Goodbye, Holden Beach!

We found ourselves in a bit of a dilemma about driving home. We knew we needed to do a night drive thanks to Aaron's amazing ability to NOT sleep in the car. But we didn't want to do a night drive on the 4th of July, especially when said drive involves going past D.C. So we opted to leave the beach a day early instead. Luckily the late drive gave us some time at the beach in the morning. It was a bit of a blustery last day at the beach:

"I know this is a great weapon...now to figure out how it works!"

Catherine enjoyed some quality time with her favorite Uncle Aaron:

"NOT THE BIG WAVES!" 

(We are still kind of a wimp after Daddy dropped us in the waves last year):

But being thrown up in the air is totally fine:

She also managed some Uncle Timmy time:

Throwing Catherine to the sharks:

Aaron, Eowyn & Brianna stayed safely on the shore:

Hanging out with his favorite Aunt Bubba:

Aunt Ashley caught Catherine all kinds of pets: sand crabs and clams!

Look! I was at the beach, too!

I really wanted a picture of the kids with their grandparents before we left.

It went just about as well as I'd imagined.

Aaron screaming, Seth & Catherine not looking:

Aaron still screaming, other two being dorks:

Whatever.

I give up.

We hadn't even been gone for two hours before Catherine was asking to go back. Thank you, Mom & Dad, for such wonderful memories! 

Last Evening at the Beach

The Johnsons were gracious enough to host all of us for a Mom Blood/Evan birthday party. Evan was thrilled with the chocolate chip cookies. His cousins were totally mesmerized by Sponge Bob (gross).

More party guests.

Please note that all of these children have latched onto various uncles:

Stephen thinks Aaron's whining is funny: 

She really loves my picture-taking: 

Since some of us were leaving the beach early, we decided to have an early 4th of July celebration. This pretty much involved glowsticks and sparklers. Nothing fancy here!

Prepping for sparklers.

Also known as "Mom needs to work on her camera settings when using a flash": 

Seth adores Jocelyn, in a totally non-creepy way: 

Poor Dad. He actually thought this was a nice picture: 

Hanging out with happy Elliot: 

Glow-in-the-dark cousins: 

Early Fourth of July cousins: 

Seth gets some help from Jacob (it was really windy): 

Catherine was all about the sparklers: 

Some of us were super helpful and stayed up where there were no kids or sparklers.

I'm talking to you, Jonny Blood: 

And, because I love her so:

Guess What? More Beach

Aaron likes to start off my mornings at 6 am.

Normally that is totally unacceptable, but 6 am on the beach is a lovely thing:

That is a real sun flare, FYI. 

No photoshopping here: 

Good thing he's adorable: 

Aaron's favorite part of the beach was rinsing off the sand back at the house.

Things I find on my phone: 

At the beach at a more decent hour, playing with Aunt Claudia: 

Aunt Ashley is the coolest beach aunt.

She knows all the tricks to catching clams and sand crabs. 

Aaron likes the beach better when trucks are involved: 

Eowyn also likes trucks.

Elliot is left with just his thumb as entertainment.

Next year you can fight over trucks with the rest of them, Elliot: 

Jon took to wearing Seth's hat from Cub Scout Camp.

This picture does not do justice to the small size of said hat on Jon's head: 

Blood Baby Central: 

Finding clams and sand crabs: 

Hauling buckets of water for Princess Aaron: 

Aaron & Daddy bonding time: 

Mom is happy to have (almost) everyone at the beach with her: 

I like to keep my boys in buckets.

Easier to keep track of: 

Aaron at the beach.

It wasn't love, but it was much better than last year: 

Father & son enjoying the canopy shade: 

Bonding with Elliot, the world's happiest baby: 

Aaron plays with Aunt Elizabeth: 

Thanks to Kade, our beach trip this year was much more exciting. We discovered skimboarding, plus rented a two-person kayak and went out adventuring. The only ones who mastered skimboarding were Kade (not surprising) and Jacob (surprising).  The rest of us made feeble attempts and generally ended up on our rear ends. 

The kayak was awesome! It was a lot of work to get out past the waves, but riding them was so fun. Jon and I made it part of the way back to shore before getting taken out. Beth and I...didn't make it very far. We all got a good workout that evening!

More Beach

Aaron loves the water, but not the waves.

This is an acceptable compromise.

Seth and Rebekah

Andrew & Catherine

My two boys, digging in the sand