Lazy Days of Summer

swimming, staring
snacking, enjoying
water-sipping, waiting
wishing, pretending
posing
helping, tickling,
sneaking, climbing
We love summer!

Sunday Best

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some snapshots of us in our coordinating pastel-colored eyelet church gear.  
Brooklyn's dress was my inspiration for the skirt.  I didn't realize when I was making it that my skirt would be SO FULL!  I felt a little bit like I belonged in a Laura Ingalls Wilder book or movie, but oh well!

Okay, so Ian's not in eyelet, but we let him pose with us anyway.

Finally, Friday at Carlsbad with DAD!

Looks like fun, huh?  Ian liked it and we couldn't help laughing at another one of Brooklyn's creative ideas.
Here's the yellow raft that Stephen went out on with some of my cousins.  Brooklyn's checking it for safety.
The camera case is Ian's favorite toy besides my keys.  We are happy to have discovered that the case is washable.
Our spot on the sand.  Our mighty fortress protecting us from any waves at high tide.
We heard no complaints when it was time to leave, Papa's wagon came to the rescue!  
Beach outings are so much easier with dad around!

Learning Time #7

So here are some things we found around the house that came in sevens.  Bath tub toys, of all things!  We never knew they could have so many uses!
Stairs...counting sets of 19 of them between two landings is something we did at the beach to avert a major tantrum due to over-tiredness and having to walk without being held after a long day outdoors.
The white cupboard doors/drawers on her play kitchen set outside also totaled seven.
I crayon-mosaic of the number 7 along with 7 counting sticks.  These "color sticks" are all part of Brooklyn's impressive collection of crayons that have been individually purposely broken and carefully unwrapped.  Even the fancy Crayola Twistables didn't last long with her.  I keep my own non-mutilated stash out of her reach.

Carlsbad Wednesday 7/22

I know, I know - don't I have ANYTHING else to blog about?  Well, yes, but I have to do this post and one final other about our day trips to Carlsbad a couple weeks ago.  Each visit was so different because we went with different people.  On this lucky day, my mom and my sister decided to brave the outing with 5-month-old Lilly, who is Brooklyn's only girl cousin on the McKendrick side.  The picture above is my favorite from the day.  It was taken after Grandma took Brookie for a walk to find shells.Most of these pix. need no explanation.
The sista's and our girls!  Pip, I know you're gonna love this one.  If you hate it that much, I can remove it... HA!
A 3-generation picture.  Mom's gotta find a signature red hat for only the most memorable outings, including Peru, 1999?
Me and my sister again, this time with her eyes looking normal.  I'm so mean!
The next 2 pictures show why the hallelujah chorus played through my mind for about an hour as I bounced around in some waves, by myself, and loved every minute of it! 

What can be more rewarding to a mom...

than her kids' overlapping nap times at the beach?

These two were a cute pair in their pink outfits.  It brings me back to the time when I shared memories like this at the beach with these same grandparents.  I think they look about the same as they did almost 30 years ago!  Mostly.

Carlsbad Monday 7/20

This is my cousin Broklyn (that's not a misspelling) saying hi to Ian.
Here's Grandpa John and Grandma Diane in their classic beach attire.
Caden, Brooklyn, and Caleb.  A.k.a. the three stooges.  We know she loves them because they make it into her every prayer.
Lovin' my not-so-little-anymore baby girl.
The proud mommas.
More of my cousins and their friends.  Uncle Kent and Aunt Lisa came to the beach this year along with grandma and grandpa.  They all live in St. George.  They came at just the right time.  It was two weeks ago when they were here and the temps. here and in St. George were record high.  
Pictured below are: a friend of Paige's, Paige (cousin, Uncle Terry's daughter), Duran (a twin of Harbor, on the far right), a friend or cousin of the twin's who's name I don't know, Ryker, and Harbor.  (Hopefully I didn't get the twin's names mixed up!)  Harbor, Ryker, and Duran are siblings and their older sister is Broklyn, who is pictured at the top of this post.
Now here are the little kids trying to do their own "jump" picture.  The pictures each show them jumping one at a time, even though they kept counting to three to try jumping in sync.
First Caden shows his skills 'this is how you do it'...
Now Caleb...
then Brooklyn.  She's got some catching up to do.  Her feet barely get off the ground.  Look at Caleb.  I think he's going, 'Is that all you got, girl?'
The pro., showing off.  Can you tell that the boys and their dad are into basketball?  Jumping is apparently something they have practiced a bit.
Grandma was nice to hold this little wiggle worm for a while.  She was pretty good at keeping those keys off the sand, thwarting Ian's attempts to play the "drop 'em and watch the adult retrieve them" game!
Grandpa was really into his book.  It was probably an old western.  I love how the outside of the pages on all his paperback western novels is yellow.
I love how my two kids have light blue eyes like Grandma Bickmore even though they are not biologically related.  Brooklyn even has curly hair like her too!  Next time I'll have to get a picture without grandma's glasses.

Carlsbad Again

My grandparents camped for a week at Carlsbad State Beach for the second time this summer.  This time we made it up there for dinner on a Sunday night and 3 day trips during the week.  Sunday night we met up my parents and my siblings and their kids. We ate yummy tacos, thanks to all the fixin's that my mom brought.  I made Texas sheet cake and brought some cheese.  We roasted marshmallows too.  Here is Grandpa John teaching kids about campfires.  Look how closely they're listening.  They don't listen to me like that! Auntie Carolita is in the background, admiring the kids.

Grandpa doin' his thang.  I think he collected wood from other campsites that people had left behind.
As always, the three musketeers just enjoyed each other's company.
These poses were totally candid.  I had to crack up when I saw the kids just naturally put their arms around each other.  It was too cute to not catch on camera! 
I like the smokey campfire effect goin' on in this picture.