Birthday at the beach

Part of the reason Bammy came down to visit was to celebrate her birthday with us.  So on her actual birthday last week, we thought we would spend a little bit of time digging our toes in the sand and splashing around in the ocean.   Some shells had just been washed upon the shore.  So the dumplings had a blast checking all of them out too.  Fortunately for us, the surf was also pretty calm that day.  So we all ventured into the water.  It was such a fun and relaxing afternoon.

 After the beach, we cleaned up and headed out to dinner. I snapped just a few photos of Bammy with her grandkids while waiting for our food to come out.  Madeline has been wiggling her very loose tooth a lot lately.

 Then I thought I would get a photo of Bammy with Patrick and the dumplings...except Havi seemed to miss the memo.

 As we were driving back home, I could tell the sunset would be pretty over the river.  So as soon as we crossed back over, we pulled off to the side to snap a few photos.  It was soft and pretty, just like the night before.  I wanted to capture at least one of my kids along with the sunset; Havi was the only one who took me up on the offer.  I guess she wanted to make up for her lack of participation in the previous photo. lol  Since the sky wasn't completely lit up like the amazing sunset from two summers ago, I tried to expose for the sky, mostly, but without underexposing Havi too much.

It was such a special day with Bammy.  We're so happy she chose to celebrate her birthday with us.  Today is her last day here.  And I know there are going to be lots of tears.  Havi is going to miss her "Nammy".  And I know Caleb and Madeline are going to miss her too.  We've enjoyed this time so much.  We will have to make sure we do it again before too much time slips away.  I do have a few more photos I want to share during her stay with us, but I will get those up in the next post.

A double celebration

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent the morning of my birthday on the water.  Just like we did two years ago, we rented a pontoon boat for half the day.  We cruised up and down a bit, looking at some nice homes on the water and then dropped anchor at one of the small islands that dot this part of the river.

Havi had actually been fighting a fever for the last two days, and we were unsure if we were even going to get out on the water.  Her fever finally broke, but she still wasn't quite herself.

Patrick set up one of the sun shades for us to relax under while the dumplings splashed in the water.

Although not the same islands as last time, we still managed to find two islands connected by a sandbar.  The dumplings had so much fun walking through the brush and exploring, in addition to splashing in the water.  (You can actually see our pontoon boat anchored near the sandbar, just above and to the right of Caleb's head in the shot below.)

After lunch, I snapped a few shots of Caleb and Madeline, and then we attempted a few photos of me with the dumplings.  And just so you know that I'm keeping it real, you can see all that extra sunscreen reapplied and totally NOT rubbed in.  Oh well.

Then it was off to explore the second island.  What Patrick didn't tell any of us was that he had actually spied this rope swing as we went by in the water, which was his reason for selecting this location to drop anchor.  Caleb and Madeline were initially unsure about it, but once they were on, we couldn't get them off!  Even Havi had a turn.

And yes, Caleb is giving his sister bunny ears in the shot above.  

And this is what three tired dumplings look like after four hours of boating.  

And that was pretty much the end of the birthday festivities that day.  Havi's fever came back, and we were unable to go out to dinner that night.  We were unsure if she and Patrick were even going to go with us to watch Caleb play tennis in my sister's neck of the woods.   Thankfully, though, her fever did finally break for good.  And on Saturday afternoon, we all headed out to watch Caleb play.  My sister came out with my niece Leah because my nephew Josh was home napping.  Caleb played up in the 12s division and took second place!  He came so close to forcing a tiebreaker against the boy he played against in the first place playoff.  It was such fun tennis to watch.  We are so proud of him.

Then it was time to head back to my sister's place and get ready for dinner.  We snapped a few photos in the front yard.  And for kicks we tried to replicate the cheerleading photo in the last post, but we were laughing too hard to make a good effort.  Yeah, dress and skinny jeans....probably not the best wardrobe choice for doing cheerleading stunts when you're well past your cheerleading prime. (By the way, I'm in the printed dress.)

After our shenanigans, we all hopped in the car and headed to dinner.  Andy's parents came with us as we were not only celebrating our birthdays but also Mother's Day.  We ate at a cozy little Italian spot.  The food was fantastic, and we all had a great time.

We gave my sister her very own ice cream maker.  So now all the special people in her neck of the woods can enjoy fresh, homemade ice cream without having to make the trek to my house.  To say they're excited would be an understatement.

To celebrate me, Deb and Andy gave me some good old fashioned 35mm film!  Yep, you read that right.  As if two cameras and a smart phone aren't enough, I have decided that I want to give shooting film a try.  And my sis and BIL graciously bought me my first rolls of professional film for my new-to-me 35mm film SLR, which should be on my doorstep some time today.  I'm so excited.  And not only did my amazing hubby treat me to a new film SLR for Mother's Day, but he also bought me a new 80-200mm f/2.8 lens.  After six serious years of shooting digital, I finally have a prime telephoto lens to go with the rest of my fixed prime lenses!  I can't wait to use this at Madeline's dance recital and Caleb's tennis matches (and portraits too!)  Oh, and I cannot forget to mention that my precious dumplings bought me my very own tennis racquet for my birthday!  Now I don't have to keep using Caleb's second racquet when he asks me to hit with him. lol

Anyway, it was quite the action packed weekend.  Lots of love being shared and good ole memory making at its best.  I am so blessed with a wonderful husband and dear children.  And I'm so thankful that my sister and I live within driving distance so we can still celebrate our birthday and Mother's Day together.  With our mother and gramma deceased, it means so much to celebrate these times together.  I love being a twin, and I love her like crazycakes.

Happy Birthday and Mother's Day, Deb.
And a belated Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there in the blogosphere!