July 4th at the Beach

One of the houses we rented this summer came with a pool membership. It was right off the beach, which was kind of fun. The kids LOVED it! Dad Blood commented that maybe we should just find a place with a pool next time instead of a beach since that's all that most of the kids wanted to do. It would be a lot cheaper!

Look! I did make it into the water!

When it's crazy hot outside, you go get ice cream. 

Fat babies aren't old enough for ice cream, sadly. 

All the ice-cream eating cousins in their patriotic clothes (Mary's kids didn't come).

What would we do at the beach without Aunt Ashley? She is simply the best. She knows all the best tricks to catching clams and beach crabs. Catherine was her dedicated pupil. She spent hours scavenging the shore for little creatures and met with great success! I'm eternally grateful to Ashley for making sure Catherine got down to the beach when I was stuck inside nursing Elijah. 

Rebekah and Catherine both loved following Aunt Ashley around and learning her ways.

They spent a lot of time together, which made me so happy.

They're very similar independent, creative souls.

Can Uncle Stephen survive the pile of nieces and nephews?!

Big fireworks are not allowed on the island, but we enjoyed watching the neighbors lighting off their fireworks in the street. Hopefully they didn't mind the extra audience they attracted!

By the time dinner was over and we were ready to do fireworks, it was dumping rain. I don't mind rain at the beach, but the lightning kept us home. We lit the sparklers under the houses and called it good:

Grandma provided glowsticks for those not interested in sparklers:

Or for those who are adorable and get sparklers AND glowsticks:

It was kind of disappointing to miss out on a big fireworks show, but with the rain and the anti-fireworks laws, we didn't expect anything. But once the kids were in bed, some of the neighbors pulled out the definitely-not-legal fireworks! I enjoyed the show from the deck of the house. Thankfully the kids slept through it--it was LOUD!

Happy Fourth!

Bloods at the Beach

Thanks to the generosity of Mom & Dad Blood, it was off to Holden Beach for the Blood clan again! This time we had everyone minus Elizabeth (who had just had a baby) and James. We still needed 3 houses to fit everyone! Thankfully one had a giant kitchen area perfect for serving the masses meals. 

Rebekah buries Seth

Yes, that is Seth under the hat.

Rebekah was quite thorough.

Aaron was a full on beach lover this year.

He was also the only one who actually kept his hat on the whole time.

The shade dwellers

Elise & Tauriel

Giant beach baby.

Having a baby at the beach was not the most fun for me. It's hard to nurse if you're in a sandy, salty swimming suit. Plus it was just really hot & humid. Thankfully we figured out that soaking his blanket in water and wrapping him in it helped him stay cool. But we still spent a lot of time at the beach house nursing and napping instead of playing in the water. Not unexpected, but still kind of lame. Thankfully the kids (and Jon, mostly) had a great time and still made it to the water every day thanks to kind aunts & uncles. 

Mom Blood wanted a picture of everyone at the beach. Thankfully Claudia brought her nice camera and a tripod, so we were able to get one. Not as nice as our professional ones from a few years ago, but much easier and cheaper! 

Mom wanted a picture with EVERYONE in it, so she had me add in James & Samantha and Elizabeth's family. It's not amazing, but it appeased Mom. 

And the standard crazy version: 

Fat beach baby was not a fan of the waves: 

Seth spent most of his time building things in the sand, as usual. 

Andrew and Benjamin were his constant sidekicks, which was awesome.

He also made friends with another boy there visiting. 

Seth has no trouble finding friends wherever he goes: 

Aaron was also a sand-dweller most of the time: 

Elise loved the water and was always demanding that someone take her to the waves: 

Seth was allowed to use his laptop for a little while in the afternoons.

He was quite popular with all the cousins during this time:

We mostly forced the kids to eat outside for cleaning purposes.

They didn't seem to mind: 

Elijah is almost as big as Brianna: 

Possibly my favorite picture from the beach: 

I love that Aaron has Eowyn to be his buddy!

Brief Sketches

When you open the dryer and find this inside, there's only one explanation:

Elise.

Catherine is my little naturalist. She's always outside investigating the plants and bugs. Somehow she discovered a tree with berries on it. She collected the berries and used them to make "Dyeberry juice." She actually painted several pictures with her homemade dye! And stained a few outfits...

If you're a REAL lady, all you need are some heels to feel dressed up.

Seth has started blogging and wanted a profile picture.

I couldn't have taken a more 'Seth' picture if I tried...

I tried putting gel in Aaron's hair one Sunday.

I need to just give up and accept that his hair cannot be restrained.

I snapped this picture of the girls through the front window.

Emma is moving away soon and we're going to miss these moments with good friends.

Super Spider-Elise to the rescue!

In case you were wondering...Catherine still loves bugs.

Elise snuck into the room and ducked suspiciously behind the end of the bed.

I caught her in the attempt.

"Elise, you don't need any makeup on!"

"Yes my do! I want it all the time!"

Aaron LOVES Elijah

Aaron doesn't tend to do very many things in part. It's either nothing, or 100%. That includes loving Elijah. He doesn't just love him, he LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES him. Almost terrifyingly intense love. 

If Elijah is around, Aaron is RIGHT THERE.

Sneaking in for a head rub

No peace, even during the monthly photo shoot.

Giant Aaron head in Elijah's face

This looks totally safe...

Snuggling with Mommy AND Elijah??

Best Aaron Day ever!

Water Play

My friend Pohai offered to host swim lessons in her pool this summer. I wasn't sure it would be worth the money or the driving time, but I was wrong! Miss Kate was AMAZING and both kids learned way more than they would have at our usual swim lessons. 

And then it was time to start thinking about our beach trip.

Elijah busted out his sunglasses and his beach bod:

Aunt Kenna made fun of his beach bod.

He was highly offended: