Water and sandy fun at Fripp

We had a great relaxing week at Fripp. Sadly I only actually remembered to take pictures one day. The weather was beautiful, most of the time, and we were able to go to the beach almost every day. We also swam in various pools, went fishing, cruised in golf carts, played volleyball, and made and ate lots of delicious food. 

Here are a few pictures I do have. 

Nate pretending he is a turtle. He is in this new phase where he pretends to be an animal all the time. I spent the vast majority of my childhood as an animal, so I know from where he gets it! Right now he is usually a baby calf (and of course I am the "Big Mama Cow"...makes me laugh every time), a baby tiger, or a baby bird in his nest.

We did not spend as much time playing in the sand as I expected. Nate was totally enthralled with the water and Evelyn's attention span is still pretty short, so there were no elaborate sand castles. I did however, build a pretty cool monster truck sand castle, per Nate's request. No pictures where taken of it though. 

Fun in the waves with Aunt Leah

He insisted on opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out all.the.time!! He would agree that the water was "yucky", but then open it wide for the next wave! 

Evelyn always thought she wanted to be in the water, because everyone else was. But this was usually what happened after the first two waves came and rocked her world. 

Evelyn loved chasing seagulls, though she would get frustrated after a while that she couldn't catch one. The ocean is such a frustrating place for a little girl! Nothing goes the way you think it should! =)

One evening it poured. Right after we put burgers and freshly caught fish on the grill for dinner. 

And of course there was only one thing to be done...move the grill inside!

The boys did bring it into the house, to take it onto the back screened porch. 

All in all it was a great time, though it felt very nice to be home sweet home after a week away. 

Ice pops, play dough, and summer fun

Produce from the garden earlier in the summer. Recently we have had an abundance of tomatoes and peppers but they are tapering off and I am working on getting some fall plants in the ground. 

This is how Evelyn looks about 5 minutes after getting outside. Every.single.time Eventually I learned to either immediately dump the pool or just be mentally prepared that we were all going to be soaked. 

Yum...the handle tastes soooo good! For some reason it took her a little while to figure out the right way to eat juice pops. 

Multitasking.

The chickens are growing! And Brett build me a pretty awesome chicken coop, of which I will post pictures...sometime, eventually, maybe, hopefully. 

We have been quite crafty recently. I have tried to have a "craft time" with the children almost every day, even if it's just coloring. Both children really enjoy playing with this homemade playdough. 

A birthday cake for Mommy! Nate even sang for me. As you can see, we consider clothes to be optional in the summertime. 

And then licked the candles...because it wouldn't be a proper birthday otherwise. 

 Since we have had lots of tomatoes, I have made fried tomatoes and eggs for myself quite often. No one else in the family cares for them, which is perfectly fine with me. =) Sometimes I even make the tomatoes all by themselves for a mid-day snack. They melt in your mouth but have a bit of a sweet crunch on the outside. These always remind me of my dad, who taught me how to make them. 

More playdough fun.