Beach Week!
Grandma and Granddad have had a time share here on the

East Coast for over 30 years, and this year the girls and Daddy got to come! (Technically, the girls have been before, but they were too little to remember.) Aunt K, Uncle J, and their cousin H were able to come too. The girls were so excited about getting some cousin time!

We kept it simple and had a blast. Most days involved going to the beach/pool, hiding from the sun during the worst of the heat (eating, napping, reading, or watching the Olympics), then heading out to the beach/pool again late afternoon. The girls were thrilled to finally visit an ocean that had warm enough water and small enough waves that they could actually swim in the ocean, play in the surf, and go boogie boarding. They also helped Grandma and Granddad build a fairly elaborate sandcastle everyday. If we hit the tides right, Granddad liked to see how his castles held up against the rising water; however, if the tide was nowhere near coming in, the girls quite gleefully crushed it for him themselves. While there weren't many whole sea shells to be found, the girls loved collecting pretty bits of tumbled shells. We also spotted some local wildlife: lots of little fish, sea gulls, a jellyfish, a pelican, dolphins, and a crab or two.

They were also huge fans of the swimming pools. All three girls have become quite confident swimmers, and Monkey and Bug even managed to retrieve diving rings from the bottom of the 8-foot deep end. I think they could all do underwater flips and handstands by the end of the week too. In addition to the usual pool noodles, kickboards, and beach balls, Aunt K and Uncle J also brought along a couple of water guns that provided nearly endless entertainment (H may not even be 2 yet, but he's a pretty shot!). We also spent time playing miniature golf, corn-hole, Foosball, and on the playground.

We departed from our routine activities a couple of days, though: We spent one morning visiting an aquarium about 30 minutes down the road. While not nearly as big and impressive as our local aquarium on the West Coast, this one had a sea turtle rescue station we got to walk though. The girls were particularly impressed by the truly massive loggerhead turtle awaiting diagnosis. After touring the real rescue station, the girls got to go through a simulation turtle rescue and took a toy turtle through all the steps of diagnosis, treatment, rehab, and return to the sea. So much fun! Among the other highlights were a presentation about the wreck of the USS Monitor and its transformation into a marine wildlife reserve, a diver presentation in the big tank, a couple of albino alligators, a touch tank with rays and sharks, and an outdoor nature playground.

We spent another evening at the sand dunes. Lion was especially excited about running up and down these huge mountains of sand. We even remembered to bring our kite! The wind was a bit strong for our kite to sail properly, but Daddy managed to keep it up pretty nicely. It only went kamikaze on a few other tourists :-)

Monkey and Bug also celebrated their birthday at the beach! It was fun to have the extra family around to celebrate and eat cake with us. They also opened presents from Daddy and I and Grandma and Granddad. Grandma's choice of a suncatcher kit proved fortuitous as it kept them happily occupied when a thunderstorm kept us from going out one night.

What a great week! Many thanks to Grandma and Granddad for hosting the fun!

We are loving being on the East Coast and close to family again!

A couple of weeks ago Uncle K drove up to visit for a weekend (a former service member himself he wanted to visit his old stomping grounds with the next generation). The girls got to have a
“granddad” around for a few days, and I think we wore him out! On Saturday we spent most of the day in Nauticus, a fantastic maritime and science museum, and toured the USS Wisconsin. I know we’ve toured lots of ships and subs on our travels, but that never seems to get old. The girls love exploring the labyrinth of p-ways and scuttling up and down the ladders. Nauticus also included the Naval Museum, and Monkey in particular was fascinated by all the model ships on display. At Uncle K’s suggestion we followed up the museum explorations with a walk downtown to ride the new light rail system. Everybody loves trains! On Sunday, he was able to join us for church before heading home.

The basement has poles!
They must be climbed!

The next family visit involved us making the relatively short drive to visit Aunt S and Uncle J in their new home! The girls were big fans of the basement bonus room and quickly made themselves at home down there. On Saturday morning Daddy, Lion, and I took advantage of our proximity to the Mt. Vernon Trail to go for a 3-mile run together. (Since Monkey and Bug aren't runners, the three of us don't often get to go together!) That afternoon, we visited Mt. Vernon itself. It was miserably hot, but we got to see some really neat things! We toured the mansion itself, of course, poked our heads into the surrounding buildings (guest servants quarters, outhouse, kitchen, clerk's office, stables, storehouses, etc.), strolled through the garden, visited Washington's grave, and listened to a concert/lecture by a fife and drum re-enactor. Sunday was a lazy morning followed by a little antique shopping before we headed home. 

We were here! (with "big bucks" from the fifer)

learning how to hold a musket

holding hands with the Washingtons

Shortly after that trip we had a visit from Nana! It was a rather

Such silly girls!

short, last minute visit, so we kept it low key. Saturday was spent just hanging out, going to a couple of antique stores, and doing pizza and a movie that night (the girls asked to watch Zootopia as a matter of social survival: all their peers at church love the movie, and the girls want to take part in conversations). On Sunday Nana got to join us for a hymn sing at church and lunch out with friends afterwards. That evening she got the girls all to herself while Daddy and I got a date night!

They showed Nana some of their yoga poses.