Summer Vacation 2009

We are back from a wonderful and relaxing trip to Uncle Tom and Aunt Audrey's new beach house. The kids had such a fabulous time, splashing and swimming, digging and sand-castle-building, all the while keeping their ears open in the hopes of hearing the chiming music from the ice-cream truck.

Brian had a somewhat rough start, as he was stung by a bee within minutes of our first visit to the beach. My poor baby boy. He let out a shriek of pain, and I watched him hurl a yellow jacket across the sand. He wailed for a few seconds, but then he stopped crying and angrily picked up his bucket and shovel, and stomped off across the sand after his sisters. A cursory examination of his hands and arms did not reveal any obvious sting-marks, so we assumed that the bee had only scared him. Minutes later, we realized that he had a HUGE white welt on his face, with the stinger still sticking out of his cheek. His whole cheek was flaming red, and he fussed briefly while Dan held him down so that I could remove the stinger. He then returned to his sand-castle without another peep, as his poor baby-face grew redder and redder. He is one tough little boy.

We spent rainy days in the cozy Children's department at the local library, and the girls even had a private gymnastics class with a renowned area coach and judge. And of course, we had lots of fun moments together back at the house...playing board games, reading books, and enjoying sunsets over the water, from the beautiful deck that overlooks the ocean. Of course, we ended the week with our annual "cousin sleep-over". Tom and Audrey arrived on Friday night with their four kids, and all 8 children enjoyed two days of fun and laughter. All-in-all, it was a week packed with memories. We even managed to take a few pictures...so very unlike us!