More Pool Pictures

I love taking pictures of the family flying through the air. I have about 100 or more pictures of us in the pool from our beach vacation. I will spare you and just post these!

The Pool is Awesome!

We swam in the pool every day we were at the beach. I really love taking pictures of the kids leaping into the pool. They were learning how to do cannonballs and can openers this year! Mark was happy to model how to do them!

More pictures to come.

We went to Sandbridge again this year for vacation. We were there while Hurricane Irene was brewing so we kept an eye on the weather channel. We were supposed to stay through Saturday, August 27th, but a mandatory evacuation was put into place for August 26th. We decided to leave late in the evening on August 25th to beat the traffic. We had no trouble getting home and made it late Thursday. The hurricane hit near us on Saturday and we ended up losing power from 12:30 Saturday through 2pm Tuesday! It was an adventure for sure.

We did most of our activities wearing headlamps. I told the kids it was like camping but without bugs! Some places in the metro area are still without power, but we are so grateful to have things back to normal. Here are some pictures of the kids on the beach. No fear of the waves at all this year. They loved being in the water.

Mark loves playing in the sand too!

Sandbridge, VA

Seeing the ocean for the first time this year

Peyton demonstrating the back stroke. She does much better on her back.

We went to Sandbridge last week and had a wonderful time at the beach. It was blazing hot each day and there were a few incredible storms, but for the most part, the weather was perfect for sitting on the beach and by the pool. Liam was swimming without floaties by the end of the week and was so proud! Peyton's swimming improved too. Spending several hours in the pool each day helped a lot. Peyton wasn't scared of the ocean and went out with Mark, but Liam stayed on the shore. He was content to stay out of the waves. It was so nice to be away from home, but great to be back. Only 4 weeks until school starts, yikes! I feel like the summer has gone way too fast.

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.