At the Beach

This past week we took our annual trip to the beach on Topsail Island.

Finley was surrounded by grandparents from both sides, a great grandma, and an Aunt who all waited on him hand in foot. He just ate up all the attention.

It was nice to have so much help with Finley and be able to enjoy some alone time too.

 Finley really enjoyed the beach this summer.

As most boys do, Finley loved digging in the sand and throwing it.

The first day there we built a huge sand castle complete with a moat.

 Then we got some water from the ocean and made dribble castles.

 For those who don't know what dribble castles are, you just get really wet sand and let it dribble off your fingers and onto the tops of your towers. It makes them look pretty cool and Gothic. Our Nani taught us how to do it when we were little.

 Finley and Auntie Michelle had a ball playing together. They 'stomped', drummed, and danced their hearts out. And according to pop pop, Finley might be a potential drummer.

 Nani and Finley spent some time together working on 'school'. This kid loves to learn and practice what he knows. I am always amazed by how long he can focus his attention.

 Our beach house this year had access to a community pool.

This turned out to be perfect, because in the afternoon the wind and waves would get really rough - great for boogie boarding, but not for jumping the waves with Finley. Luckily we had a nice place to go to stay cool and safe.

 Mimi invested in some fishing nets for us.

It turned out to be really hard to catch a fish. We only caught one little tiny fish by luck.

He was stuck in a tidal pool so we pounced on him.

 Then Michelle made us feel really bad about keeping him in our pail, so we let him go.

 We also enjoyed some strolls on the beach as a family.

 Finley all decked out in his gear.

It took some convincing to get him to wear his hat and his life jacket.

 He is the little man with Grammie and Abuelo.

He lovingly calls them Geebo for short. Kind of like Brangelina.

 We got Finley his own little chair for the beach this summer.

And this is the only time he actually sat in it. To pose for a picture.

 For David's birthday this year we got him a new bocce set. Finley really enjoyed picking up and throwing the balls around even though they weighed a ton. He even tried to throw them at people and kept cracking up! That sneaky boy. Unfortunately David and I finished last in the bocce tournament. I guess we should practice and train before next summer.

 The bathing beauties.

 My mom went to the store and bought a packet of pre picked seashells. You know the nice ones that you would never find on the beach. Then she thought it would be fun to 'hide' them and let Finley discover them on his own.

 It was very fun to watch him pick up a nice shell, and then a crappy one, and then a nice one, and not really differentiate between the two. He did take to the starfish though.

 Pop Pop and Finley on the beach - one of the few days we got my dad to take his shoes off on the beach. It is always so funny to me to see him fully dressed in socks and tennis shoes standing in the sand. I guess the same could be said for Finley. He always wanted his flip flops on.

 The golfers!

My dad and I had our annual golf date at the beach. It was sad not to have Uncle Donovan there to join us (he was doing summer school and had to miss the beach week). It was so fun to play and get out there again! If only I hadn't completely embarrassed myself by hitting a ball into a yard marker a few feet in front of me and then having it fly back and hit me. I have one nice big bruise on my arm from that now!

 Grammie took this photo of David and Finley.

It just cracks me up. They look so ticked off.

Not another picture! Ha ha ha.

 While I was out golfing the Harris' went into town to grab some homemade fudge. I am not a big fudge eater, but the peanut butter fudge was delicious! Or Eelicious as Finley would say.

We sure had a great time with family and were so sad to see Geebo head back to India this past week :(. Thank goodness for skype!

I can't believe the summer is hear and our vacation has come and gone already.

Back to the grind! Time to gear up for soccer camps.

Maybe there is room for one more trip to the beach at the end of the summer?

Clippy Would Be Mad!

We have our annual beach trip coming up in exactly one week, and so Natalie is starting to stress out about getting ready. And who could blame her with all that has to get packed up with a little one in tow. As most of you know, Natalie is very organized. Anyway, while we were having breakfast, Natalie started making a list to get organized. When I read #4 on the list, I just started cracking up. Needless to say, Natalie was not amused. I was just afraid that she would get trapped in one of those dreaded circular reference loops in Excel . . . help! I had to covertly take a couple pictures of the list and upload to our blog because this is just priceless, vintage Natalie!

If I go missing . . . you will know what happened . . .

School's Out for Summer!

This past week Finley wrapped up his last week of preschool for the school year. On Monday his school had a 'program' and picnic on the lawn for the families to enjoy.

The presentation was really just the older kids singing a bunch of songs.

Finley is in the youngest class, so they just sat there and looked cute.

I was afraid that when Finley spotted us in the crowd he would get upset and run to us, but he stayed in his seat. Eventually he got more comfortable being 'on stage' and bopped his head to the music. It was so cute. (He is sitting beside one of his little girlfriends Sydney).

Then we enjoyed having a picnic lunch on the lawn.

Here is Finley's teacher from this past year Ms. Austin.

We are going to miss her next year! She was so great!

After the picnic Finley enjoyed running his dad ragged on the front lawn of the school. He has really come a long way since we first started school back in January. He really enjoys being at school with his friends. He will miss them this summer!

Here is their class photo.

This totally cracks me up.

Not one kid is smiling.

And here is his first school picture.

I thought it turned out pretty darn cute!

What a little man!

This is a picture from his first week of school back in January and was on the bulletin board in his classroom. Finley has grown up so much in the past few months. He is talking in sentences now, expressing his thoughts and feelings, and he always wants to show you things. He is a very happy boy and gets so excited to spend time with his friends and family. He is a sweet boy and I love him to pieces!

Now we get to enjoy the rest of our summer together, carefree, and hanging out by the pool, right? Well...kind of. One week till the beach! Yeah!