Beach Finale

Popsicles at the beach because Melissa is the best!

Jon & I even snuck in a romantic walk on the beach (with Elijah):

Elijah woke up even EARLIER than normal one morning.

Like "it's still totally dark outside" early:

This time we tried sitting on the front porch to watch the cars.

Instead we discovered the existence of 'no-see-ums', which bit me all over.

In the mornings I would go for a walk/run along the beach.

I found lots of cool shells, a baby jellyfish (which I tossed back in), and this:

At first I thought it was a helmet that had washed up, but no. 

Giant horseshoe crab.

Melissa ended up hauling it back to our section of the beach for the kids to investigate.

I'm pretty sure it ended up in Timmy's village somewhere.

Speaking of Timmy's village:

It appears civilization has advanced tremendously. 

They have a full on temple now!

When your baby wakes up stupid early, you take naps on the beach.

When you fall asleep at the beach, Emma will be there to document it:

Melissa snapped this picture of me & Elijah in the low tide one morning.

Low tide was the BEST.

All my kids (besides Aaron, who HATED it) have liked the beach as toddlers. But not like Elijah. He LOVED the beach. He loved the sand. The water. The waves. The birds. And he had NO FEAR. It was terrifying. Jon and I would have to take turns on "suicide watch," aka "keeping Elijah from drowning." He would run straight toward the waves, screaming with joy. Jon called him a fat, slow, sandpiper (which was his other favorite part of the beach). Coming home to a baby pool on the back porch is going to be quite a disappointment.

Screaming with joy in the waves, even when they knocked him over.

Catherine acquired a massive collection of sand crabs.

Aunt Ashley has taught her well.

Aaron & Elliot playing in the sand together:

I have been wanting to get these two together for a LONG time. Not sure if it's the Blood genes or just a fluke, but these two are SO much alike. The day Elliot filled up a paper with math symbols was the day I knew they would be the best of buddies. 

I think Elise was the second-biggest beach lover.

I barely interacted with her all week--she was always off playing:

Proof that we were there with some Johnsons (although Aaron joked that there were technically still more Bloods than Johnsons, despite us crashing THEIR reunion):

I believe Seth was nursing a jellyfish sting in this picture.

They got several of us the last few days.

Next time we will keep vinegar on hand!

Cute beach lady!

Catherine divided her time either spent alone, hunting shells or crabs, or playing with Paul:

They really do have a great time together!

Yes, that is Gabe.

Most people opt to not be buried face down, but...Gabe is not most people.

This was the first year Seth has really spent much time out in the water.

Having Gabe there was a big influence:

Even Elise mastered the boogie board!

Not a sunburn--that is Elijah's tan line.

He is clearly not my son.

Also, redheads should not be able to tan like that.

Creating sand drizzle castles:

Aaron was the master of this.

He spent much time perfecting his technique

(and defending his creations from Elijah).

Elijah liked to sit on sand castles.

Case in point:

The coolest thing happened while we were there. Not sure how we missed it all the other years, but there are sea turtle nests all over the beach! One was right by Aaron & Ashley's house, and one night the babies hatched, or "boiled." We missed all the fun, but Aaron & Ashley saw some babies and Ashley's sister helped guide one to the water using her flashlight. So cool! There were tiny tracks all over the beach from where they had crawled. We waited at the nest the next night hoping more would hatch, but no luck. In the morning we saw one set of tracks, but couldn't tell if the baby actually made it to the water. 

Apparently baby sea turtle tracks look sort of like faint bike tire tracks.

And then, sadly, it was time for the drive home:

This may have been my most favorite beach year ever. House sharing with the Knoxes was awesome! The kids all did great together and I loved getting to split the cooking with Melissa. Plus being right across the street from the beach? It was just about perfect. 

To the Beach!

Once upon a time, we had planned to go visit Daniel & Wendy this summer and simultaneously hit up the last Hill Cumorah pageant. And then...COVID! Suddenly our summer was wide, wide open. We knew Aaron & Ashley were planning to go back to Holden Beach with Ashley's family, but that wasn't our plan. But then we started thinking, "Why not??" We looked at houses, lured the Knoxes into our plans, and ended up finding the PERFECT house, almost right across the street from Aaron & Ashley's house. It was meant to be. And so, we loaded everyone (even Timmy) into the van for a super fun 7 hour drive!

We are so excited!!

Our family rule is no devices until after lunch.

Seth got so desperate for a screen that he was playing with a calculator for part of the drive:

Long story short: Elijah wasn't great, but he wasn't awful. He may have only napped for an hour, leaving me to entertain him for the other 6 hours, but at least he wasn't screaming hysterically for most of the drive this time. But don't worry, even a short nap the previous day won't stop him from waking up super early our first day at the beach! We spent some quality time on the back deck together trying to keep him from waking everyone else up:

Thankfully we had an amazing view off the back deck so it wasn't too bad:

Once the rest of the Bloods and Knoxes were up (several hours later), we headed to the beach to "not get wet because it's Sunday." Which went about as well as you'd expect. 

Timmy immediately got to work on building a glorious sand castle/fortress/village from the reeds that had washed up from a hurricane the previous month. Luke was a great assistant. 

Of all the things at the beach, Aaron's beach hair was definitely my favorite:

Burying your baby brother in sand: the ultimate revenge!

Gabe, Paul & Seth "not getting wet":

Whole group "not getting wet":

Please don't miss the entirely naked baby featured in front.

Emma & naked Elijah:

Trying to keep Elijah warm (it was quite breezy that first day!):

We managed to steal baby Isaac when we snuck inside the Johnson house to use the bathroom:

I have never seen such a chill beach baby.

After Elijah at the beach last year I was super jealous!

Timmy's village, Day 1.

Just a few humble abodes.

"Look at us not getting wet!"

Mom & Elise selfie back at the house:

Elise's tongue and also Timmy:

Stay tuned for even more beach pictures, coming soon!

Fungus Party

One time, we accidentally grew mold in a pan when I left some paper mache flour mixture out for too long.  It was vile. It reeked to high heaven. And Aaron was OBSESSED. I now know more about mold and fungi than I ever expected to know. 

To celebrate all the things Aaron learned, we decided to throw a Fungus Party.  He helped make the best invitations ever:

We started off with a some 'Fungus is Among Us' book reading by Gabe on the trampoline:

(complete with mostly-naked baby)

Catherine created and typed up clues for a fungus scavenger hunt around our yard. We also had a mold competition which Jon presided over very diligently. Aaron played a game that was basically Infection (one person was the Mold and would spread it to others). Then we had all kinds of fungi for dinner! Lots of fun mushroom dishes. We even splurged and bought a tiny thing of Black Truffle mushrooms for everyone to try. They were DELICIOUS! We also made chocolate truffles because...truffles.

Aaron with a truffle and a mushroom

Fungi Party attendees!

I'm so glad we have so many good friends who will come to Fungi Parties with us (even if there is some confusion about whether or not it's a birthday party). 

Little Stinky

This picture is the definition of entitlement.

Which is basically the definition of Elijah.

Good thing he's so adorable, since he still makes us carry him whenever possible!

Even if the person carrying him is not a whole lot bigger than he is...

"What? I am a very tiny baby who is super easy to carry!"

When your parents won't let you have real pets, you improvise.

Naked monkey baby after a bath.

Did I mention entitlement?

There's a lot of that going on.

Also, obviously not much clothes-wearing happening. 

Frankly, even diapers are optional during the summer...

We sure love this Little Stink, even if he does make a lot of demands. A LOT of demands. He still doesn't talk at all (not a single word), but he can demand things quite effectively. Screaming, biting, pointing, grabbing our hands and dragging us...he gets his point across!

He still wakes up stupid early. Usually around 6:30 am, but occasionally even before 6. I do finally have him taking a single afternoon nap instead of a single morning nap. He'll also watch Avatar in the afternoon with the kids, so I get a tiny break sometimes. 

When we put him in his crib, he immediately rolls over into bug position (on his belly, knees tucked under his tummy). None of our other kids have done this and it's adorable. He also likes to bite his blankets when he's tired or upset. All his blankets smell like drool. 

He loves being outside. LOVES it. He'll bring us shoes or drag us to the doors several times a day (often before 7 am). We try to go on a walk and/or run every day, but it's not enough. He particularly loves his little red bike and will scream if he sees it in the garage and doesn't get to ride it. Of course when he does ride it, it's straight into the road and then to the pond. Not terrifying at all. 

I'm exhausted, but I sure love this little guy!