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.

The beach at sunset

The other night we decided to hit the beach for some photos of Bammy with her grandkids.  It has been so long since we've gone to the beach at sunset to snap a few photos.  I think it was probably the first year Caleb was home, and he's been home 6.5 years now.  Patrick and I made a mental note that coming to the beach at this time of day is something we need to do more often.  Although we live on the east coast of Florida and consequently don't have amazing sunsets over the ocean, what we do get at sunset is still a soft, pastel wide open sky coupled with muted water and sand.  A dreamy combination indeed!  And now, I just might have to actually plan a shoot with the dumplings in the future.

Spring Break camping: Part 2

Day 3 started off with a little rainbow loom bracelet making for Madeline and Maggie.  Maggie had actually spent the night with us in our travel trailer.  The girls like to do this at least one night.  It's a pretty convenient way to have an overnight.

We quickly ate breakfast and headed out to the beach.  Maggie and most of her family had to head to a birthday party, but we hit the beach with Bryan and Emily and their kids before the storm rolled in.

And boy did it.  We actually had tornado warnings and decided it would be best to head to the local mall and wait until the majority of the storm passed.  Patrick got in a quick shave, and Madeline had to join him.  

A tornado did touch down not too far from where we were.  So we were glad we chose to leave for a few hours.  When we came back, we all had dinner together.  The girls stayed inside and watched a movie while the boys went outside to play.

Our last morning was Sunday.  Bryan is one of the pastors at his church.  So he headed out.  But Patrick decided to do a little bible study with the kids.  We sang along to songs on our iPads and iPhones.

Then Stephen performed some magic tricks. I love how he has incorporated the illusions into bible lessons.  It was pretty neat.

Then the kids played some more.

All that play and lunch tuckered Havi out.  She slept while Caleb and Madeline continued to play, and Patrick and I packed up.

We had such a great time camping with our friends.  We joked that we're so glad we can all camp together because that's about the only time we can manage to all get together.  Still, we're going to try getting together without the camping part.

These are the times, though, we truly cherish as a family.  We love being together and relaxing, talking about things that matter in this great big world and watching our kids frolic under the sun...or the clouds.