What Did we Do in NoVa?

Our trip begin with GG treating Madeline to a full scale manicure and pedicure. As you can see, Madeline even soaked her hands in warm, soapy water and had spacers placed between her toes. Spoiled by GG, you think? :)

Auntie Manda was fun, fun, fun at the playground. Here she wheels Ryry round and round on the spinner. Auntie Manda was MUCH more fun than Mommy, who kept saying, "sorry, I can't do that because of my back". I never realized how much fun I have with my sweet ones at the playground. I miss pushing them and chasing them through slides and running after them. In time. . .

Whoa! Check out how high Auntie gets Maddie.

Ry and Auntie bond with some swinging.

Hanging with Grandpa Steve.

GG and Grandpa Steve love to treat Maddie and Ry to rides on the carousel. I think GG and Grandpa actually love the excuse to ride the beautiful horses!

After taking Maddie and Ry to see, Night at the Museum II, GG brought the children for a real visit to the museum and the Lincoln memorial. They loved seeing everything from the movie. They were also treated to astronaut ice cream. . .a favorite of mine from childhood (growing up in NoVa, you ALWAYS go on field trips to the Smithsonian).

We kicked off our 4th of July celebrations with a great parade in DC, off the Palisades Parkway. It was a parade where candy flowed from start to finish. Of course, Maddie and Ry LOVED it. My favorite part of these parades is always the men and women dancing from Central America. Their costumes and their dances are amazing.

Thank you for such a wonderful time!!!

Madeline and Riley

Riley is exactly 2 years younger than Maddie. These girls share the same birthday. Tara and I often say that they could be sisters, as their coloring is so similar.

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick Fil A

My little cow. Perhaps you're wondering where the second little cow is. . .yeah. . .he did NOT think it was cool or fun to dress up like a cow. A great deal of coercion, and that's describing it nicely, was involved in making him wear it into chick fil a in order to get his free happy meal.

We learn something about Madeline

Our pretty princess is allergic to penicillin.

Mr. Crabby

Ryan made quite the find on our last day at the beach.  A huge crab.  And while Ryan found the crab, it was Mr. Brad who heroically captured this crawling critter.  Mr. Crab was enjoyed by all the children and carried around in a blue sand bucket for hours.  Though he attempted to escape on numerous occasions, brave Madeline ran behind him and captured him, thwarting each attempted runaway.  All this attention was not too good for Mr. Crab's lifespan, if you catch my drift. . .

Everyone investigating "the find".

This is a picture that Ryan took.  Do you know what it is?  Indiana Jones for Wii.  Someone was a little excited about this purchase.  Each time we stepped into the beach house, Ry was asking Mr. Brad if he wanted to play Wii.

More Beach

Maddie loves baby Ellie.  She took picture after picture of sweet Ellie, and was always asking me or Daddy to take a picture of her with Ellie.  Her tender spirit is so precious.

Ry and Chase loved hitting the waves together.  As you can see, they were both fans of watching Jay on the boogie board.  I'm sad I did not get any pictures of the pair of them slapping each other's behinds.  Such boys!!!  I love it.

One of my favorite parts of our beach days was driving the 0.3 miles from our beach shell to our house. Matt would open the trunk of the minivan and the kids would pile in with all their sandy stuff. Without closing the trunk, he would blare "Hype Man (trudog)" by Toby Mac, a rap song.  Maddie and Ry had such a fun time singing along and jamming.  I know there were people thinking we were crazy, but it is one of our greatest memories from the beach.

Onslow Beach

Since Matt is heading to Brazil for two weeks this summer, our annual trip to the Outer Banks was replaced with a long weekend at Onslow Beach, near Jacksonville, NC.  We had a great time as a family, and with our friends the Emory's and the Brister's.  

Here's Madeline working on sand castles.  It's so funny to think there was a time when she was afraid to go near the water.

Here's Ry, appearing to be peacefully enjoying the water.  Don't be fooled.  The boy was a dare devil this year, going out as far as we would let him.  The days of relaxing on the beach are gone for Mommy and Daddy, as we kept eagle eyes on Ry.

The Ry guy taking a break from all the activity.

Afternoon siesta at the beach house.  Ry and Jay enjoying some Indiana Jones on the wii. While the boys enjoyed a video game, the girls (Maddie and me) took a walk to the store to buy a souvenir and share an icee.  Whenever Maddie and I go out together, she sings this cute song--"We're having girl time, we're having girl time.  Just me and Mommy, just me and Mommy". It's so precious.
Growing up in a house full of females, Mommy had no idea that the mesh inside of swim trunks, when combined with sand, can result in terrible skin chafing.  The poor boy was in some serious pain on day 3 at the beach.  Thankfully, baby Ellie had some diaper cream to spare, and in no time Ry was back out on the beach.

Madeline loves digging holes and finding all sorts of treasures.  Aside from shells, the great treasures on this trip were the shark teeth.  We found 105 (Madeline counted them all).

Enjoying some waves.  This picture is quite descriptive of Madeline's and Ryan's personalities. Madeline sticks close to Daddy, where it's safe.  Ryan goes off on his own, taking on each wave. He punched and kicked at the waves as them came crashing toward him.

At one point, when we were in the water, Ry ignored my calls to come back.  After facing some consequences for his decision to ignore me, Ry and I had a conversation.  I tried to explain to him that waves can knock him down and/or pull him under the water, and for that reason, we have to be cautious in the ocean.  To this he replied, "No Mommy.  If waves come, I just push them away, like this". He then showed me how he pushed the waves away with his arms.  Little did he know that his words and his demonstration, gave Mommy all the more reason to shadow him in the water.

Daddy and Madeline search for sand crabs and shark teeth, as the water rolled back into the ocean.

Our sweet girl, on the lookout for beach treasures.  Our last day on the beach, with the Brister's gone, Madeline made new friends.  She saw two girls near us, who were playing in the sand.  She boldly walked up to them and asked them if they wanted to play.  They eagerly accepted her invitation and they played together for a couple hours.

Ryan was so cute to watch shovel.  He would dig a large portion of sand with his shovel, and then heave that portion behind his back, causing sand to fly everywhere.