The Beach!

Most of my family got together for a week at the beach. This was the first time we ever stayed in a house with a pool. My mom, who doesn't get in pools or the ocean, declared we should get a house with a pool from now on. It was pretty great. My dad, Papop to all the grandkids, brought along lots of snorkeling gear, including some kid-sized stuff, and totally made Silly's day, week, year, by teaching him to snorkel. That boy stayed in the pool, mask on, snorkel in, for a long, long time. Papop gave him the gear when the week was over and Silly's first order of business when we got home was putting his gear in a safe place - in case it floods. He took it to the pool  and when he lost the little valve that keep the water out, Scott contacted the company and they sent us two replacements - free!

Our first day there the ocean was full of jellyfish and all kinds of other sea creatures. I don't think I'd ever seen jellyfish in the Outer Banks before, but this year made up for it. We saw huge schools of fish, jumping rays and dolphins and a few pelicans came out too. It was crazy.

Tuesday morning Scott took Cakes and Silly on an airplane tour. They reported seeing lots of sharks, very close to the shore. Great!

 

 

We were worried that Cakes might get sick, but she did just fine and filled in as photographer while Scott flew the plane.

Just some fun indoors...





He insisted I take this picture.



 

Papop took a few kids out truckin' on the beach and nearly flooded his engine so the kids played at the beach for a few minutes while he let his truck sit, and hopefully drain. At least he didn't get stuck; that's what usually happens.

Friday afternoon we forced everyone to go out to the beach one last time. We hadn't all been out there at the same time before so we had to do that at least once. Mom brought a few kites with her and dad set up the little tent. 

 

 

 Bubba hadn't really been in the ocean before Friday. He spent a lot of time throwing sand back into the water, but didn't get wet past his knees. Friday he just decided that he could go out there all by himself and was furious that Scott and I insisted on holding onto him or standing right behind him. He was so sure he could just walk right into those waves.

After our last hurrah at the the beach, a lot of us jumped in the pool one last time. Bubba also decided that he could swim by himself (with his floatie vest on, but even so, he didn't really know how to keep himself upright yet). He was have a screaming, water-swallowing fit in the middle of the pool, and the middle of our game of Marco Polo. He did not want us to touch him, but when we let go he ended up with his face in the water. He was totally beyond reason so I eventually had to just scoop him up and take him away from the pool. I was laughing so hard at the ridiculousness of it that it took me a while to be able to pick him up.

 People left at various times Friday night and Saturday morning, but since we didn't have the long haul home like everyone else we stuck around a little bit, cleared out the house with Papop and my older brother's family then set off to climb the Hatteras lighthouse. They have a height restriction and last time we visited Scott climbed with Cakes while I walked around with toddler Silly. This time I climbed with Cakes and Silly while Scott killed some time with Bubba.



Getting started



Bubbs waiting patiently





At the top



Still waitin'



 









Going down



That big sandy spot is where the lighthouse used to be



We did a pretty good job climbing. My legs were burning 2 or 3 times on the way up and when I stopped at the bottom my knees were wobbling. We stopped at all 8 landings on the way up to see how the view changed every time. Cakes was busy counting all the steps and I don't think Silly even knew he was doing anything hard.

By then all the traffic was cleared out so we started home for real. We will definitely do that again!

Swimming

In past summers we've had Cakes and Silly in swim lessons all summer long. This year that just wasn't going to work out, so they only got one session. Cakes really loves it, and after watching her in gymnastics, which she likes, but doesn't love, I think we might put her in swim lesson all year. We'll see. Silly can swim on his own, but doesn't really know it.

Bubbs hanging out poolside

I thought it was going to be torture keeping Bubba out of the water, but he was great. Never once had a fit about not getting in. Most days we went from swim lessons to our friend's pool anyway. He's so patient.

Swimmer boy

Chicken, airplane, soldier

water safety day



Cakes is the one in front



Working on her arms

I think she could stay there all day. And I like it that it really isn't possible to be a slacker in swimming; either you swim to the other end or you don't.

Children's Museum

Is it really going to be September tomorrow? Guess I Better catch up on summer stuff before it's over.

Silly has had submarines on the brain this week. A few days ago he came running to me and Scott saying, "look, my apple has a submarine hatch!" Then showed how he could flip his apple open. Yesterday he was talking to Scott, saying submarines should have a second hatch, because what if the main hatch doesn't close, then the submarine will fill up with water. Scott his explained to him, that actually, submarines do have two hatches, just for that reason. I love that kid's brain.

Anyway, on to the summer recap. Early in July we finally went to the newly reopened children's museum around here. Scott kept trying to tell me I had been there before, or pointing out what was different. I don't know how many times I told him I've never, ever been there before. They do have some cool stuff though.



Making giant bubbles



 



Scott was helping them fish. There was a return chute up top so the kids could drop the fish back into the "water." They were supposed to match the fish up to the slot that was the same shape, but Scott said Bubba was the only one paying any attention to that.

Playing cashier

Driving the bus





Putting out fires



Working in a bank





Cakes's body



We spent a whole lot of time at this wall. There was an employee there with a piece of cardboard and it was her job to push all the pins back in.



Playing with vacuum tubes

  This is what I had the most fun with. The vacuum tubes were blowing air and when you hooked them up to one of the openings they blew a colored ping-pong ball out somewhere else. It was fun figuring out which colors went where.


Blasting bottle rockets



Bubba thought it was pretty hilarious when the bottles took off. It was pretty loud so at first it startled him, then he just thought it was awesome.

Milestone Month

Cakes turned 8 this month. I took her to the new American Girl Place in DC on her birthday, with my mother-in-law. She picked a few things for her doll that she's had on her wish list for quite a while. We ate lunch and did some shopping, She was thrilled to buy a few things at Justice (it's a very trendy store for girls, but it also has LOTS of inappropriate clothing, so there isn't usually much there I'm willing to allow). We did have a minute of panic when we got into the car to head home. She opened one of her boxes from AGP and realized we picked up the wrong box. She immediately yelled, "Mommy, stop!" She was freaked out and on the verge of tears for the couple minutes it took us to walk back into the store and exchange the wrong thing for the right thing. Good thing she checked! She had a great day and was really happy to be so spoiled.




The birthday girl! We looked around the Disney store for a bit and she actually allowed me to take a picture.

 We spent the night in Richmond, had dinner at Cracker Barrel and had some birthday cake with the grandparents. When we got in the car the next morning I realized she's 8 - she doesn't have to ride in a booster seat anymore! So we pitched that in the trunk and she was thrilled to sit in a regular seat and let her feet touch the floor. Good riddance!

And then today was the BIG day. She was baptized! Everything went just fine this morning. She wasn't acting scared or nervous and Scott was too busy focusing on our toilet that isn't working right to be scared or nervous himself. I surprised her with a new outfit and she was perfectly happy to get ready and hang around the house until it was time to go to church. Once we were at church the nerves started getting to her. She didn't really want to take a family picture before and when I went to help her change she started crying, saying she was scared, didn't want to do it, didn't want people watching her. I said a prayer with her then handed her off to Scott who gave her a little pep talk and eventually convinced her to join everyone.




Not a bad picture given the circumstances. No one was scowling.


Her one particular program request was to sing "If I Listen with My Heart" which is the new Primary song this year. That took some figuring, since not everyone knows the song and I couldn't find a pianist. I asked my family to practice ahead of time, there were several other Primary people there, and Scott burned the accompaniment to a CD for me so everything worked out. My sister Melissa gave a great talk that was just what Cakes needed to hear.

I don't know about other fonts, but ours has Plexiglas in front of it and today it was all foggy for some unknown reason. I'd never seen that happen before, and I've seen lots of baptisms in that font. Our Bishop said later that he thinks the glass fogged up just for Cakes so she wouldn't be more scared and nervous by all the people since she couldn't really see anyone. It was perfect.

Scott confirmed her with my dad, brother, Bishop, Br Stubbs and her Primary teacher, Br Langdon. He had a sweet gift and card for her too. He's great.

My friend Kris took some family pictures for us outside the church with all the family members that came out for the day. She doesn't know yet how significant those pictures are, but that's a story for another day.

With the grandparents

All the relatives. Anybody notice anything different...

Everyone came back to our house for lunch. Mamie gave Cakes some cool books for her birthday and Papop brought us some pictures he took of our beach trip earlier this month. Scott and I had bought Cakes a new scripture case and a mini-hymnal when we went to the temple earlier this summer so I finally gave those to Cakes too. She's official!

POST EDIT: That unfamiliar face in the family picture is Melissa's HUSBAND, William. They eloped the night before the baptism and announced it here at my house. I had great fun at church the next day telling everyone who'd been at the baptism that my sister, the one who spoke, had eloped the night before.