Tales from the Beach Part 2

We walked down the beach on Saturday morning and the weather was great...we came up on our neighbor feeding the birds again...you can't see it, but he has a pigeon sitting on his arm.

The campground has a cool playground by the pool and the kids and I walked up there after naptime on Saturday...Here's Karcen riding the digger and a group shot by the pond.

Zach wanted a turn on the tractor...he says he looks like daddy on the tractor he got from Mr Joel.

We took a trip to Ripley's Aquarium today courtesy of Jenny. The kids had fun and touched a few of the animals. Here's Zach at the Pirate Adventure exhibit...he's not as brave with the pirates as I thought he would be.

Inside the Pirate exhibit there was a replica of the living quarters of the crew. Karcen and Haila served up some biscuits at the table.

Haila is waiting anxiously for the diving show to begin...those pictures didn't turn out too well, but we got to see 2 divers feed the fish and then the stingrays.

Finally a group shot by the diver exhibit...the gang's all here, even Karcen peeking through at the back...Jenny couldn't get Peyton to look....he is having listening issues this weekend.

We are back at the camper taking a nap as I am posting this, we are headed to the pool after snack for a little while.

Tales from the Beach

Zach and Haila take to digging on Thursday afternoon in the warm sun. The wind was a little chilly, but they didn't care!

Lane got sand up her sleeve because she was digging so hard...and her face says she's not happy about it!

Zach also falls prey to sand...he is slinging sand out of a hole he is digging and the wind caught it and sent it straight into his mouth! Gotta love the face...I helped him clean it off - after I quit laughing and took his picture of course!

Karcen is content to dig on her own, she loves to fill the bucket, except she doesn't want to take the time to fill the whole thing and she is disappointed when she dumps it over...we'll have to work on our sand castle building technique!

This morning (Friday) we took a trip to the Children's Museum in Myrtle Beach...they kids had a ball...it was similar to Charlotte at Play back home. Oddly enough we ran into Sara and Emma Steiner from back home while we were there....what a coincidence to run into someone you know at an obscure place like the museum at the beach!

Here's Peyton in the log cabin.

And Cheyenne putting on a puppet show.

There was a magic school bus, complete with seats, stop sign, steering wheel and intercom? system...anyway, the kids could talk to each other, kind of like a primitive phone. Cheyenne is "driving" the bus while helping Haila talk to Karcen.

Carley is make believing that she is the receptionist at the doctor's office, I think it was a dentist. She had everyone come and make an appointment and go to the waiting room.

Here is Dr. Zachary getting ready to check out the patient, Karcen's teeth...she has her mouth open and ready to go....Zach says he's going to be a dentist like Herby on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie!

Haila was taking a ride on the life raft...it was attached to a water bed looking thing that moved when you sat down on it...it was really pretty cool!

All of the rest of the pictures below are from the water and sand play area, in this huge bubble maker...It was a hula hoop attached to a pulley that dunked into a tire that was cut in half and filled with soapy water to make a bubble big enough to get into...the kids thought it was a great thing!

Today was a busy day, but the kids had fun...Lane and Carley got to play with Lucas and Chelsea Herron this afternoon while the younger kids were napping and I went to Wal-Mart (while Jenny was babysitting). We are expecting rain off and on the next couple of days, so we may hit the indoor pool tomorrow and then the aquarium on Sunday before we head back on Monday! Greetings from the beach....Nannie

First Day at the Beach

So we survived our first night in the camper with 7 kids, 3 dogs and me and Jenn. I was up several times with Karcen who wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom by herself, and with Haila who ended up in bed with me at 4:30am. This is the gang at the breakfast table, most of them half asleep!

We made our way to the beach after breakfast. It is not too cold and the sun is nice and warm!

Haila is checking out the multitude of seagulls...a man from the campground

had been feeding them right before we arrived...

For some reason, Carley and Zach are holding hands...don't know why, but it's a cute picture!

This picture was Jenny's idea...it turned out too cute.

Christmas at Nannie's

Jenny made us some yummy sugar cookies with frosting AND sprinkles,

and the kids really enjoyed them...check out the faces!

There were many, many, many presents to open and lots of mess to be made...

here is but a glimpse into the chaos!

Kinsey ripping into her Dora toy!

A very excited Klay opening his Hardy boy wrestling figures....

Karcen is taking her sweet time with this one, while Peyton's almost done and ready for the next one...

We were blessed with an overabundance of toys and clothes, and good food!

It's all over for this year...time to start making a list for next year!

Haila and her Ketchup

Haila enjoyed the treat of ketchup on her tray today at lunch. Jenny went to Sonic and got the kid's lunch and Haila had to have "sip" which is her "dip". She ate more ketchup than she did hot dog, chicken nuggets, fries and tater tots, but she thoroughly enjoyed herself!

Kattie's Birthday

Kattie turned 17 on November 30th....Is that really possible? I remember her coming to my house the first time...that cutie patootie blond baby! Now she is a beautiful young woman and I can't believe how fast the years have gone by...soon she'll be off to college, getting married and having her own babies!

Here she is blowing her candles out! She had cheescake for her birthday cake - her favorite!

Kattie had a mixture of family, friends and kids at her party...Here is the "young peoples" table...nobody over 19 allowed!

Here's of shot of Kattie and Kelsey (with Carl in the background)

Then of course Klay was in tow...and very happy about having his picture made!

Haila has discovered that she loves to dip EVERYTHING...here she is with french fries in ranch dip!! I remember Kattie making those cheesy faces!

Not be outdone...here's Peyton's party face....he's all about Kattie's Uncle Steven tonight!!

And last but definately not least, here's Kattie and her boyfriend Carl....who are so sweet together you almost need to throw up! But seriously..... Kattie loves him, so that's good enough for me (I think)...Carl's away at ASU, so we only get to see him on special occasions like this, unless Kattie decides she wants to see him - don't think he won't drive home and then turn right around and go back the next day to see her!!!

Happy Birthday baby girl....I love you very much and I am so proud of you! Seeing you grow into a beautiful Christian young woman makes me happier than you'll ever know!!!

Playin' in the Leaves

The leaves have been changing for a while around here, but this Bradford Pear was one of the last to go....It is an absolutely gorgeous tree! This particular tree was planted by my mom in memory of my dad in 1996....it has grown very quickly, but is a reminder everyday of my parents!

The kids love to make a pile and jump in them, remake the pile and so on and so on....They were having so much fun enjoying being outdoors and I love using my new camera to capture these moments! Days like today I love my job...ask me tomorrow and I might have changed my mind, but today it's all good.

Carley and Zach have a plan with the wagon to fill and dump where they want their pile to go. They have decided to branch out on their own to make a pile.

Cheyenne has this contagious laugh that she does when she's being silly....and this is the smile that goes with it....when she isn't being sassy, she sure can be cute!

Haila's learning to hang with the gang, and now she has found one leaf that she carried around forever....who needs to spend money on toys when I can just take them outside for free?

This was just a cute shot of Zach and Cheyenne. They were being buried by the rest of the kids in the leaves so that they could pop up and "surprise" the other kids.

Lane seemed to be the favorite one for the others to bury...probably because she could be still the longest and get completely covered up. She's being a good sport even though she ended up with leaves all in her pants!