The Beach, 2012!

We like heading to VA Beach the first weekend in June.  It's a great way to kick off the summer because the locals aren't out of school yet and we practically have the beach to ourselves in the morning.  As the lifeguard told us, from July 4 through Labor Day, you can hardly see the beach for umbrellas and barely the water for the masses of people.  But not so this early. 

"Excited" does not even begin to explain Andrew's emotion about our quick trip.  He was already over the moon to be on the beach with his toes in the water, and then... the Blue Angels began practicing their show.  This weekend was the Patriotic Festival with hours of air show on Friday and Saturday. Lucky for us, they had to perfect it on Thursday!  Oh, to have captured the look on Andrew's face when they first started twirling above us would have been too much. 

The Blue Angels were something else, but Andrew was just as enamored with his "transforming bed" in the room:)  It's been a while since I've seen him so incredibly eager to hop into bed for naptime!  But provide him a sofa that "transforms" into a bed, and voila!  

The wagon is always Andrew's responsibility.

"Wait for me, guys!"

Here I come!

I will put on the hat myself, and then I will promptly take it off again myself.

Squinty "cheese"

Running on the beach in crocs is hard, but fun!

Wow - the ocean is pretty neat stuff.

Dancin' in the ocean!

"Daddy, I'm stuck!"

"Cheese", whether you ask for it or not.

Dipping toes in the water.

Playing football in my VT chair.

Daddy is fun to swim with in the ocean:)

Splashin' with Mommy

This grenade launcher is accurate up to 5 miles.  Unreal.

Lots of fun stuff on the Boardwalk during the Patriotic Festival.

The divers, reminding Andrew of Finding Nemo, were a big hit!

Movie star that was kindly posing for pics with folks was happy to hold Margaret. 

Margaret, on the other hand, was having no part of it.

"Uh, here ya go, Dad.  She's all yours!"

Still trying to cozy up to Miss Margaret.

Lunch on the deck.  Nice view.

Watching the Blue Angels show off.

Almost "toast"

They flew just over the hotels.

Can you tell that one is upside down???

They always had their landing gear down.

One up, one down.

Two up, two down!

Margaret during the real deal on Friday.  We got just as good of a show for Thursday's practice, but Friday was definitely louder as the jets performed at faster speeds.  Margaret (and even Andrew after a while) preferred to cozy up in our bed and watch TV.  Mom & Dad sat on the deck amazed at the jet's stunts.

Blue Angels right in front

Blue Angels Diving

Blue Angels Departing

Children's Choir and Birds

We cut our beach trip short so we could get back for Meadows Presbyterian's first Children's Choir performance. I figured since I've been barking to the powers that be about this for 2 years, we had better make it to the first (and hopefully not only!) attempt to get these kids singing before they get embarrassed or shy...while they still think it's "cool" to be upfront in church. 
I can't say that I would have chosen an African anthem designed to be a call & response with the Adult Choir as the easiest first shot for these kids (what?!?  how about "This Little Light of Mine" or "Jesus Loves Me" to set them up for success!), but they actually did pretty well.  Andrew was the youngest child that participated.  No one ever made it clear what the age range was designed to be, but no one kicked him out, so there he was.  He didn't pick up on the the foreign language  in their 3 short weeks of practice, but at least he stood still and did not disrupt...even if his hands were in his pants!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76QkJUlb3OI


When in the basement a few weeks ago working on an estimate for finishing it, something caught my eye out of the window.  Just off of the basement is our makeshift playground under the deck.  Last year, we had four active nests built under the deck.  It was fascinating to track the laying of eggs, and then watch the babies grow after they hatched.  It was a wonderful spring, until the baby bird debacle that just about did me in. (Short version: I climbed the ladder to check on the nest, Mom got ANGRY, made a dash at me, and babies starting falling from the nest. Daisy tried to nurture one, which didn't end up well for the babe.  The others hopped along through the yard, no doubt only minutes or hours from becoming dinner for something else in the neighborhood.  Mom tweeted around in a panic.  It was an awful scene). 

Needless to say, I had been steering clear this year, afraid of inadvertently killing anymore birds.  We'd seen a couple of broken shells on the ground throughout the spring, but today's sighting was unmistakable...a nest FULL of big babes!  Andrew and I looked briefly, but kept our space.  We got to see Mom feed them once, which was great fun.  And wouldn't you know, the very next day they were gone.  I would have LOVED to see them fly away, especially after last year's tragic incident, but at least I am comforted that they are out there somewhere. 

Our one-day birds

Helping me water the basil

She's actually pretty good. Maybe I should put some water in the can!