Beach Recap & 4th of July

We had a lovely time on our vacation last week, despite it going by too fast!! We went out on the beach every morning except Thursday (because it was raining – the NERVE!). A couple of afternoons we went to the pool, but we always made time to go back out to the beach in the afternoon too. One day we waited to go back until after dinner and it was great! Most of the people had left so the beach was pretty empty. The sun was not nearly as hot as it had been (which also meant we didn’t need sunscreen – that had to be one of the worst parts of the whole trip…getting sunscreen on everyone before leaving the condo each time we’d go out). Zachary & Liam were pretty fearless in the water. I attribute this to their swimming lessons they’ve been doing since last August/September. Zachary loved crashing into the waves, he loved being buried in the sand, and he was a little fish in the pool. Liam didn’t mind the ocean for a bit, but then he was happy digging in the sand, or just going back & forth between the water & the sand.

Liam, Jacob, and Zachary on the beach the day we arrived

Zachary & Liam - watermelon on the back patio

Zachary & me on the back patio

Liam & me on the back patio

Liam, napping on the beach

Zachary, buried in the sand
















We got back on Saturday around 2:30 & as soon as we got all our stuff out of the car, we put bathing suits back on & went to the pool. Since we didn’t go to the pool on Friday at the beach, we promised Zachary we’d go on Saturday. Only, we got there, and the water was ice cold! The weather was nice – breezy & not too hot – which made it almost unbearable in the pool. We didn’t stay long, because it was just too cold.

On Sunday we went to church, and while Liam was napping, we finally let Zachary watch Star Wars (we started with episode IV). Josh had promised Zachary that when he turned 5 he could watch it, and we finally were able to record them off TV, and had the time to watch the whole thing. He LOVED it! He said it was the best movie ever. Then around 6:00 we headed out to Wills Park in Alpharetta for the fireworks. We were able to park in a grassy area, and set up some chairs & a blanket right behind the car. Lucky for us everyone was parking in single rows, which meant nobody was right behind us to block our view of the sky, and nobody was right in front of us blocking our way out when it was over. The boys did OK, but I think by 7:30-8:00 they were just running on steam. They were still going, don’t get me wrong, but after a week at the beach, a long drive home, a trip to the pool the day before…they were pooped, and for a while we weren’t sure we would make it long enough to see the fireworks. But we did, and here’s the conversation that took place between Josh & Liam once they started (keep in mind that the last time we saw fireworks, we were at Disney World):

Liam: Where’s the castle?
Josh: We don’t have a castle here.
Liam: Whyyyy? [his new favorite word]
Josh: Because we’re not at Disney World right now.
Liam: Ohhhhh…

Poor guy thought all fireworks go off on top of a castle. It was cute. It was nice having one more day off after all of this (both of our companies were closed yesterday in observance of July 4). My mom came over in the morning & we went back to the pool. It was cold again, but the weather was warmer, so it wasn’t as bad. I had to take my car up because the window got stuck rolled down. In the afternoon, we went to pick my car up, and Josh & Liam headed to Costco, while I took Zachary to a karate class. Only, we never made it to karate. Zachary fell asleep in the car, and when we got to the karate studio, I tried to wake him up, but he just grumbled that he wanted to go home. So we turned around & went back home. He laid on the couch for a while – I think the whole past week had finally caught up to him. He was still sleeping this morning when we went in his room, and he had a hard time waking up. Needless to say, this morning was not much fun for any of us. But, the good news is that we have a few days off here & there through the rest of the year to hold us over until Christmas vacation!

Zachary after church, wearing the hat he made in Sunday School.  It looks like he's holding an imaginary ice cream cone, but really, we were trying to get Liam in the picture too, so we suggested that he hold Liam's hand.  Obviously, we did not succeed...

Playing in the park before the fireworks.  This was like a massive game of peek-a-boo!