Just what the doctor ordered...

I didn't know how much I needed this brief respite until now.  We made a lightening, less-than-24-hour beach trip on Monday/Tuesday.  My brother rented a place for the week so we crashed there.

It was a blast! Beach time, pool time, seafood and of course ICE CREAM!
While it would have been nice to stay longer, I'll take it :)

Chloe and my Dad enjoying the morning on the deck.

Family photo op!



Liam rocking the kick board...this is day 2.  He spent the first day rolling in the surf. 
Mike started singing "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak...it cracked us up!

I didn't get a great pic of Chloe but she LOVED the sand and water...
I think we only make beach babies :)

Cousins in the morning

Michael doing his "Bay Watch" run

Liam post-wipe out...he wiped his eyes and got right back to business

Michael post-wipe out.  He really got tossed around...in the surf, not even "in" the ocean.
The waves were BIG and very rough...I love the ocean but had a hard time getting past the breaking point of the waves.
They were powerful, both days.  Either I am getting old or the water really was abnormally rough.

 Now it's back to reality and a broken dryer with all this beach stuff to wash.  HOW did we make so much laundry in a mere 2 days?!

Singing in the Rain

Rained out from the pool?  Not a problem :)

(from July 20th)

Remembering the Beach

Since I can't take any current photos- due to the absence of a working camera- here are the few beach photos I managed to take BEFORE the camera went dead...and by dead, I mean, a grain of sand or salt somehow slipped in & now the lens no longer works properly. I'm no photography expert, but you kind of need the lens in order to take a decent picture. I went ahead and included some blurry shots so you can see where the problem began...

(photos not necessarily in order)

Regularly Scheduled Programming

Well, hello there! We are back from a lovely, extended vacation and while I am happy to be home, I am not happy to be back to our daily routine. It's a bit tedious after all of our fun in the sun last week. Add to that the fact that all 3 children are some degree of sick right now and you've got yourself a total buzz kill. So let's not talk about that right now, mmkay?

Last week was fantastic!! We went to Ocean City, Maryland for a week with my parents, my brother & his two youngest kids. We also made a stop at my bro-in-law's place in Delaware for a little shindig & more family time. Sadly, our camera pooped out a few days in so I resorted to buying 2 disposable cameras (wow, digital is SO much more forgiving of my photography skills). So I won't have much to post in the way of photos but let me see what I can do. We did get pics taken by these photographers that do photos on the beach and then you can purchase them in these little telescope-type key chain things. I'm not sure my description is a good one so in case you haven't heard of them, here's a link to their website. You can also buy regular photo sheets & I think I can scan a couple of those that we ended up buying. They were initially pricey but we got a decent deal ($4.99/sheet) and it was worth it given my camera situation.

Then it was on to Mike's brother's house for a party & more family fun. The kids did great and we had so much fun. The beach is certainly alot more work with kids but luckily all 3 of ours LOVE the beach so we just have to haul a metric ton of stuff & we are all set.

We had so much fun that everyone was pretty much exhausted by the end of it! I actually was not as tired as I thought I would be. I think being around everyone really energized me. I was super tired the morning after the party at Mike's brothers house. The kids went to bed early and without a fuss so Mike & I were actually able to hang out with adults, have some drinks, sing songs & laugh until about 2am.

Now for the sick updates: Liam started to seem under the weather last Thursday, had a fever on Saturday and now appears to have allergy-type symptoms only. Michael spiked a high fever late Tuesday night, slept the day away yesterday and is back to normal today. Chloe had a rough night last night, fever and fussy. I guess it is maybe some sort of summer virus? No rashes for any of them, no blisters in the mouth...I am just keeping an eye on everyone & hoping to be in the clear for a play date tomorrow. Yesterday was miserable because all 3 kids were tired and fussy. There just wasn't enough of mommy to go around!! I am hoping that we can return to healthy status ASAP.

Well, that does it for now...

Another First!

This weekend at a local, annual Strawberry Festival, Chloe had her first amusement park ride on a train. She was definitely interested although not overly enthusiastic (luckily, she didn't cry!). But it felt like it was 100 degrees so I'd say it was a success :)

The festival had a very cool offer through a local organization to fingerprint and video your child so that you would have information about them- God FORBID- anything ever happen to them. You keep all of the records, including the video disc. They also gave us bags to collect a hair sample, fingernail clipping and mouth swab.

I know, it sounds kind of CSI-like and morbid, right? But it was FREE and as much as we try to keep our kids safe, you just never know. Also, I post pics here and on FB all of the time--so am I really being as safe as I could? Anyway, I thought it was a great service to offer.

During the video, they ask some questions of the older kids & it was kind of cool to see how Michael and Liam handled themselves. Also, the building they used for this was AIR CONDITIONED so we didn't mind spending 45 minutes there to get all 3 kids fingerprinted and taped. We got to cool down and take care of bathroom breaks/diaper changes...much easier in real bathrooms!

Other than this brief down-time, we rode some rides, ate lunch & funnel cake, saw some familiar faces and just had a blast!!! I didn't take many pictures b/c we kind of had our hands full. But if you are an FB friend of mine, check out some more over there :)

Back from the Beach

We had a FABULOUS vacation at the beach. With any luck, I will be able to post photos again someday...sigh...

The boys LOVED the sand, the ocean and the pool. Mike & I truly savored our family time and tried to make the most of it while keeping things relaxed. I think we succeeded.

I am still playing catch-up to get back on track with laundry/household/routine. My brain is still at the beach. Also, Michael and Liam have both been a bit under the weather with Liam puking Saturday morning (while in his car seat on the ride home- so fun) and Monday morning (while standing in front of his car seat waiting to get buckled in to leave for school/work). On the plus side, because the boys rotate who sits in which car seat, Liam puked just once in each car seat so now both of them are squeaky clean. It would have irritated me to have to re-clean the one that I just got done cleaning. Both seats were overdue for a good washing anyway- I had no idea how much grossness was lurking.

At the end of the day today, both of their daycare teachers expressed concerns about their respective coughs so we are off to the doctors for 8:10am tomorrow morning.

It's been a rocky start to the week but last week was so wonderful, it has been okay. I am hopeful that nothing major is going on with the boys and thinking that things will fall into place as the week progresses. We already have fun weekend plans and I have two more weeks of my summer schedule with Fridays off. It is my plan to ENJOY it!

I will fill in more about vacation next time...just wanted to say hi since I am just now getting caught up on blogs :)

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow we will set out on our "road trip". First we head to Penn State so I can attend one day of a week-long Autism conference...then it's the BEACH BABY!

Soooooo excited!! My family has always gone to Ocean City, Maryland ever since I can remember. I love it there- so many awesome memories. The ocean is so healing in so many ways. I am excited to spend so much time with our family!!

Hope everyone has a good week...technology permitting, I can post some fun photos of our trip.