Miss Sandbridge

Our "home away from home" for the week was Miss Sandbridge on the south end of Topsail. We were only about a half mile from the end of the island and it was so beautiful! We really liked the house and had a wonderful week. It was especially fun for me to be able to spend so much time with my beautiful niece Samara. (Ditto of course for the week in June with Katie!)

Uncle Andy and Aunt Tara brought a cool surprise for Claire - this turtle that makes stars on the ceiling when it's dark. Claire thought it was awesome (even before we realized it came with batteries and we could actually turn it ON! duh.)


Claire and Samara shared a room and they did really great together. We showed Claire how to be "sneaky" and go into the room after Samara had fallen asleep. She liked being sneaky so much that she snuck out several times to peek into the hallway. We let the girls stay up much later than normal, but they were just having too much fun to go to bed!


We spent a lot of time out on the deck having bubble parties, playing with toys, and eating meals at the picnic table.

On our last night Mimi and Papa took over babysitting duties so that we could go out for date nights! I'm sure the girls had fun :-)

Claire is crazy about her Papa. She had so much fun playing silly games like "get your goozle", catchin' a little news with him, and stealing sips of his "fresh tea!"

Thank you Mom and Dad for such a fun and relaxing week!

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair...

If you ask Claire what her favorite thing about the beach is, she'll give you a different answer every time! Here's some of her top favorite things:

• playing with "her friend Samara"



• jumping in the waves (especially when it's a really windy day and my delicate child didn't want sand blowing on her legs!)



• digging holes and pretending to be a baby mole



• the burrow! Andy made a cool "burrow" to play and hide in like Peter Rabbit



• snacks and popsicles on the beach



• flying the bug kite
  

(click on collages to see them larger)

The Boys and Their Toys

Lounging on the beach and reading a book is plenty of fun for me, but for the boys this year, they were quite excited to get out on the water! We had a windsurfer, Hobie Cat, and Clay brought up the jet ski from Wilmington. We would watch the Hobie Cat go back and forth and finally one day the Hulchers came and beached in front of our house. (We were about a half mile away from their house.)

The girls got on to pose for pictures and the boys couldn't wait to set sail.

Even Mom made it out for a couple rides!

Tara, the girls, and I waved goodbye from the beach....I made them promise to take me out next year! We had bigger waves that day and I was pretty sure it would not be doctor-approved for me to go out. And definitely not Mom-approved!

They had a blast!


Andy was the only one to venture out on the windsurfer. He's really good, but it's hard work to get that thing going especially in the waves. He suffered a few cuts and bruises, but I think it was worth it for him!

The funniest moment all week was one day when we were all hanging out on the beach and Andy spotted the Hobie Cat coming our way. He threw on his life jacket and swam out into the water. He waited there bobbing around and blowing his emergency whistle to get their attention. Finally they got closer and Clay spotted him at the last minute - Andy grabbed on and hoisted himself up onto the boat! After riding around for a while he jumped ship and swam back to the beach.

Peace, Love, and Sandy Feet

We have returned from our week in Topsail (yep TWO vacations this summer!!) and I have so many photos, I hardly know where to start. So I'm starting with my favorites!

Katie is 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday Katie!!!

Katie had her birthday party at the Children's Museum and it was so much fun!! They had food, cake of course, and they got to play with a parachute - Claire's favorite. They also had a craft activity but Claire was too obsessed with the little ducks that she could TAKE HOME....very exciting.



And the best part was that the kids could play in the museum as long as they wanted! It was also princess and super hero day there so it was pretty crowded. Claire's favorite was the farm area, but she also really loved the apple picking tree.

Visit with Ganny

Popa brought Ganny over to our house for a visit the other day. Claire loved her purse and cane! A penny fell out of the purse and Claire very quickly swiped it and ran upstairs to put it in her piggy bank. We had a nice chance to visit and for Ganny to watch her great-grandchild play and be silly. She put on several costumes, brought Ganny animals and dinosaurs, and told Ganny about her baby brother.

Camp & VBS

Claire has had a great time this summer with her 2 weeks of summer camp at preschool AND Vacation Bible School for another week! (Mommy has enjoyed some time alone in the mornings too!)
Her 2nd summer session week was about camping. They were all so cute on the last day coming out to carpool wearing bandanas and carrying their canteens.

(smores & campfire picture)


The following week was VBS. I had been warned that VBS was not exactly as organized as preschool......yikes it was totally crazy on the first day! They definitely had some problems at the beginning, but the rest of the week went great and Claire had a lot of fun. On Friday afternoon they had a picnic for all the kids and Rosie the clown was there.

Rosie made Claire a purple ladybug.