The first pic here is my dad and Ellen walking back to our stuff under the real bridge. The next three pictures are of Lucas out on the sand bar. It looks like he was miles away and the water looks deep, but he was in no danger and the water was pretty shallow.

Hunting for Shells

Lucas and Ellen LOVED looking for shells with my parents. I was surprised. The looked for about an hour. Lucas found some really pretty ones. His favs were the black one and the one that looked like Saturn.

Just hanging on the beach...

Jeff had to leave a couple of days before us, and my dad doesn't like the hot beach, so my mom and I took the kids for the day. It's about a 10 min walk from their house, but we usually drive since we have so much stuff.

Now for the lady...

The bird goes to the beach. Complete with the highest SPF sunscreen I could find : )

New Digs and Silly Faces

Thank you, Sasa, for the new bathing suit! It is perfect and so cute. Here is Lucas sporting it so I could take pictures to show you. Of course he had to throw in a few silly faces to try and make me laugh.

Indoor Pool and Evening Beach

Lucas took swim lessons in Feb and March, so he was showing off some of his new skills to Jeff here. In the 1st picture they are counting and in the 2nd picture going under to see how long they could hold their breath.

As usual, post-dinner beach visits are a must at my parent's house. The tide is out, the beach is empty and the weather is cool... awesome.

Yuck! Lucas was buried for the first time. He thought this was pretty cool : )

Grandpa's 60th Birthday Weekend

My parents aren't big on birthdays, so you can't really tell from these pictures, but my dad just celebrated a big birthday. We wanted to do something special, so we planned a week long trip down to their house in Florida. It was SO nice to enjoy the summer like weather, but with a nice breeze off of the ocean. And the kids got to take their first swim of the season. Here is the bird moving into the deep end by holding on to the wall. Then my dad is playing silly, pool-throwing games with Lucas. The last one is Ellen with Grandma : )

My dad, like just anyone that meets her, is in love with Ellen. He thought it was adorable how she made up this little routine today. She'd jump into the pool into his arms, "swim" to the ladder, climb out (with a lot of effort), strut over to our chair for a bite of her snack, and then strut back to repeat the routine : ) I love the 2nd picture where my dad is smiling at her.

This baby needs a doll house...

Lucas's Easter Egg Hunt

Lucas's teacher encouraged the parents to come to the class Easter egg hunt and to have the video cameras ready! About a month before the hunt she asked the parents to send in as many eggs as they wanted to. Each day when a child brought in their eggs they'd dump them into a big box. She said that the children were SO excited about the upcoming hunt and each day they got more excited : )

This first picture is Lucas's class sitting in their circle time like they do at the beginning of each day... or after their elective that day. They sing Zippity Doo Da, but instead of the usual 2nd verse they sing, "We're ready to learn and we're ready to play... zippity doo dah, zippity ay!" Then they say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Next they go to their seat for snack. The teacher, Ms. Mary Lynn, dismisses them by circle by the colors they are wearing. Then they eat and when they are done they clean up their place.

The last picture here is a chart showing who is the line leader and who is the caboose this week. Each child gets to wear an "I'm Special" sticker that day.

During snack the parents hid the eggs, took a class picture, and then cut them loose!