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We Love The Ocean!

Alan on the beach playing, with Tom and Kaitlyn in the background contemplating the waves.

Pictures of our Room

Here's a few pictures of our room. It was called a condo, but it was very small for a condo. The front room was nice with a sleeper couch
(that we didn't use) and a view of the ocean. The kitchen was very small, but it was big enough for us to save money making our own meals in it. The bedroom had two queen beds, and a nice bathroom with a double vanity.

Playing in the waves

This is another picture you'll have to click on to get a better view. Alan is on the right running from the waves, and I'm holding Kaitlyn on the left just getting hit by one. Kaitlyn for the first 2 days of our trip called the waves "wales".

Tom holding William at the beach for the first time

Flying Kites on the Beach

Tom and Alan let nearly all of the 200ft string out when flying a kite on the beach. We actually had two of them, but the strings crossed, and one of them broke off and flew away. It was so windy that there was no way we could get it. That's ok, because we still had the one flying really high. The best place to fly a kite is definitely at the ocean!!

Here's another picture of Sarah in the Sand in front of our umbrella. I'm holding William safe in the shade. Like all the pictures on this blog, you can click on it and it will get bigger so you can see it more clearly.

Castles from the otherside

This picture gives you a better idea of how big Alan's castles were. If you click on this picture it will open up bigger and you can see our rainbow umbrella in the background with me holding William, and Kaitlyn beside us.

Castles and Canyons

Alan called this his "canyon". I guess he was thinking of the grand canyon when naming this. Sarah and Kaitlyn and I also helped, but eventually he took over construction of it, and stayed at it for an hour or more. Of course he'd get up from it occassionally to go play in the waves too.

Sarah in the Sand

This was a favorite activity of Alan and Sarah while we were on the beach. We'd dig a big hole and then they'd get in and cover them with sand. It was funny to watch people look twice when they walked by us on the beach and saw her little head sticking out of the sand.

Room with a View

We just spent our Spring Break in Daytona Beach Florida. We only live 6 hours away from there, and so we decided to go when the crowds were smaller. It was so much fun!! We left on Monday and stayed until Friday. Because it's not tourist season quite yet, we were able to get a really nice condo on the beach at the "Daytona Beach Resort" for a very reasonable price. I took this picture from the balcony in front of our room on Friday morning.

Kaitlyn's Creative Foot

Lately Kaitlyn has been drawing all the time. She always draws these cute little people with a circle body, and then cuts them out and tapes them on the walls. She gets very upset if I move the pictures she tapes on the walls. This time, she decided to forego the paper and use her foot as a drawing pad.

Daddy Daughter Date

Last night Tom took Sarah out on a Daddy daughter date. She didn't know they were going until after school when he told her. I was at a presidency meeting yesterday afternoon, and when I came home she was dancing all around the house with a huge smile on her face because she was "going to dinner with daddy!!" She was so happy she was floating. Tom had made dinner for the other kids while I was at the meeting, and they were just waiting for me to come back so that they could go out. After they went to dinner, he took her to Chuck E Cheeses-her favorite place-, and they played games together. She came home happier than I think I've ever seen her. Sarah is such a little grumpy girl so often, and that was so good for her.

Popcorn Trees!!

It's spring time and everything is blooming and and blossoming. We see

"popcorn trees" everywhere we look, so today Kaitlyn and the little girl I babysit made their own popcorn trees.

We got out the air popper, and made some plain popcorn. While it was popping, the top of the popper got bumped off, and the girls both screamed. I left it off because they were having so much fun watching it pop around the room.

Then we got out a tub of pink frosting, and I added some powdered sugar to make it thicker and more "glue-like". I got out my 11x17 paper and mounted it on some cardboard since the frosting glue was heavy. Then I drew a simpple tree, and let them cover it with frosting and popcorn!!

Singing to Baby

Sarah and Kaitlyn love to play with their baby brother. This morning they were singing "Where is thumbkin?" He was smiling and laughing as they did.