adventures with the Waters

At least once during the summer we try to have the Waters out to swim...this year it seemed later than normal, but we remedied that with a sleepover and a beach day last Friday. Yeeaahhh, baby. I never laugh as hard or as much as I do when these kids are around.

Gran Jan took lots of pictures. I was proud of her.

Brock was a shark Clark & Garrison rescued the girls from. They underestimated how hard it would be to put him on the float.

Gran Jan on her throne.

See? Lots of laughs.

Turning the pool into the ocean.

Catching some rays.

We ended the afternoon with a cookout, complete with grilled corn on the cob, watermelon, and smores.

Summer love affair right here...I'd eat it every day if I could.

Goofballs.

I had three. No judging. Pea ess: ever eat a leftover smore cold?! DO IT. Tasty.

The boys spent the rest of the night using the sugar high from the smores to build one epic fort up in Clark's room while I snuck more smores in mah face parts and packed for the beach trip the next day. I joined them upstairs for a little midnight showing of Transformers 3 and we all crashed (Twig included) after lots of surpressed laughter.

Onto the beach. AKA SA's happy place.

About to cross over the bridge to the island.

We pulled into the parking lot and ran up to the beach, kicked off our shoes...

...and raced down to the shore. Even though I was beyond excited to go to my special place, my second home, I just watched as the boys & their cute little shadow Quinn leapt into the ocean with no fear. Here lately, I like watching people enjoy things more than I like doing them myself. I'm getting old, I know.

The ocean was ROUGH...we couldn't go in past our calves, but that didn't matter much since the waves were crashing so close to shore and we could float in on the swells. Bliss.

Quick break for lunch!

When did he grow up?!

Hauling the food up to the shelter.

I only ate half a box.

Daddio.

We ate in shifts, and at one point it was all the kids on the beach, waiting for our food to settle before we got back in the water. We had a blast people watching.

About mid-afternoon we left with lots of memories and sand in hidden places.

Brother & sister.

The girl cousins...we gotta stick together! 

Waterlogged and tired but oh so happy.

Goodbye beach. Until next time.

Our families have a tradition where we go to Dairy Queen on the way home, and since we went together we HAD to make a quick stop.

My usual dip cone. I ate it ALL.

Cutie.

What? We're completely normal I promise.

We hit some wicked storms on the way back to ENC and stopped for CFA on the way back. All in all, it was a great day! Thanks to the Waters for coming out and inviting us to go to the beach with them!