The Lazy Days Of Summer!

As most of you already know, a perfect day for me is spending it at the beach with my family and/or friends. Well today was no exception. I got up at 6:30 am to mop my floors and folded laundry to feel somewhat justified in taking off to the beach later. After the kids ate breakfast, did their school work, brush their teeth and washed their faces, it was time to start packing for the beach. As you will see from the pictures, nothing gets left behind including the snacks. this time around I made homemade hummus with pita chips, tuna sandwiches and homemade spice cookies with a huge jug of ice-cold water to take along. It was another beautiful day and the fog over the horizon managed to stay away whilst we were there. Today I was babysitting for a friend of ours and her daughter Akayjah was coming along for the ride. All in all there were 12 of us at the beach. Akayjah took to Angus like a "house on fire". All day you could hear her sweet little voice calling, Angus, Angus and he was equally sweet to her. Now why can't he be like that with his baby sister. Trust me when Raven is calling Angus, it's because he's annoying her and visa versa. Believe it or not, this color co-ordination was not planned. Everyone showed up in seperate vehicles so no one knew what the others were wearing. The girls all looked sweet playing together. I think that's what I love about the beach so much, there's room to feel relaxed and free.

For whatever reason, the boys just wanted to hangout and play games on the towel. I guess I must have missed it when they decided to go in the water. As you can see no color co-ordination for the boys. Girls must have a sixth sense about it all. With this many kids, it left us adults to do nothing but relax. You didn't have to tell us twice!

With the kids occupied I was able to wander on my own snapping pictures at the crew. That's the next best thing about the beach that I love, taking pictures. It saves me from being in front of the camera. It seems my whole family is photogenic but me. You can get a great picture at any snap with my husband and kids but me, I need 50 shots to get one. this one is my sister-in-law Denise who is as photogenic as her brother, Darren. Although I guess you couldn't really tell in this one. This is the one place where I feel I can actually take my eyes off my kids for more than a few seconds and still find them there when I turn around. Looking at Raven with the board, you would think she's done this before, but it's her first time. Nothing like having your cousin for support. I can't believe how well their bathing suits match. I know, I know, I already mentioned that. It's funny how when you're that young, you have very little fear. They certainly didn't seem to mind that the water was not "bathtub" warm. It takes me almost an hour just to get use to the water and they can just run right in. Most of the time, I only go in because I need to pee and it's not like a little old pool, then I use the bathroom. Here it's a great big ocean and no one will ever know.

I really love this picture of Raven. She was really excited about finding a live crab. Fortunately she didn't ask me if she could take it home. Everyone know's that the only animals allowed in our home is the human kind. Angus is so protective of Akayjah. It was so easy babysitting her because he played with her the whole morning before we went to the beach.

I also love this picture of Camden and Madlyn.