Water Mine

Yesterday, the kids and I went to Water Mine. We met another family there at 2:00. It was the perfect time to get there. The camp groups all left and it was almost like having the place to ourselves.

I love the expressions on Wesley and Lydia's face.  They just love to play in the water!  I thought Josiah would nap on the way out there, but I think he was too excited about going to a water park.

The kids wore life vests in the lazy river.  Here is a picture of Wesley and Nathan.  They spent almost three hours in the lazy river.  I think Wesley did one water slide once.

Amelia and Lydia also loved the lazy river.

Here's Josiah on a little slide.

Lydia and Amelia on Big Pete.  I didn't get a picture of Josiah and me on this slide.  He loved it and kept trying to get me to let him go by himself.  He had to sit in my lap.

There he goes in the lazy river.  I think he thought he had developed super powers that caused him to go so fast in the water.

Oh, there is Ethan, Wesley, and Nathan.  Since the place was not crowded and these three boys can swim, JoAnn and I let the boys go around on their own.

Lydia on the rocking horse.  No waiting for a turn on this day.

Lydia and Josiah ahead of me in the lazy river.  I had to work to keep up with Josiah.

Josiah going down another slide.  All the other kids stayed in the lazy river with JoAnn.

And another slide.  At first, I had to carry him up the steps through the water spray, but after a few times he was happy to do it on his own.

On my last trip around the lazy river I saw Wesley doing the rope challenge.

I made the kids leave after three hours but they wanted to stay another three hours.  This was only our second trip to a water park this summer.  We went to Water Country the first week in June.  Swim team took up a lot of our time this summer.

My Baby Is Two

It's hard to believe but Josiah is two!  It is so fun to see his development and his fun personality. Lydia and I made a cake for him. One of the layers got a little stuck in the pan. (I knew Lydia hadn't greased the edge of one of the cake pans but I didn't fix it and later paid for it.)  Chris suggested cutting Mickey Mouse ears out of the layer that was falling apart.

I think the cake looks more like a teddy bear than Mickey Mouse but the kids thought it looked like Mickey.

Wesley and Lydia wanted to help Josiah open his presents.

I don't know if Josiah or Wesley was more excited about this starfish.

Josiah, like most little boys, loves trucks and trains.

Lydia made a card for Josiah.

Josiah loves these Thomas pj's.  He also loves Play Doh.

A Day at the Beach

After visiting the pond to look for minnows, we headed to the beach.  The beach was closed the day before so the kids went crabbing.  I think the water was just barely not too rough for boogie boarding on Sunday.

Wesley and James boogie boarding.

Wesley loved it.

He isn't crying in this picture, he is laughing.  He was so happy.   When he did get tossed around by the waves, he just went back out and tried it again.

Josiah loved playing in the sand.  He looks a little guilty about something in this picture.

Joseph didn't bother with a board and just body surfed.

John and his friend, Nicholas, dug a hole for Josiah to play in.

 Josiah loved playing in the water in the hole.  As the tide went out and the hole drained and then disappeared, he kept trying to get me to dig another big hole.

 

He also loved playing in the shallow water.

The beach was very crowded on Sunday.

Chris played in the waves with Lydia. She loved it! In this picture you can see that Chris is working hard to keep them both upright.

I love this airplane banner!

Here is a video of Lydia and Wesley boogie boarding.

"You Go First"

On Sunday morning, John had another race to run. He did a 5K on Saturday with Lang and on Sunday he ran a 5 miler by himself.  Chris and I went with James and our kids to catch minnows. (Joseph didn't want to go.)

As we were walking to the pond, I realized that Josiah was still in his pajamas.  Apparently, I can't get all of my kids dressed for any given event.  (Remember the night before Wesley and Lydia ate dinner in their pj's while everyone else had on regular clothes.)

The kids caught only one minnow.  We didn't have any bait since the bait (dog food) had gone back to Virginia with the dog.

The kids wanted to walk around the pond.  Wesley started to cross the bridge but said, "This doesn't look safe.  You go first, James."

James easily walked across the bridge since he had done it many times before.  Wesley followed right behind him.

Then Lydia.

I went after Lydia and then Chris carried Josiah across the bridge.  If Chris had not been with us, I would have walked through the water with Josiah.

We did see several jelly fish but not near the bridge.

All the kids and adults made it safely back across the bridge.

Sometimes we all need a trusted friend to go before us.

When the Beach Is Closed....

We spent the weekend with the Best family in Bethany Beach. They were so nice to host us for the fifth time.

Here is a picture of Wesley and Josiah looking at the beautiful flower garden.    

Friday night, Wesley, Lydia, and James played bingo across the street.  On Saturday, the water so rough that the beach was closed so Lang and Chris took the kids over age two crabbng.  They used chicken necks as bait.

I heard James, Lydia, and Joseph mostly ran around and played.

Here is Lang holding one of the crabs the kids caught.

Wesley with one of crabs.  James had a measuring stick with him.  The crabs had to be 5 1/2 inches to keep.

Wesley caught a horseshoe crab!  You can't really see its tail in this picture.  He threw the crab back.

Lydia held a crab also.

The kids checking their traps.

The kids pulled the traps up and dropped them in the water since kids under 16 don't have to have a license.

Later the boys had a water gun fight.  Wesley came in the house, soaking wet, and begged for a hot shower.

Lang cooked a delicious seafood dinner in the deep fryer - mussels, clams, shrimp, spicy sausage, potatoes, corn, and onions.

Since the kids didn't catch any crabs big enough to keep, Lang bought steamed crabs.  This looks like a perfect dinner to me - beer and fresh seafood.

Lang demonstrated the right way to open the crabs.  And yes, we ate all this food.

John and Michelle.

The next day, I realized that Wesley and Lydia ate that yummy dinner in their pajamas.  Josiah ate a surprising number of shrimp and a few clams too.  Wesley loved the crabs and corn and he ate a few clams and shrimp.  Lydia loved the crabs and shrimp.  She was broken out in spots all over her face, arms, and legs.  I thinking she was having an allergic reaction to something because the spots did clear up (though not completely) with Benadryl.    Since we know she is isn't allergic to shell fish, she was able to enjoy the delicious dinner.

The adults played Rummikub while the kids watched a movie and we continued to play after the kids went to bed.  The night before we played Sequence.    I love playing games like that but I don't get to play very often.  Wesley does play Mexican Train with me sometimes.