Our Pirate Adventure

This weekend we had some friends come into town and they wanted to do some fun stuff at the beach. We thought about a dolphin cruise, but with those being at night, and taking tired kids on one sounding horrible, I was so pumped to hear about a pirate cruise offered in the morning!  It was soooo much fun. Our girls got to get faces painted, hats, guns, and treasure.  They learned the difference between bow and stern, and port and starboard.  They attacked other boats with water balloons, and sent scallywag dads (including ours) to the dungeon.  

Here is Sophie driving the ship.  Everyone got a chance to go to the top of the boat, hang out with a peg leg captain, and feel the great breeze.   

They had games on the boat, like water balloon fights, limbo, and the freeze dance.  The adults had just as much fun with the water balloons as the kids.  Lee and a few other dads really liked the sling shots they had on the sides.

Harper really got in to using her water pistol to attack other boats.  Anytime they yelled PORT or STARBOARD she went running to that side to use her "shoot gun". 

Camille surprised us all and loved the trip.  At first she screamed because of sunscreen and that massive life jacket, but we finally chucked all of that and she had a great time.  I think feeling the cool breeze and getting to watch all the crazy kids was fun to her.

Midsummer

So, everyone is currently taking a nap.  Sophie had a busy playdate this morning, Harper got some time with me at Target, and Camille is always ready for a nap.  It's probably the first time in about two weeks everyone is actually stopped at the same time.  Don't worry, it will crank up soon with a sleepover of girl cousins in a few hours at our house.  So what a perfect time to dump some pictures from my phone on the blog!  It has been a busy few weeks, and we are now enjoying a month of doing whatever we want!

Two weeks ago, right after we got back from our yearly Blue Ridge trip (more about that later...) we were thrown into the busy world of VBS!  What a fun, exhausting, hot week full of kids!  Somehow I got put in co-charge this year of over 400 kids and 100 volunteers, as a learning process for next year when another girl and myself are in charge.... but it was such a blast.  Besides a few parents who got mad that they couldn't drop their kids off fast enough on the first morning of their free daycare...ahem... everything ran so smoothly, everyone stayed happy and hydrated, and both myself and the girls got closer to a lot of people at our church.  I must say the daily naps after getting home by all four of us were the BEST naps I have had since all night study sessions in college. 

 Here is a picture of our first morning at Sky....

 Harper is growning up SOOO fast.  This was her fist official year as a VBSer.  She loved every minute.



Last year as a very pregnant and then new mom, we didn't get to enjoy living near the water too much.  This year we are making up!  We have loved getting to kayak, swim, and being near the gulf is great.  A few nights ago we headed to a local pier around 8 pm to try to catch crabs.  We put out our baskets and hoped for the best.  After a few checks, Harper, Camille, and I called it quits and went home.  Lee and Sophie stayed late into the night, fishing and looking for crabs.  Although they only caught a baby crab, it was still a fun night for them.  Sophie did catch a croaker fish, and threw it right back when it starting "tooting" at her, as she described it. 



I also have a few shots of our annual Blue Ridge Trip.  We have gone for five years, and each year a new baby has come along.  This year baby Thad got his inaguaral trip under his belt!  These six kids (and their parents!) had a ball for a week in the mountains.  We fished, tubed, hiked, gem mined, played on the porch, grilled out, and as always, can't wait to go back!

On the way home from Blue Ridge we took a detour to Amicalola Falls, the largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River (no, I didn't know that... read it on a sign).  I do not recommend hiking with a baby in a Bjorn, but Camille loved seeing all the water.