Our first afternoon at the shore

It was finally time for vacation and we were all ready. Got to the house and unpacked then supper and off to the beach. This is the best part of the whole trip. Seeing how the kids react to the sand and the water.

They were really having a good time splishing and splashing in the water.

My beach beauty.

I love these pictures and I have to give credit to BJ for thinking of it. Mom and I headed back to the house because we realized that we wouldn't be able to go on the boardwalk and meet up with some friends with the kids this wet and sandy.

Let's see how deep we can dig.

After we played on the beach for awhile we got changed and headed to the boardwalk with meet up with some friends. Here is Gracie, Luke, and Nicholas on the train.

Gracie, Luke, and myself waiting for this ride to go. We finally just got off.

Best Friends

We had a sleep over last night with our friends Giulia and Joey. Everyone was very well behaved.

Here are Gracie and Giulia.

And here are all the kids, Luke, Giulia, Gracie, and Joey outside playing.

The girls getting ready for vacation

Last year before heading to the beach we started a new tradition. Gracie, my Mom, and I all head to the spa to get pedicures. Something we look forward to weeks in advance.

Here is Gracie soaking her toes.

Grammy and Gracie soaking.

Gracie was also getting her haircut. She won't sit still for me so I figured I would let some one else deal with her.

Peeking around the corner trying not to let us see her new do.


And here is the new Gracie. Her hair looks so much better when it is shorter.

Happy 3rd Birthday Austin!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN

Here are all the kids at the construction party.

And we can't forget Parker.

Look at how cute his cake is.

Singing Happy Birthday!

HAPPY 5th Birthday Giulia

We had such a great time at Giulia's 5th birthday party. They did a carnival theme which included cotton candy, snow cones, hot dogs, this super big water slide, some carnival games, and even a clown.

Here is Luke after he came down on the slide. As afraid of the water as my kids are they were the first ones up the slide.

Love the way Gracie was going down. And from what I heard she spent the night at Giulia's house and the next day she was going down face first, water in the eyes and all.

The kids trying to climb up to the top.

Here is Tootsee the clown with all the kids(or most of them). They were doing a scavenger hunt with the adults. A really cute idea. She handed out prices and made sure all the kids got a price. She was just asking for the kids to run to the adults and find items, sunglasses, wallet, belt, etc. Gracie was fast enough to win on the keys or should I say I had a good throw to her!


Of course the rain didn't hold out for the whole party. We ended up doing the pinata inside. This was the most organized pinata I have ever seen, even with so many kids.

Luke trying to hit the pinata one handed.

After the pinata Tootsee did some face painting and some balloon animals. Here is Giulia, the birthday girl.




Luke and Gracie waited so patiently to get their faces done. Here is Luke with Nemo. And Tootsee made the cutest little Nemo fish out of a balloon to match.

And here is Princess Gracie.

And you can't forget the Princess Crown.

The cake was wonderful and so adorable. Sorry I only got an upside down picture. There is a clown, a Ferris wheel, and Tinkerbell.

Here is Giulia and Gracie as she is opening up our present. Before we left for the party Gracie and Luke both made pictures for Giulia and she loved them.

Gracie and Luke had a blast on the swing set. We stayed after most of the kids left and for quite some time Gracie was inside playing with Giulia and Luke just played on the swing set and a little Fisher Price house. It was too funny.

Here are the kids going down the slide again, after the party was over. We had to borrow swimsuits from Jaime so I didn't feel like making her go and get more for the kids and they were already wet from the rain so they just went for a swim in their clothes.

Another Baseball Game

We are having so much fun going to the games. And this time we actually tailgated before going into the ball park. Save us some money on food and the kids were loving it. We got front row seats thanks to a surprising offer from an old friend. We were right by first base. And the game is always more exciting when you win. It was truly a great game to watch.

Here is Gracie in her cowgirl hat.

Here is Ferrous. The kids were going crazy to be this close to him. One wonderful perk of being in the front row.

Gracie and Luke posing with Ferrous.

Daddy and Gracie and Luke. Notice Gracie's blue tongue, again. And they had a Dippin' Dots guy dressed up in costume and they were handing out tattoos, that is what is on her cheek.

Nothing better than Friday night fireworks.