No Wet, No Fun

What's a beach vacation without a little (or a lot of) water? Toward the beginning of the week, I was somewhat concerned that the kids would not get into the ocean. As the week wore on, though, the kids began to get more and more used to the it and started heading for it with very little coaxing. Here are some pictures of each kid's watery progression.

Olivia remembered the beach from last year, so she was quicker to get into the water. Early in the week, she would only go in to the point where the water came right above her ankles. Sometime during of the middle of the week, she began wanting to jump over the waves, so she had to go a little deeper. By the end of the week, she was body surfing- almost fully submerged in the water. She really did a good job- not only on the beach, but in the pool, too. She has been swimming with her dad some this summer in our pool, but she really made A LOT of progress while we were at the beach. Not only did she swim some without her swim ring, but she also started jumping off the side of the pool into the water. She is certainly not scared to go underwater anymore! The only problem that we are having now is that she is so excited about swimming that she smiles when she goes under and then water gets in her mouth. She doesn't seem to mind too much. She just spits the water out and tries again. We are hoping that she will be swimming on her own by next summer. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Olivia swimming in the pool because I dropped my camera in the ocean (and destroyed it) before she started swimming. I'm bummed about my camera, but really glad that my memory card was not harmed.

Owen was much more hesitant than Olivia about getting into the water (both ocean and pool). He would not go near the ocean for several days. If a drop of water even dared to land on him, he would get upset. It took a lot of time for him to even approach it. I don't know what it was that changed, but by Thrusday, he was ready to get wet. I guess he decided that he liked the ocean, because he kept going out deeper and deeper. By the end of the week, I was actually having to tell him to come back because he was out too far. Like the ocean, Owen did not want to get into the pool at first. He has not been in the pool at our house very much because he is always so fussy when we try to put him in it. I finally had to just grab him and make him get into the pool at the beach. He clung tight at first, but started to ease up later in the week. He never did get to the point where he would let go and rely on his swim ring. Oh well, I guess that gives us something to work on for next year.

Can You Dig It?

One of the more popular activities with the kids this year was digging in the sand. I was happy with this choice in activity because it did not require me to chase anyone up and down the beach. On the first day of vacation, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Kay gave all six of the kids a shovel and pail with their names on it. The kids played with these buckets more than anything else, and putting the names on the pails was a stroke of sheer genius because there was never any argument over whose pail was whose. The kids played so well together on the beach. They dug holes, built sandcastles, and buried Bailey a couple of times. The fun-in-the-sand continued all week long. On the last day at the beach, Uncle Kelly half-way buried the girls in sand by creating a mermaid tail for them. We decorated the mermaid tails with seashells. All of the girls loved channeling their inner Ariel. Of course, Owen wanted to be a merman, so we made a trident out of sand to make his merman more manly. Poor boy, he's always surrounded by girls.

To the Pier!

We have just returned from our annual vacation to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. This year's beach vacation turned out to be one of the best that we have had in several years. I think that this is mostly due to the age that the kids are at now. We didn't really have to worry about diapers or bottles this year- which made life much easier for us. I took tons of pictures, so I'm going to do several posts.







This year, the first thing that we did after unpacking was to walk down the pier. Brian loves to fish and spends a fair amount of time on the condo's private pier every year. Wouldn't you know that Brian didn't have his pole in the water for five minutes when he caught his first fish. I swear, he has a gift. Anyway, Olivia helped him reel the fish in, so I guess it was her first fish of the vacation, too. Olivia actually caught a couple of fish during our time at the beach, and she named them all. Brian usually throws back most fish because, well, no one likes to eat fish at our house. Olivia didn't mind the fish being thrown back, but she was really upset about throwing back the snail that she had caught. She even kissed it (on the slimy part) before parting with it. I think Olivia enjoyed being able to go fishing some with her dad this year. Owen was still a little too immature for it this year, but maybe he'll be able to fish some next year.

Mulan on Stage

Yesterday Olivia, Granny Mel, and I went to see "Mulan"- part of the Peach State Summer Theatre Series at Valdosta State University. Olivia has been watching Mulan on DVD for over a week in anticipation of the play. The play itself was really well done. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The guy who played "Mushu" was especially good. We couldn't take pictures during the performance, but after the play the characters were available for pictures and autographs. Olivia met several characters- including Mulan and Mushu. Granny Mel gave Olivia her playbill so that she could get the characters to sign it. It was so cute watching her meet them. She was so excited. She even ran up and hugged a couple of the actors. I think that everyone had a great time, and I will definitely be interested to see what plays are part of the series next year.

Fireworks on the Fifth

I do not know why Waycross decided to do their fireworks on the fifth of July instead of the fourth- but they did. So, we did not see fireworks on Independence Day- we saw them the day after. Papa Charlie and Granny Mel came to visit for the day and watched fireworks with the kids. The show wasn't scheduled to begin until 9:30, but people began staking out their "spot" about two hours beforehand. Even our "usual" location was close to being full when we got there. Luckily, my dad had arrived a little early and claimed a great spot for us. We sat in the back of his truck to watch the show. Last year, I learned a few tricks from Mr. and Mrs. Murray about the important of having snacks at an event like this, so this year I popped some popcorn and carried some drinks to enjoy. It was a very nice evening. The fireworks were pretty good, and the kids had a great time.

High Seas Expedition at VBS

Our church held its annual Vacation Bible School this past week. The church really goes all out for VBS every year, so I'm thrilled to say that it was a huge success! The theme was "High Seas Expedition", and all of the Bible lessons and activities involved sailing or the sea. The kids had a great time. I must confess, that I had a great time, too. I volunteered as one of the teachers in the Pre-K class. We had between 10 and 17 kids (ages 2-5) in that class each night. It was a lot of work (especially on the nights when we had 17 kids). But, the work was worth it because the kids had fun and really got a lot out of it. We ate, sang, did crafts, played games, and learned about God. One of the coolest things that we did was to make a blanket that is going to be sent to a kid in Africa. Here are some pictures that I took on the last night. You may even recognize some of the members of the class (Olivia, Ava, Claire).

The Swinging Medallions

This weekend, I took the kids to see The Swinging Medallions- aka "party band of the South"- at the Spirit of Liberty Festival in Patterson. The Swinging Medallions is a band based out of South Carolina that travels around playing beach music and golden oldies. Aunt Quincy came to the festival and helped me out with the kids (thanks, sis), and of course my dad was there. I mean, this event had "Sam Walker" written all over it. We saw him on occasion as he made his rounds talking to everyone there. Anyway, the kids had a great time. We were at the festival from 7:00 until 9:15, and they danced from the time we arrived until the time we left. I guess that Olivia has been watching too many break-dancing movies, because when she dances she gets on the floor and tries to do spins and stuff like that. She did this at the festival- which I think tickled some of the people around us. Whenever the band would finish a song, the audience would clap for the band. Olivia thought that they were clapping for her and her brilliant dance moves, so she started bowing. She was a real hoot. When we finally got home (after a "lost keys" episode that was just exhausting), the kids went straight to bed. I guess the tiredness was worth it, though, because Olivia woke up this morning and told me that she thought we should either go to a concert or a parade today. What a mess she is!