Tons of Beach Photos

(Because I love them so.)

A typical walk on the beach with our girls generally involves . . .

races in the sand

digging holes(like father like daughter)This is about the biggest glimpse you’re going to get of Eleanor’s face while she’s on the beach. She’s constantly looking down at what she’s doing, and her hair is always in her face.

. . . Grant making drip castles. I love his vacation beard.

Phae burying her feet

Phaedra “helping” daddy. Before her help:and after her help:

checking out the tide pools. Waiting for a hermit crab to say hello.

our stragglers stopping all along the way back

Daddy taking far away pictures (maybe not a bad thing for me).

somebody crying

Am I heartless if those pictures make me laugh? She’s just so cute!

That was our morning walk on the beach. It was such a perfect day! No wind! We went back down later, but I didn’t take my camera because we were going to play in the waves. Phaedra is her mommy’s girl; she loves wading in the ocean. Eleanor might not have wanted to if she didn’t see her sister having so much fun, and she takes a bit to get adjusted to the cold. We all held hands and walked into the waves. Phaedra, being the shortest, got much wetter than the rest of us. This is what we looked like when we got back:

Like my wet splotch from carrying Phaedra?

That evening, Grant grilled dinner for us, complete with corn on the cob that the girls loved.

Beach Trip

Grant and I took the girls to the coast for a week for a family vacation. It was so nice to get away, to have plenty of time to enjoy the coast, and to have time together.

These pictures are from our second day.The very first day, Eleanor smacked her face on the cutting board that pulls out from the countertop in the kitchen. I had watched the girls run past it several times, thinking to myself that they would surely run smack into it, and I should do something about it. But each time one of them neared it, they quickly veered away and avoided the collision. Of course, once I had reassured myself that they were aware of its presence and used to avoiding cutting boards because of the way they are always left out at home (—cough— Grant), Eleanor ran smack into it. There was blood, so I was useless except to gasp and holler for Grant. We watched it and decided it wasn’t deep or gaping enough to warrant a hospital visit, but she got quite the shiner from it. Now, two weeks later, you can still see the bruise.

When Phaedra and I woke up that morning, we found that Grant and Eleanor had already headed down to the beach. We hurried to meet up with them and found them just as they were walking back up to the beach house. Phae and I took a little walk anyway while they made us breakfast. Not a bad deal at all!

Phae loves these boots, probably because she can put them on by herself. She constantly tries to put them on for outings, only to be told that we don’t want her to wear her boots to the store, church, etc. She loved being able to wear them as much as she wanted during our vacation.

She kept her boots on the whole time until I made a comment about how the sand felt on my feet. She had to check it out for herself. And she did some random walking on tip-toes . . .

I love beach pictures. More to come!

July 30th

It took us until this day to declare it warm enough that the girls could use a run through the sprinklers. Happy summer!It just wouldn’t be having fun without some singing

. . . and then they got cold (Eleanor much earlier than Phae, hence the many pictures of only Phae).

*(Yes, Grandpa Matthews, your theory is correct. Keep it up. Spread the word. Do what you have to do.)