Reunited

A year ago our family lost very dear friends (Calen's buddies Aiden and Matty, Camden's girlfriend Caroline, and their mom, my dear friend Ashley) moved away out of state. It was a big blow to us but we promised that as long as we were within a reasonable range, we would find a way to visit each other. They came to visit for the day this past November, but we haven't seen them since. 

Last year at Memorial day, right before they moved

Until today!

They now live just a couple hours away, so today they decided to spend the afternoon with us at our house. The kids played in the pool and Ashley and I had a nice chat in the shade - just like the good old days. 

Otter pop break!

ready to race into the pool

And of course our two families together means a quintessential trip to the local chow house Big Wave Burrito. 

The big boys Matty, Aiden and Calen. Friends forever

Chips are EXCITING

The ALMOST kiss. Like good moms we were threatening to spank them if they wouldn't kiss.

An Inside Outside Day

It was super muggy and the boys and I were pretty low energy no thanks to a head cold that was brought home, so we stayed inside for the day. But staying inside for the day, on a 90 degree beautiful summer day, doesn't actually mean staying inside the entire day. 

I have outside kids, what can I say. And, the Seattleite in me says "HELLO it's SUNNY it is required BY LAW to go outside at least once today."

Last night, I took Calen's Big Boots guys and threw them in two separate tupperware containers full of water, then put them in the freezer overnight. It created two big blocks of ice, with Big Boots guys "trapped" inside. 

This morning, I put the blocks on the back patio, and gave each of the boys a hammer (and positioned them 3 feet apart to protect from creating a violent and bloody hammer fight) and told them to "rescue" the guys. 

We did this last year (with an Iron Man guy) and it was fun and all, but this year it was a bigger hit. And the dogs loved being able to eat chunk after chunk after chunk of ice. 

Snack time for Chance and Juno

Later in the day during naptime, Calen and I went out in the back, filled up water balloons, placed them on the T-ball tee, and had him swing at them. While his accuracy isn't perfect so none of them exploded on contact, he did knock the tee down which made the balloon burst on the ground. It was fun for like 10 minutes and then he asked to go inside. I think he's the last of us to catch this cold. 

 

His face is amazing.

 

A Day In The Life

I thought it would be fun (for me) to do a "day in the life" type post. Mainly because I have nothing else to talk about. Basically every summer day is the same:

We wake up, have breakfast, and Calen does a Hooked On Phonics lesson. From then on, we're outside.....

..Playing sharks...

The moms set up camp in the shade...

Leave the pool for 10 minutes for a lunch break

Post-Lunch slip n slide race

Peeing outside with friends

Watching a blimp go by

Trying to drain the pool with a 2 year old inside that refuses to get out

Dinner on the back patio

Ending the day with a movie (Toy Story 2) in Green Lantern underwear

Sleeping through falling out of bed because we're so tired from swimming all day

Hanging everything to dry in preparation to do it all again tomorrow

Beach Life

By far the best thing about living here is the beach. Especially since it's a private beach and we don't have to share (except with other Coastie families, who we usually know anyways). 

And that's what spent the afternoon doing.

Climbing the dune to the beach

Daddy dug a hole

.....and caught a crab

And we ran into friends! These three were pretty impressed with the mud on their legs.

And then, always, there's Cam...being Cam...

 

And Now, For Something Completely Random

Calen's hair bleaches out in the summer. But not like a normal full-head bleach out. It's a WEIRD one. Almost like an old-man receding hairline bleach out. You look at and tell me it's normal. 

Weird hair. And nevermind his face. He was eating ice cream sandwiches.

 

18 Holes

(Minature) Golfing with a four and a two year old is absolutely ludacris. 

The kids seemed to have fun, at first. Calen liked to work on his short game - picking up the ball, placing it maybe a foot away from the hole and putting it in (who needs the rest of the course anyways?). Camden liked picking up everyone's balls and putting them one by one in the hole, and then clapping. 

Obviously it wasn't a "normal" putt putt game. 

We started with six players, clubs and balls. By hole 4 or 5 we lost a club. By the 10th hole, we lost two players (Camden had lost his brains once he was disallowed to run from hole to hole when more families showed up). By the 18th hole, we had three and a half players (me and my inlaws, and sometimes Calen) and two balls. I'm not sure how that happened.

But it was pretty fun regardless. 

The first hole, while it was still new and exciting

working on that short game

ball thief

"helping"

Fishing

Fishing with Grandpa (and Grandma) takes on a whole new meaning.

(and it rained again today.)

 



 

On The Boardwalk

We spent Father's Day exploring the boardwalk of Ocean City (NJ). We had never been there before and figured it was a good excuse to take the inlaws up north to check it out. My verdict of Ocean City Boardwalk is that it is 100 times better than our more local Wildwood Boardwalk, mainly because it is far more family friendly. It's a dry boardwalk (no alcohol allowed), which means less party hardiers, which also means less (actually none) slutty/dirty/foul inappropriate shirt storefronts. There were a lot of kid friendly carnival rides which of course we had to test out to make sure they were up to our standards. And of course lots of food and drink and souvenir shops, miniature golf, arcade rooms and the like, all a foot away from the beach. 

Note: I'm impressed with how quickly they restored the Boardwalk considering it was leveled during hurricane Sandy. There were still some signs of restoration/construction, but otherwise the place looked great. 

Riding a motorcycle arcade game

Cotton candy break

The race car ride was the biggest hit of both boys

We found a pirate shop

Papa and his boys

 

Kickoff

Summer was finally kicked off today. We started with the little Harborfest festival behind our house where we ate crabcakes and made sand art and the kids went through the Coast Guard obstacle course. Then we finally, finally made it to the beach for the first time this year. The water hasn't had time to warm up yet but we still had fun. 

Cam's excited

With Grammy

Kids in a hole.

Calen brought me handfuls of baby clams