I think it's Week 14

This past week was the official start of summer and who would have thought we'd still be dealing with quarantine at this point?!  I know I felt sure it would have all blown over by now.  This week we did errands and appointments-- all normal kinds of things but most of them didn't go as easily as they usually do and were a reminder that life is still a little off right now.  I keep hearing stories of how others are experiencing unusual stuff too-- a friend spotting a bear in her backyard, a nurse telling me about tons of shark teeth the size of your palm on their beach trip.  2020 keeps bringing the surprises!

Big step for Joshua this week- he took driver's ed online and passed the course.  Next up will be 6 hours of behind the wheel instruction to be scheduled this summer we hope.

Moments from this pretty low key week...

Boys enjoyed an outdoor movie night with friends.

Julia was delighted with her end of year stuff her teacher dropped off.

Girls love hanging with our sweet neighbors...

...and their foster kittens.

Allie went back to the dentist and loved getting to watch Frozen playing on the ceiling during her 7 minute procedure. ;)

Matt and I got my new porch swing up and it's been quite the favorite spot!

These girls find all sorts of ways to pass the summer afternoons!  Not sure why Allie was put inside the pool basketball goal, but she was happy about it.  I love their pretend games!

We had a great time celebrating Father's Day at Matt's sister's house last night.  Great food and lots of fun conversation.  We were marveling at how far we have come from having to chase so many toddlers around the house (at one point we had five 3 to 4 year olds plus a baby and two elementary kids!) to being able to sit around with everyone and chat all evening.

Today we celebrated Matt with a brunch after church and gifts.  Gray and Julia each made him a scavenger hunt to find their gifts, Allie made a "book" complete with interviews about dads (What is a father?  "A father is a old daddy...and then it turns into a grandpa."), and Joshua gave him a shirt from his favorite restaurant.  We sure are thankful for Matt and all his hard work for our family.  Two more weeks of working nights and then he starts his new job!  We are counting down!!  

Happy Father's Day also to my Daddy, who makes me laugh--with him.... 

...and at him, and he's okay with either.  :)  Love you, Daddy!

Not pictured from this week...yet another recoating of the patio.  We are now done.  I think.  I hope!

Bird Shoals Island

We are home and getting back in the swing of things.  Today I got around to plugging in my big camera to get the pictures I took with it when we went to the island at the beach...

Mimi and GrandGene before they walked miles to find the wild horses.

Even Allie found sand dollars in the shallow water around the island.

Julia was in heaven with all the sea life!

Cousins hanging in the water.  Hard to tell in this picture but it was quite a ways from shore and still so shallow.

This live sand dollar had little tiny crabs hitching a ride.

Allie's always up for a walk and talk.  This is the inner part of the island and was a whole different ecosystem with tons of little hermit crabs, oysters, and a marshy area that we imagined could hold alligators and were thankful most of them are not in NC.

A small Portuguese Man O' War.  So pretty.

Hunter took the kids out to walk to a tiny island across the ocean to try to find dead sand dollars to bring home.  Pretty cool to be able to walk to an island!  It was such a fun and different day at the beach!

Best of the Beach

We have had a wonderful, long time away at the beach. It has been so nice to have a change of scenery and to feel that we have nothing to do but play and eat. We crammed three beach trips into one over the last week and a half: first, my family all came down, then a friend and her kids, and then Matt’s parents. Each segment has been different from the other and very much enjoyed. Here are some of the highlights...

Part One:

Extremely windy and foamy beach afternoon on Day 1. The cousins split into those that prefer being industrious and those that just wanted to embrace the sensory experience. 

We love a good walk to get ice cream!

Day 2 was a fun one!  We drove over to Beaufort and took a boat out to Bird Shoals island. 

Little girl on a big beach. She has loved being here, especially playing in the sand and water, which is one of her favorite things to do at home on a smaller scale. 

It was low tide and we could walk really far out into the water and feel tons of sand dollars under our feet! Most were alive but we brought home a few of the white ones, which mostly got broken later. 😞

We were having so much fun, we asked the boat to come back later for us...and most of us ended up with a sunburn.  Not pictured- Mama and Daddy took a loooong walk and finally found the wild horses on the island. 

Beach games! We made some putt putt holes on the beach...

And played a homemade beach corn hole game. 

The Leightons completed the cousin crew. They had a great time together and spent a lot of time enjoying the waves. They played a lot at the house too...Rook plus games they made up like throwing things up to the balconies (even GrandGene got in on this one) and “Beach House Dash”, which I think has an element of hide and seek. 

Cousin love. 

And uncle love. Allie enjoyed being silly with her uncles and giving them inappropriate nicknames. 🤣

Allie loved playing with Mimi in the water and thought it was hilarious when a wave made her fall down. 

We did get a sighting of Aunt Kathy, who later found a sea turtle nest right by where we set up on the beach every day. 

We did putt putt and split up into girls and boys. 

Then we came back together for go karts. 

We made the cousins all play spoons!  

This little girl was such a rock star, missing her nap most of the time. This day she just couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. 

So nice to have my family here, catch up, and just be “normal” again!

Thankful for my sisters!!

 Part Two:

The day my family left, the Mussers arrived. We did early dinner and spent the evening on the beach. 

The next day we got a little too much sun but loved our time in the sand and ocean. 

The older kids hung out in the water for a lot of the time. 

These sisters have gotten a lot of time together too...on the beach and doing “photo shoots” with Julia’s camera in the beach house. 

And the littlest ones had the best time in the sand and the edge of the water. They were pretty adorable and even had some conversation like “So Allie, I hear you’re going to kindergarten!”

We finished up our last night with a walk to ice cream and the pier. We saw tons of jellyfish on the way home via the beach. 

Part Three:

Matt came back the day the Mussers left and we had a nice walk on the beach with Raven. 

We found these beautiful Portuguese Man O Wars on our walk. 

Nanny and Pa joined us. Gray was worn out and did some sleeping in his hole while Pa and Joshua played. 

The girls were cold and made a fort to rest in. 

Joshua and I made a castle. 

We ended the night with more putt putt and go karts. 

Almost time to come home and back to reality...or whatever alternate reality we have been living these past few months. Time moves a little differently at the beach, but it still marches on and brings all sorts of changes with it. While we were away, the kids missed their end of year drive through events and it’s now officially summer.  Joshua is on his way to high school and will take driver’s ed next week.  Now we will try to just enjoy our summer and watch and wait for how the next phase of quarantine life will work!