Contained

Beach Vacation

This past weekend, we took a three day trip to the beach. This was Todd and Ellen's first time to go to the beach. Ellen loved playing in the water, but didn't like all the sand getting in between her toes and on her hands. Todd liked playing in the water until the boogie board incident where he went under and took on some water. After that, he stuck to building sand castles and fighting the seagulls. While we were there, the powerboat races were going on. Todd was amazed by all the big boats. There were several helicopters that were videoing the races. Ellen would point to the helicopters and say "bir" (bird). I hope you enjoy the pictures of the kids at the beach. There's also a couple of pictures of Todd at the go cart track.

Little Princess

Growing up too fast

Balloon Glow & Fireworks

Family Visits

The past week has brought two sets of visitors to our house. Last Friday, my Mom, Dad and Alison came for a weekend visit. Todd and Ellen were very excited when they arrived. On Saturday, we ventured out in the August heat for a trip to the zoo. Todd had his map and zoo key in hand and was our little tour guide for the day.

Todd had such a good time with his Grandma, Papaw and Aunt Ali that he was convinced he was going home with them. He came to my room Sunday morning and said, "Mommy, I'm going to Grandma's house, but I have to put my clothes on first and then you can come get me in a little bit." I had to tell him he couldn't go to Grandma's house because his cousin Grace was coming for a visit in a few days. On Wednesday afternoon, James, Leslie, Grace and Molly arrived. The kids were so happy to see each other. Grace walked around repeating, "Hey Todd", "Hey Ellen." Thursday, we spent the day at the zoo. Our intentions were to get there early to beat the heat, but with four kids and a traffic jam, we got there later than we intended. The kids had a great time seeing all the animals. As for James, Leslie and myself, our favorite part was the air conditioned aquarium.

This morning we went to play at the spray park. If you're going to be out in the heat, you might as well be playing in the water. The kids ran and splashed and had a great time. They were all ready for a nap by the time we got home except for Molly who took a nap while we were there.

Thanks for coming to visit! We miss and love you all.

Watching out for his little sister.