sunscreen hair

My roomate

auntie Erica came all the way from England to spend some time with us as well. What a brave and gracious lady! unfortunately we didn't have enough rooms to give her one of her own so the poor lady had to room with me and my snoring..sorry Erica. She however is a very quiet and tidy roomate, I definitely got the better deal there. She got the men out playing tennis every morning and got my boys watching Wimbledumb (that's what they called it but they did get addicted and we will be playing in Three Hills.) I surprised Brad with my natural athletic ability L.O.L

My kids favourite expression that they learned from Erica is "Are you telling Porky Pies?"said with and english accent of course.

Dad and hes girls. I love seeing Dad with his family of origin and I think he loves having them around.



He's also the best grampa and is so patient. The kids all love him. Thanks for that Dad.

some times you just have to live in the moment and even if you don't have a suit the waves will call your name. This evening was so beautiful and we just couldn't resist

Portraits

Amy and Journey


Mae and Mary

Amanda Jon Brad and Ocean

Beautiful

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Girls of Summer

We were very lucky to have Mary and Mae with us for a few days. The last time I saw them was in England...way too long between visits...we are thrilled that the reason they left was to adopt a little baby boy..so happy for you guys.











Ice cream on the board walk. you don't do this every day of course or you need an extra seat on the way home. but its a great evening out.














Walking home in the fog. No matter the weather the beach is still the best place to be.

Fire works on the 4th

what a beautiful night to sit on the beach and watch the fireworks. From where we were we got a double show....first the Ocean City ones then we turned our chairs around and watched them down the beach in Atlantic City. A big thank you needs to go to Mark.. our personal Bank of America...and chauffer and tour guide and tennis pro and realtor and and and.

Life's a Beach

Brad's initial plan to stay out of the water..".there's stuff in there you know!" ended pretty quickly. Both he and Jon surpassed their mom in wave jumping but never quite caught her on a boogie board.
The best mom in the world. She even brought crafts for the kids and never complained about having to continually head to the house to give her kids food and naps.
Great idea....take the kids to the boardwalk first thing in the morning to let the adults sleep in.....Brad and I waited in line for an hour for these donuts but it was worth it!
Future life gaurds.. I don't think the boat works well this way. I will not be taking Ocean to the beach as a teen because she already notices the cute gaurds and they notice her!

Finally in Heaven on Earth

Here we are, finally! What an incredible home Mom and Uncle Mark found for us...I could move there permanently (I always feel that on holiday). There was plenty of room for all and On Demand TV so everyone was happy...most of the time. Any time you put 19 people together in one place stuff happens but I am thrilled to report that we all rose to the occasion and were kind and respectful to others. I love that about our family....I love to get together with them because of it.

Travelling

I know some of you will have seen this photo on mom's blog but it is such a classic. This is Chicago where we got stranded because of thunder and lightning and who knows what else. The kids were AMAZING and I didn't do too bad either I am happy to report. It is still better than 5 days in a car...did you know they set up a whole city of cots in one hallway because this happens so often. We didn't use them because they kept saying our plane would be in within an hour.....LIARS!

Friends

The first few days of our holiday were spent with the best hostess in the world, our high flying friend, Sue. The Lord has blessed her with a beautiful home and an even beautiful spirit. We felt so welcome and at home with her family and would go back in a heart beat. Thanks guys for letting us sleep in your beds, eat your food and read your books.

SUMMER!!

I really do love summers. Not the heat so much but the lack of cold for sure. The long evenings, colours of trees, flowers and the farmers fields.... but enough of my words, here come the pictures....