Our Beach Experience (In a Nutshell)

This is Mr. Tickle. He's not much of a water person, so the beach doesn't exactly excite him too much. To him, the beach is "too messy". He learned last year that if he stays away from the water, he can play in the sand without it sticking to him. So that's his beach activity of choice. Play in the sand and avoid the water at all cost.

He's usually on his own since Little Miss Chatterbox LOVES the water and wonders why anyone would want to spend their time doing anything other than be in the water. Mr. Funny was scared of the ocean once upon a time, but he's older now (and I think he got tired of his older sister making fun of him) and he really enjoys the water too. This doesn't bother Tickle too much because he's quite the loner.

But this year, he had a buddy.

Mr. Tickle and Little Miss Sunshine spent a great amount of time playing in the sand together. This didn't surprise me because Sunshine has become quite the little shadow of Tickle. This bothers him sometimes. But for the most part, he loves his "little princess" as he calls her. They got along great on our little beach trip. I think Tickle enjoyed having a sand buddy to play with this year.
I was happy to have help keeping Sunshine busy because she really, really would have preferred to be in the ocean. If she stopped what she was doing, she would remember that the ocean was just a few feet away from her, and she was off as fast as she could go, towards the water!

Here's Mr. Tickle, trying to bring her back.
Sometimes she'd take the bait. Sometimes, she wouldn't. And if she caught sight of daddy, fuh-get about it.Daddy's girl? For sure.

Every once in awhile, I'd grant her wish and we'd all go down by the water. Mike tried to get Mr. Tickle to join us.
But he just ran away and pouted....
very dramatically. It made me laugh, seeing him sitting in the only shaded spot around, with his head hanging as low as he could get it. This picture still makes me laugh. :)So I became his new sand buddy while Mike took over Little Miss Sunshine duty. A win-win situation for both kids. Tickle practiced making F's in the sand and Sunshine laughed and danced every time the water rushed over her feet.Then Tickle and I made sand castles together. This attracted the attention of Chatterbox and Mr. Funny. Eventually sand castle building even pulled Sunshine away from her daddy! So we all worked together. But that will have to wait for another post. :)

On the Boardwalk

When we arrived in Ocean City, it was a bit early to check into our condo. So we decided to talk a walk on the boardwalk. Of course the kids couldn't keep themselves from the beach, so we didn't actually spend much time on the boardwalk.
Little Miss Sunshine wasn't sure what to think of the sand at first! She was scared to walk on it and would not let go of my skirt. Haha. So I carried her over to Mike and the kids.

Safe in daddy's arms. :)

Mr. Tickle could care less about the ocean so he spent most of his time chasing seagulls.


After seeing the big kids having so much fun, Sunshine decided she would be brave and walk on the sand. There was no stopping her after that! :)

Back on the boardwalk.

Beach Trip- Arriving

As our family grows, packing for a trip gets more and more challenging. And time consuming. And tedious. As I wrote out lists of what I would need to pack for each person (minus Mike. He packs for himself) and then made lists of what we would eat and what to bring for the kids to do, I quickly became overwhelmed. I found myself thinking, "Is this trip even worth all this packing??" You must understand. I'm a very simple person who wouldn't mind staying home every. single. day. So anyway, I continued packing and with the family's help, we were all packed up and ready to go the night before. We woke up early. The house was bursting with excitement. The kids ran to the van and anxiously waited in their seats while I wrapped up the breakfast sandwiches Mike made for us. (Which I was going to make, but Mike woke up extra early and made them for me!) Then I joined them in the van and we were on our way! Everything went so smoothly. The kids were great. Little Miss Sunshine slept most the way. The kids happily worked on little activities we packed for them. (We borrowed Dry Erase cards by: Usbourne from my Mom and they were beyond doubt the favorite amongst the kids)

Before we knew it, we had arrived! When we get to the bridge that takes us across the bay and into Ocean City, we roll the windows down to get a whiff of that sweet ocean air. Little Miss Chatterbox knew it was coming and could barely contain herself. She was squealing and clapping and making all kinds of noises in the back. It made me smile so big! Then when we got there and the windows went down, the kids were beyond excited.


So, is all that packing worth it? Oooooooooh, yeah.

Let's Experiment

One day, after a big rain, Little Miss Chatterbox found water draining down our gravel driveway. This gave her an idea! She asked me if she could build a dam and channels and test them out with the hose. Then her brothers had to give it a try too. :) I love it when they come up with this kind of "play".

Little Miss Chatterbox pours water into her dam.

It worked! Time to make the channel.

There goes the water!

Horse and pony, waiting to cross the river.


The boys giving it a go.

Summer Joy- Corn Husking!

(Tutorial on corn husk dolls found on YouTube)

Summer Joy- Playing in the Sprinkler!

As Little Miss Sunshine headed towards the sprinkler, I called to the other kids to grab her before she got wet. But it was too late.
Much to our surprise, she loved it! She loves water just as much as her big sis. She went through the sprinkler over and over again.

When I finally grabbed her to take her inside, she was completely soaked.... and grinning from ear to ear!
The big kids had an idea to put the sprinkler near the playground so they could get sprayed while they went down the slide or played on their swings.
Ah, the joys of summer!

Summer Joy - Eating Watermelon!

They were so focused on this watermelon that I couldn't even get good pictures of them!

But what's summer without watermelon?