Back from the beach...

We returned yesterday from our annual trip to VA Beach. It was crazy and chaotic but we had great weather (it was actually on the cool side) and our hotel was nice (though even a two-room suite get a little crowded with all of us and our stuff).

Caleb, Price, and Brynn love the beach. LOVE IT. We did very little else on our beach trip except hang out at the beach. All three love being both in the water and digging in the sand out of the water.

Evan did not like the sand. He isn't fond of the ocean either. He begged to go to the pool though the water in the one pool was really cold and the indoor pool had so many chemicals in it that your eyes burned seconds after entering the room. Here is Evan writing his t-ball team's name in the sand. Evan is all sports, specifically sports involving a ball, all the time.

Nyah liked the beach but not the water so much. While she is pictured here with the broken shovel, believe it or not, Nyah-nator wasn't the one who broke it... this time.

She did have a few moments of braveness, but after being knocked off her feet once...

she preferred dry land.

She still wanted water in her bucket though so she would pester anyone around to go fill her bucket. At times, perhaps when her servants were not moving fast enough, she would lay her bucket down on its side at the edge of the beach, open side facing out, walk back to the "safe" sand, and wait for the waves of water to fill her bucket up for her. Of course the bucket filled up but then it emptied as soon as the water pulled back (though somehow her bucket never got swept away). With the wave gone, she would run for her bucket, sure it was full of water... only to get angry when it was empty. She tried this a few times. She was furious each time. We thought it was hysterical.

Overall, the kids kept very busy, even when the waves were just way too rough for 2 of the 4 days.

By dinner time each night we were all exhausted. Nyah actually fell asleep one night while shoving spaghetti noodles into her mouth. No pictures of that... I was too tired to get out the camera too worried about her safety. We did get to sleep in more than usual each morning since the kids were so worn out so that was nice.

Going to the beach with five children was pure madness but for a couple hours, while the rest were at the pool, Caleb and I were able to sneak off to the surfer area of the beach. There were not many successful surfers but it was a less crowded area with a view of the inlet. I also got a few pictures of our beach view from the hotel.

The moon over the water was beautiful. I'll have to read up on how to really photograph the moon...

but that moon was a great source of cheap entertainment one night. "Moon pictures" we called them... just set the shutter speed to a slow speed on the camera and move the camera around. The craziest one (bottom right) below was Evan's; one of kids did the other crazy one but I can't remember who did it.

Oh, look, I do have proof I was at the beach... I am in exactly ONE photo and here it is...

So now our "vacations" are over and there are four weeks left before school starts. Let the calm part of summer begin... yeah, right!