Labor Day Fun

Since it's not enough to refinish floors over a weekend, we invited a crew of people over for a Labor Day picnic in the new place! Uncle D, Aunt Cedes, and Tommy came over. And Grammy, Papa, Tim, Mrs. Kathy, and JOE (!!!) drove down for the day. The children were ECSTATIC!

The kids were VERY surprised when Joe walked in,since we are smart enough to not TELL THEM when things like that are happening. They then monopolized Joe's time playing in their rooms for a very, very long time. It was very loud up there...but I still don't know exactly what they were up to! Everyone else enjoyed a tour of the new house and admired Daddy's new floor.

After a pretty yummy lunch (if I do say so myself), we asked Mrs. K to take some quick pictures for us. I wanted a family picture to put on a change of address card to mail out. Thankfully, Mrs. K was happy to oblige.

(We didn't use that one, but it amuses me.)


Oh look, JOE!



We also got a nice picture of Grammy with all three of her grandbabies. I think she was happy to have one to show off!




And then the children got a hold of the camera and documented the rest of the day.













This is Colin and Joe in the dark, with a light saber.









Fun day. Good company. Silly photographers! We hope to have many, many more family picnics here!

Off to the Beach, Part 3

Well, our weather jackpot gave out on Thursday. A chilly, wet day. We mostly hung out at the beach house, just lounging and doing laundry. And buying movie tickets online for the new "Minion" movie. The kids had been REALLY wanting to see it. Remember that part. They REALLY wanted to see it.

There was a late morning break in the rain, so we stretched our legs and used the playground a bit.






So, we got to the first matinée movie of the day. And got our seats. The lights went out. The previews started. And Colin wanted to leave. Go to the hall. LEAVE. NOW. He wanted to LEAVE. We are mean parents and said, NO. Mostly because WE wanted to see the Minions. And in the middle of the movie, Gillian started wanting to leave too. Sigh. I think it boiled down to this a) they were tired b) it was LOUD and c) they don't yet understand that bad stuff doesn't permanently happen to the main characters in kid movies. Anyway, we made it through the movie. And if you ask them now, Colin and Gillian will both SWEAR they liked it. KIDS.

Anyway, we hit Funland again after the movie. And noticed that the beach was actually closed to swimmers that day. Surf was just too rough.



When we woke up on Friday, there was no rain. But also little humidity and BIG surf. So it was a day for playing in the sand and walking the beach. No swimming for us!













Parents!


Grandparents!


Family!


Ladies!


Dancing girly.


Relaxing.


Names in the sand (in hopes of returning next year).





Oh, more doritos.



Friday evening we went out for our traditional last night at the beach dinner. And some Funland. And some ice cream. Gillian agreed to some pictures before we left. Colin did not.




Some dinner shenanigans.






Funland.



(Notice that Daddy and Colin didn't go UP in their helicopter. By Colin's decree.)


Papa Greg kindly snapped this (AWESOME) family pic in about 3 seconds for us on the boardwalk.


Saturday morning we were up and out the door by 7:00. We stopped for some gas and some waffles. And one final round of silliness.




Bridge from the other side...


And we had another fast, easy trip home. Thank goodness for good travelers. We had a FANTASTIC week. We can't wait to go back!