Kiawah 2012 (pt. 1)

We just got back from a WONDERFUL trip to the beach. Despite thunderstorms every night a some rainy afternoons, we were still able to get out to the beach and enjoy ourselves every day. The girls LOVED the beach and the ocean. We were even lucky enough to have some tide pools to play in as well. I have a gazillion pictures and am having a hard time narrowing them down, soooo, you will get a few posts from our beach trip...oh lucky you! ;)

Kendall sporting her super cool shades. She was HILARIOUS in these sun glasses! She wore them everywhere. This girl can definitely strut her stuff, and when she had these glasses on, there was a little more swing to her strut;) Here she is sunbathing/swimming in a tide pool

carrying buckets of water up to the hole they all dug 

down and back, down and back...they ran down and back from the water so much everyday that you'd think they would have been exhausted come bedtime...HA! Whoever said being out in the sun and playing in the water will make kids sleep well obviously never met my three kiddos! They struggled to go to sleep and then were up before 6am. I finally had to implement the "don't get out of bed until the clock reads 6:00am" rule...worked like a charm, but was still quite early!

MC playing in the sand and water...she loved racking her fingers through the wet wet sand. I guess it was something about it oozing through her fingers. All I know is she did it constantly!

very serious about this tide pool...maybe contemplating her next move?

 quality time relaxing with daddy...they were probably talking about their crazy, wild ideas;)

every time MC saw a bucket, this is what she'd do...and I mean every time! 

Alley showing off one of the starfish she caught. There must have been a starfish convention at Kiawah this year (or they are all coming for the PGA which starts next week!). I have never seen so many live starfish in my life. They were covering the beach. And they were alive! Alley started collecting them and trying to make sandcastles for them to stay in..but they kept escaping. At one point she came running up to me with a stack of at least 5 starfish in one hand and a conk shell (with a slug type thing in it)...all of them moving their tentacles and tickling her. She loved it. She was very disappointed when I wouldn't let her keep one...she had a very convincing argument though...

sweet MC

Alley running...I think that is the only speed she has...reminds me of a certain someone whom she looks exactly alike...

playing "whorsey" in the sand...

digging a hole to who knows where...

running, running, running...yes, please, find a way to wear yourself out!

stealing daddy's hat and yelling, "wook at meeee"

 playing tag...can you tell we are trying our hardest to wear the girls out?!

resting...or not...

 so, I told them it was time to go and that they needed to wash their feet off and get their flipflops...this is what they did...apparently washing our feet and shoes is hard business, so we need our chairs to help...

yeeeeeah, I don't think this is what I told them to do...

but, they were cute...now, get up and listen to mommy;)

little miss getting her share of the ocean...she loved it! She kept wanting to go out farther and by herself...yes, she is just like the other two. "Go further daddy, further!"

 here she is in action with her wet sand obsession

and let it drip down the arms...off to find another spot...

Long overdue

Whew, I think I can begin to breathe again! The past 3 weeks have been CRAZY! I have been meaning to post these pictures for quite some time now, but as you can see, I am only just getting to it! The past 3 weeks we have been dealing with Andy swamped at work with summer camps (sniff-sniff, we sure missed him!), a bout with pneumonia (Kendall's 2nd), and 3 double ear infections back-toback and fevers for 3 weeks straight for little Miss MC :(  (Sigh)...I need a vacation...

Alright, enough of that...Here are some pictures from our time at Mimi and Papa's celebrating Uncle John's birthday! The girls had a blast:)

We forgot to do "sprinklers" on the 4th of July (maybe that was because they were in bed way before it got dark...I know, my poor children)...so we decided to do them for Uncle John's birthday:)

Alley was a little timid and wanted someone holding the sparkler with her...

Kendall, on the other hand, would have NOTHING to do with those "sprinklers"

Maybe if I close my eyes they wont be there or be able to see me...

On second thought, maybe I'll just turn around and not look...

Even better, I'll go inside where it can't get me...;)

                                      Alley got brave                      Kendall "bravely" kept the fort down inside;)

Uncle John having some fun too

Ready to blow out the candles with Uncle John

Singing (or staring at the cake)

Blowing out the candles (with a little help for the McPherson girls)

Kendall immediately started crying and we couldn't figure out why. Finally I was able to get it out of her...she wanted everyone to sing to her and SHE wanted to blow out the candles...HAHAHA

cheering up

I made Alley a new shirt for Preschool this year (same as last year, just bigger and better!)

she CAN.NOT.WAIT for preschool...I think my dreams of homeschooling might be slipping away;(

BEAUTIFUL Alley

goodness, I will try better next time at staying a little more up to date with my pictures!

4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July this year! My parents had a little gathering out at their log cabin to celebrate America's birthday:) The girls absolutely LOVE spending time at the cabin. There are sooooo many different things they get to do when spending time "in the deep dark woods" (as Alley calls it!). Some fun activities include: swinging in the hammock, "fishing" in the creek with the statue of a boy fishing, finding all sorts of insects, birds and animals (a turtle being one of their favorites), watering (drowning) mimi and papas plants, helping plant (digging up what papa and mimi just planted), playing musical instruments on the porch (leading the band around the house...and don't you dare think you can get out of playing an instrument and marching..."uh...nope"!), playing with the doll house and all the furniture upstairs, and the list goes on! Anyway, the girls were thrilled to hear they were getting to spend the evening out at the cabin. And let me tell you, they were not disappointed. They had loads of fun with all the people who were there (I mean come-on, they had a lot more people to boss around and to add to their marching band!).

Here are some pictures from the evening. I am so bummed that most of them did not turn out because I had the camera on the wrong setting...ugh! 

The girls all ready for the par-tay:)

MC equally excited

Smiley-Cate acting true to her nickname

"my mimi" and her Virginia granddaughters

family pic...can't believe we are actually looking in the direction of the camera;)!

little blue-eyes...so far we have a child with each eye color...guess we are done having kids, we've used up all the eye colors out there;)

playing an assortment of games all at once with daddy

This is what MC did all evening (when she wasn't chasing balls around)

"what's this?"

"can I eat it?"

"Oh heck, who cares what you say mom, I'm eating it!"