Beach Vacation Day 4

Saturday was such a fun day with the grandparents! You know the day is going to be great when the kids finish breakfast, then dash out the front door to the playground a stone's throw away with Pop-Pops . . .

All the fun times are catching up with Joseph who takes naps whenever he can, especially on twenty-minute car drives here and there.

Sleeping in the car whenever he can

We were at the local miniature golf course when it opened at ten this morning, for what I think might have been our children's first time. Unfortunately, Margaret and Joseph have mild colds and are generally underslept, so they fell apart in tears after nine holes. I had planned for us to be back at the condo by noon for lunch, so hadn't packed any snacks, and surprisingly this golf course sold no food except one . . . so I was that Mama sitting there feeding ice cream to my toddlers at 10:45 in the morning to get them to stop crying so their siblings could keep playing. A few additional years into motherhood and such desperate measures don't bother me like they used to!

Pop-Pops

Daddy teaching Mary how to put

Margaret (3) got the best score of all of us because she would place the ball a few inches away from the hole.

How does Mama golf on a course that doesn't accommodate strollers? 
By wearing the baby on her back, of course!

Ice cream makes tears dry up

Happy babies eating ice cream beneath a tree

Joseph kept climbing up the skee ball ramp

Each child was given two tokens: John wanted to use his in a game of air hockey with his grandfather

After lunch and a blessed Quiet Time--during which Grandmom did my grocery shopping for me and when Mama actually got to take a nap and I think I heard angels singing from on high--we took the children to the beach. Rain is forecast to be coming, so today's high of 80 and sun was a perfect day to hit the sand again. We all had a super time. Wildlife observed: many, many washed-up jelly fish, one horseshoe crab, one lizard, and one thing that might have been a skink.

Wheeling all our supplies to the beach

Chris commented that it's more like we're moving to the beach, we take so many supplies.

Grandmom with her two youngest grandchildren

Mary had so much fun body boarding (or whatever it is called) until she did a face plant in a big-for-her wave, swallowed a lot of water, and threw up. But, being Mary, she brushed herself off and was back at it moments later.

There were at least twenty jelly fish washed up on shore within close eyesight of our beach chairs.

Flying a kit with Pop-Pops

Flying a kite with Pop-Pops

John loved body boarding so much, he did it happily by himself for at least an hour.

I had so much fun in the water with the girls!

Is that a skink?

In just a few days, I have developed a pretty good routine of stripping the kids in the giant shower, washing them down in an assembly line, getting them all dressed, then laundering all the bathing suits and towels, so they are dry and fluffy by morning.

We enjoyed a fun dinner together of hot dogs, potato salad, greens salad, baked beans, potato chips, pickles, lemonade, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.