The Beach

We left the house at 7 a.m. with two dozen pumpkin muffins and some milk to have breakfast and fun on the beach.

We swam.

The kid's made a seaweed fort and took turns burying each other in the middle of it.

We found shells.

Heather found a monstrous piece of seaweed.

We climbed rocks.

Gwen dressed up as a seaweed dancer.

Naomi was Queen of the Beach on her throne.

What is better in the summertime...

...than a blow up kiddie pool in the back yard?

Too bad...

...Martha Stewart's Apprentice spin-off is no longer. I think Rachel would have made the grade. Here is some fruit she cut up for lunch. Mmmm...

Naomi's First Tooth

Naomi's first tooth just came in.

Have I ever...

...told you...

...how difficult it is...

...to get a good picture...

...of a busy baby's mouth?!?

She survived the process and came through smiling, or maybe Smoochable was just glad to have my fingers out of her mouth. :)

A Foot of Hair for Wigs for Kids

Rachel had me cut off a foot of her hair and we put it in the mail yesterday for Wigs for Kids.

Here a some before and after pictures.

Magical Transformation

What was I (not!) thinking when I forgot to put this soon to be classic of cinematography on the post about the family reunion?!?



Uncle Will magically turns into an 11 year old redhead!

Odds & Ends

Just a few of the fun things happening around here -

Naomi is practicing sitting up.

Elmo's excited about Michael learning how to sit on the potty.

The other day Michael was trying to get me to come in the kitchen and get him a snack. I wasn't responding as quickly as he liked, so he climbed on the counter, got the empty paper towel tube down and used it as a megaphone to call me.

Summer's 14th Birthday

Happy 14th Birthday Summer!!!

Summer turned fourteen the last weekend in June. Her grandparents as well as Stan's Aunt Geneva and cousin Mark were here. We had a ton of fun.

We went to the beach late Friday afternoon. The pictures in this post are complements of Mark and his camera. Thanks Mark!

Summer

Rachel

Rachel

Heather

Gwen

Gwen and Naomi

Grandpa, Michael and Naomi

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Geneva

Mark took a few pictures as the sun was setting because he said it is nice light. It is really pretty, but hard to keep your eyes open.


Summer was trying to get Mark back for taking pictures with the camera in her cell phone.

We wanted to get a fire pit at the beach and make s'mores for her birthday cake, but they were all taken, so we lit some charcoal in an old wok in the backyard when we got home. Notice the shadows in the sky behind Heather and Gwen. The s'mores were delicious.

Mark had some fun taking pictures in the dusky evening light.

Here's Rachel with a smoldering stick.

And here she is with a mini flashlight.

Last, but far from least, here's the birthday girl times three, with the flashlight.

Friday and Saturday at the Family Reunion

Two days after Summer graduated from middle school and the day after Rachel graduated from elementary school, we left to go to the annual family reunion.

We all went camping in the mountains and Naomi found time to nap, lucky .

Here is Kelly with one of the treasure hunt prizes and a scrunched up face, cute as always.

Kelly, Heather, Nikki, Alex and Andrea are having fun playing with mud.

Cynthia, Andrea, Matt, Will and Ken getting ready for the annual around the campfire sing-along.

Here are Robert, Rita and Woody enjoying the cool mountain evening.

Saturday morning, Will, Stan, Cynthia and I headed to the stream nearby with cousins galore.

Kate, Niquelle, Kaden, Jeremy, and Karissa

Michael

Kelly

Gwen

Kate and Heather

Rachel, wet from the swimming hole. Stan and I are finally learning that if we tell the kids they can wade in the water, they get wet up to their armpits at least; sometimes they go all the way under.

Summer and Niquelle

Stan, Naomi and Michael