sad to leave on Sunday, but this 9 hour trip with our awful car rider is just something we wanted to go ahead and get started on!!! Whew, and she was in rare form for the way home. ugh...I just hope she gets better, but she is leaning towards getting worse. How am I ever going to do this with another one added in the mix.

Lord, help us all.