Sandbridge, VA

Peyton and Liam spent a lot of time in holes filled with water

Practicing her swimming skills with the float boat

Liam would ask Nonna to build him a sandcastle and then he would smash it flat. He was laughing because she was yelling, NO!

Watching the rain fall and waiting for lightning

Sunrise on our last morning at the beach (everyone else was asleep!)

We just got back into town today after a whirlwind of a week. In the past week and a half, I've put over 11oo miles on my car! I dropped the kids in Richmond, drove back to the 'burg to pick up Mark, drove to PA for a wedding, then down the Eastern Shore to Virginia Beach for a week's vacation. We stayed in a fabulous house and enjoyed gorgeous weather. It did rain a bit, but not enough to spoil our fun. I was so proud of Peyton and her swimming skills this week. She was swimming underwater, practicing all of the things she learned in swimming lessons, and just becoming more and more brave in the water. Liam loved wearing waterwings and was not afraid of the pool at all. Both kids are still very cautious about the ocean, but they were very excited to go out into the waves with Mark and they would run down to wash their hands off and get their feet wet. Last year Liam screamed every time we tried to get him down to the edge of the water.

We went to the VA Aquarium again and the kids loved seeing all of the crabs, sea turtle, and other sea life. I enjoyed some of the cool birds they had in their aviary. As great as vacation is, it is always nice to come home. We unpacked today while the kids played and I feel settled back into my life again. I'm having oral surgery tomorrow morning and I am so grateful that Mark is going to be home tomorrow to let me rest a bit. But it's pretty much back to the routine for the next 2 weeks until school starts for Peyton.