Life's a Beach

We headed back to Florida and stayed in town for a few days.  Mike had to come back to Dallas (in order to go to Kenya); after he left, Wendy and I headed to the beach with all of the kids. 

At the beach might be my most favorite place to take pictures.  I love it so.

Heading down to the water

Happy feet in the ocean

She started out being brave, then decided that she would rather be on the beach than in the water (unless it was the pool).

Happy toes in the sand

They are always so busy.

Whether they are digging their own hole or enjoying someone else's hard work, they occupy themselves for a long time down on the beach.

This is the six "little cousins" all in the hole.  The older girls are 10, the middle boys are 8, and the two youngest are 5 and 4.

They dug for periwinkles

or just dug.

While they loved being on the beach, it was even greater when the big cousins were also at the condo. 

The big cousins were so sweet with our kids (as they always are).  They boogie boarded and skim boarded with them,

They played all kinds of ridiculous fun games with them in the pool,

were wowed by their sand creations,

and spent time making giant holes with them.

Could it get better than that?! 

We'll see...

Spotlight on Andy (and Eliana)

One fun aspect of our trip was having Mike's brother Andy there with us. 

He doesn't have kids so it was most assuredly an assault to all of his senses living in the same house with six children for a little over a week.  They all love him very much and were excited to show him all manner of things down by the lake, have s'mores with him, and devour his attention whenever they could. 

(I had fun astounding him with my baseball knowledge.  It helped earn us a piece of the pie while playing Trivial Pursuit.  You never know when the oddball facts that you pick up along the way will come in handy.)

One day, Andy borrowed my camera for a few minutes while I was pushing Eliana on the swing.  I wanted to share the images he captured.  They are precious, and very touching for me anyway.  I love her reactions to him, particularly as she went careening towards him on the swing.

There were big, big laughs

Little giggles

Twirling

Upside down looking

"Are you still paying attention to me?"

(I want to go nom-nom-nom on that appley cheek.)

Thank you, Andy, for taking beautiful pictures of my baby girl.  I love you, brother!  See you when we see you. 

A Few More Things in North Carolina (What a Clever Title)

I found it really delightful to watch the relationships develop on this trip.  Cousin C. and Michaela are, of course, good friends (when they are not totally exasperating one another), and Christian and Cousin N. can often be found running around plotting playing.  What was cool was seeing Cousin J. and Eliana play together.  They are a year and a few months apart but they are old enough to be able to play the same games and laugh and carry on like good buddies. 

Many card games were played on this trip.  Skip-Bo, War, and Go Fish were the top picks.

Christian and Cousin J. have a lot in common; even though they are several years apart they play together pretty well (until one or both of them get mad and then they yell at each other).  When they were getting along it was fun to watch.

Cousin N. and Michaela also have a lot in common.  They are avid readers and quietly pensive; they have similar dispositions and it was neat to see them hanging out more on this trip than in previous years. 

Cousin N. also spent a little time with Eliana; he has a little brother and a big sister...I think it was fun for him to be around Eliana, help her, and do fun things with her in a big brother kind of way.  So cute to watch!

And these two.  Here they are, chatting it up before we head out on a hike.  What fun to watch their relationship grow!

I'm being silly.  Of course Mike and Bobby get along.  We were about to go on a hike, though.  We didn't do much of that because the kids were enjoying the water so much, and we didn't get an early start most days.  We took a short-ish trail and the kids had fun (Cousin N. would have liked a much longer hike, but some of us would not have been able to go on for miles on end).

The boys brought up the rear (with Eliana on Mike's back).

The girls were the trail blazers (Cousin J. is not a girl, but he did have to hang with his mom...just to be sure you don't think I'm losing it).

One of the final things that we did before leaving for Florida again was to celebrate Eliana's birthday while we were with Diana and Bob.  Eliana had a cake and a few presents, and she loved having an early party!

We had such a great time in the mountains!  I know the kids want to go again (our family hadn't been in years), and we look forward to the next visit, whenever it may be.  In the fall when the leaves are changing?  That would be lovely!  We shall see...

Living

In the midst of looking through and sorting out the pictures I took while we were on our trip (and a few that Wendy took, too...which are better than mine; I might be handing her the camera next year) time keeps slipping by.  Christian has started back to school, we have enrolled Michaela and Eliana in a weekly class that is designed to complement what home schoolers are doing at home.  We are still adjusting to the routine that comes with the start of a new school year.  The summer has ended, even though it is still well over 100 degrees here everyday.  And I find myself living in the past as I peruse the photos, remembering the fun we had, or looking very forward to the distant future as I contemplate the thought of one day not having to get children up early for school, make lunches before 8am, or constantly sweep up the crumbs under the table.

As I think about that future time, a time when children are no longer at home, I hear the voices in my head (just barely, over the yelling and ruckus which is often occuring all around me, sometimes happy, sometimes not) reminding me that one day I will ache to hear those little feet running through the house, and to feel those sweet arms cling to my neck, and even to hear the noise and see the toys scattered all around.  It is so easy for me to long for quiet; to long for clear coffee tables, and no dirty underwear flipped inside out in every bathroom and sometimes in the bedrooms; to long for smaller laundry piles and less dishes to do at the end of the day.

I have to pause.  I have to tell myself be here now.  Even when I don't want to be, even when it's hard to be.  I have to remind myself that life is not happening in the past, and I can't make the future get here faster.  Life is now.  Life is around, behind, and right in front of me.  Life is that giant pile of laundry, the cooking and the sweeping, the shuttling and the school work.  It is dealing with bad attitudes, sassy girls, and surly boys.  It is listening to my kids say to me,"You're awesome," as well as,"You're a meanie."  It is feeling the spontaneous hugs, hearing the hysterical laughter, cleaning up the forts after a couple of days of having no couches to sit on.  It is watching baseball games together and matching up socks; it is cleaning toilets and going grocery shopping.  It is all of the work, the tears, the laughter, the anger, the love, the frustration, the joy, the difficulty, the fun, the effort, and the heartache. 

And I'm supposed to exercise in the middle of all that?  Maybe in the future...meanwhile I will try to be present for these noisy, messy, full-of-life days. 

Ready for S'more?

I bet you'll never guess what else we did.  If you guess fencing you won't be far off the mark...

Did you guess?  I bet my title gave it away.    

The kids anticipated the making of s'mores almost as much as the water sports. 

You know how they say,"Where there's smoke, there's fire"?  Well, also and equally important, where there's fire, there's smoke.  It's in your eyes and your nostrils, it's burning up the hair on your arms!  But the kids didn't care (so much)...toasting those 'mallows was priority numero uno.  I tried helping Eliana but had the wrong angle, so Dad took her around to the side of the fire (above the fire, up the hill, was off limits; aren't you safety people proud?).  It was still dang hot.

She was not too sure about all this getting-close-to-fire business.

These two ladies were all about getting as close as they could, however. 

Michaela may have gotten a wee bit too close.

Grandma Lillie would have been so proud.  (My grandma burned her biscuits on purpose.  She may very well have loved burnt marshmallows.  I'll have to ask her some day.)

The kids

got ooey, gooey

and loved

every bite of it.

Cousin J. eventually had enough of the fighting fire and smoke and just went straight for the marshmallow on the graham.

However they ate them, though, they were very happy in the end.

Mike's mom and brother were around to help and to watch the marshmallow mayhem.  I think they had fun observing without partaking.  What self-control!  I can't claim to have the same virtuous ability to refrain from eating chocolate whenever offered. 

But that's nothing new around here, right?