Beach Day...

I can't believe we are several days into June and still had not been to the beach. This is a first for us because we had usually taken a few trips down in May. This year May was just not going to happen. And it almost felt like June wasn't going to happen when we had to cancel a Saturday beach trip. So, we did a first for us and I took the kids down by myself. We had a blast! I'm worse than the kids with excitement as I just can't wait to get my toes in the sand and spend a day at the beach...

Our kids are truly 'wave jumpers'. They would have spent the whole time jumping waves for sure. I must admit I missed Brian pulling the heavy cooler and I missed having him jump the waves with the kids. ( and I missed his company of course and him driving while I catch up on many magazines....etc. :) I usually manage to keep my head out of the water, but at one moment I thought Austin had gone out too far and was having problems (he wasn't). Well....I guess I now know that it is likely this Mom will die trying to get to her kids. A couple of waves took me and literally flipped my feet above my head and pulled me right under. Lindsey was just too excited over this saying: "Mom - you should have seen yourself!" That's ok....I can only imagine the spectacle I was out there...


There were a few moments in the day when I did call an "ocean break" and the kids still had a great time playing in the sand. This picture, below, is my ocean view during the "ocean - wave jumping breaks". The day was gorgeous!!

Love my GPS!! I know how to get to Wilmington, but I flunked Brian's quiz of how to get to a very specific spot (one with a shower and bathroom facilities). So he requested I take my trusted friend along with me. I snapped a picture of it as we were leaving the ocean as I loved seeing all the 'blue' on the GPS. Lindsey and Reece slept all the way home and -even though I'd never want to be a truck driver - I did enjoy a solitary 2 hours going home.

Our Three Little Jumping Beans....

Our plan, today, was to go to the beach with some friends. Unfortunately their daughter was sick and the weather showed some thunderstorms. So...instead of the beach we decided to stay home and jump around. Our kids love the beach and so I think I have a surprise for them come Monday, but they still seemed to have lots of fun today!

More summer fun..

Last week a local mall opened up a Lego Store and we decided to go to the Grand Opening. The kids, with their friends Austin and Ashlyn, got to help build an 8 ft. Yodi (I think that is what it is called....not too familiar with Star Wars names...)

Here is a smaller replica of the Yodi that they were building. Afterwards we hit the pool for the afternoon. If you came to our house you would see towels hanging everywhere. We've now been to our neighborhood pool morning, afternoon and even snuck in a late night swim last night. No time to even put away the towels lately.


The boys had fun 'attacking' each other by blowing water through the noodles and the girls were always willing to pose for a sweet picture.


These next two pictures were taken during a morning swim with our neighbors. We are blessed to have the best neighbors and these kids have spent hours outside every day this summer. Here I had asked the girls to smile for me and Reece can't resist posing himself.

Summer Fun......

I can't believe summer has just begun. It feels like we have packed an entire summer into just a week and a half.


Spending time with special friends would definitely be the highlight of this past week. Here are the kids during a fun-filled water balloon fight.
Doing bubbles the 'Martha Phillips way'. This was just too much fun!

This is how to play the piano.....

When you can't touch the pedals, ask little brother to crawl under and do it for you.

Backyard Visitors..

The whole month of May seems to be summed up with a deck project. Brian has spent almost every available moment replacing our deck steps while I've been staining the deck. After a full school year, it has been very nice to just paint outside and get lost in one's own thoughts. Very therapeutic. I'm so thankful the kids enjoy playing outside because that's where they've needed to be while we work. The other day we had a turtle and frog visit us while we were back there working. It is amazing how entertaining a slow turtle can be. It gave the kids a couple hours of entertainment for sure!

Now that school is winding down and the deck project is finished, this week has proved we have hit summer mode. Daily visits to the Y (don't know why I find sweating in a spinning or cardio muscle class fun -but it is) and I'm so thankful we've been able to have friends over to swim and even tomorrow spend the whole day with friends. Thanks to the kids for being patient during the month of May. Time for summer fun until the next project - the front steps, shutters, and door. UGH!

Baptism..

This month Austin and Lindsey shared their testimonies, before our church family, and were baptized. We're so proud of them for taking this step and especially sharing their testimony with so many. Austin shared how he had come to the conclusion to accept the Lord because he knew the alternative wasn't so good. He actually had a few laughs from the congregation sharing his thought processes on salvation. A co-worker of Brian's said she would have known - just from listening - that it was Brian's son. She said it sounded just like how Brian thinks. Lindsey shared how she went through the Salvation Flash Cards with her Daddy and accepted the Lord at the end of this study.
I'm positive that I was more nervous than they were. I do remember being so young, when I was baptized, that the Pastor had to lift me up for everyone to see me. Now I would find it SO hard to speak in front of a large group. Our church does a lake baptism and I know that would be my preference. When we went to the last lake baptism it was SO noisy with kids jumping in the water and frisbees being thrown and our family was sitting with another family and talking over a picnic lunch. I didn't even notice people being baptized until Brian pointed it out. Much less intimidating indeed as several pastors are baptizing several people at once.
Austin and Lindsey have grown so much and it is just a beautiful thing to see. Austin is still reading through the Bible and Lindsey is a prayer warrior and will tell you: "Of course it is sunny today. I asked God for a sunny day." We feel so blessed to have these precious kids. Still praying for Reece's little heart....So blessed with these 3 kids!

Neighborhood fun..

Sometimes you have to just listen to your kids when they beg to go on some nature exploration. This was just such a time and I dropped what I was doing to take the kids (and our neighbor friend) down the street to our neighborhood pond and walking trail. I am so thankful to have jumped at such a time, because we were truly blessed to see all these cute animal families. There was even a family of turtles.



There is a black-top trail, but we did explore off the beaten path just a little bit. It was so sweet to see our neighbor grab Reece's hand for security. Reece took it in stride. :)

At the end of our adventures, we looked longingly at the neighborhood pool. It was open, but it's sure been a cool spring here. Brian did, while I was away, take the kids swimming. We also had great fun enjoying the pool's sprinklers. I know we'll be spending lots of time here, but next time it will be straight into the water.