The Beach!

This past Thursday, our family headed about 3.5 hours east to Ocean City, MD to hang out at the beach.  We left on Thursday morning and returned home late Friday evening.  It was a quick trip, but we all had a really fun time!

Jon and I went to Virginia Beach last summer for a wedding, but before that, we had not been to a beach since our honeymoon. (Aruba, almost 9 years ago.)  Jon lived in California for about 10 years before we were married and said he went to the beach almost every day to surf.  Needless to say, he missed the beach and everything about it and was extremely excited to go back! 

This was the munchkins' very first time to see and experience the ocean and they loved it!  They had a healthy fear of the water and loved playing in the sand!

This is where we found Buddy pretty much the whole time we were at the beach, digging in sand!  He was entertained for a very...

long...

time!

A few black and white pictures...  

 Here's the view from our hotel room.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and had a great experience there.

  Here are the munchkins with their dad on the boardwalk.  We walked along the boardwalk on Friday afternoon before heading back home.

 A kind, random stranger came along and took our family's picture.  He said he knows what it's like to go on vacation and not have a single picture of your entire family.  It was so nice of him to take this for us!

 The Bay Bridge... on our way home, we crossed it at just the right time to see the sun set.  It was so beautiful!

We had such a great time at Ocean City, I think we'll make it an annual summer trip.  The weather was just right... clear skies and temps in the high 70's to low 80's.  We made some sweet memories as a family and look forward to visiting the beach again! 

July 4th

This year on July 4th, our family headed down to Annandale, VA to visit our friends, the Buttemeres.  This is where Ruth's parents live.  Ruth and Clay are living (and have been missionaries) in Macedonia for three years now.  They are visiting friends and family here in the states over the summer.  We thought it was a special treat to hang out with them on July 4th. 

Clay and Ruth have four kids, Caroline, Peter, Daniel, and Ellie Kate.  (Peter is Sissy's age, 6 weeks younger, and Daniel is Buddy's age, 2 months younger.)

 We all had a fun time together.  Clay grilled steak, chicken, and brats for lunch.  It was all fantastic!  Then, he and Jon took all the kids down to the creek, which is just beyond their backyard, to have some more fun.  Ruth and I stayed behind to clean up, make some chocolate chip cookies, and just catch up.  It was wonderful to have some one on one time to talk with Ruth.  

The guys and the kids must of had a great time down at the creek because they didn't come back for about 2 hours.  When they arrived back home, we all enjoyed some of Ruth's freshly baked cookies and the rice krispie treats we brought.  Our munchkins and Ruth and Clay's kids had a great time playing with each other.  

They played in their pool,

on the porch swing, 

 and with a hoola hoop.

 We all tried to hoola hoop, but only Clay was lucky enough to get his turn captured in a picture!

Here's our family with Ruth and Caroline

 Buddy and Daniel

 Sissy and Caroline
(While we were there, Caroline braided my hair and then put it up in a bun.  She was so proud of her handiwork and I was thankful for it.  The bun was much cooler than my original ponytail.)

 Clay and Jon

Ruth and myself

What a great time we had with the Buttemeres!  We are thankful for their friendship and enjoyed spending the day with them.  

Jimmie Cone

Something we like to do as a family during the summer months is go to Jimmie Cone!  It's an ice cream shoppe in Damascus that's only open from late March through October.  This is their 50th year of serving ice cream.
We love to drive out to Jimmie Cone and enjoy their super creamy, and not to mention delicious, soft serve ice cream.  Yesterday, we enjoyed the flavor of the day, black raspberry, twisted with vanilla!  The munchkins also like rainbow sprinkles, aka 'jimmies,' on their cones.  

The ice cream was so good!

It was a hot day yesterday and Jimmie Cone seemed like the best place for our family to cool down.

Splash Park!

Yesterday we headed to the splash park.  This is one of the munchkins' favorite places to go in the summer time.   Ever since it started getting a little bit warmer, like in March, they have been asking to go to the splash park.  (The splash park is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.)  We finally made it for the first time this summer and they had such a blast!

Whenever we go, I make sure to bring lots of drinking water, sunscreen, and snacks. Here they are taking a break from the fun, eating some popcorn and grapes.  

We stayed for 3 hours and had a great time.  It was the perfect day for the splash park, sunny (hardly a cloud in the sky) and warm (temps in the upper 80's!) I'm sure this will be the first of many visits to the splash park this summer