Therapy

Being at the beach does wonders for the soul. My kids are still smiling from Saturday's outing. I must say that being in the tops of the mountains is still medicine and magic for my spirit, but the beach is a soothing, fun place. I love the mountains and I love the ocean. I'm lucky to live in places where I can have both.

Jordan is a fish. He just saw the beach and started running...and he would keep running without a little instruction. He likes the waves so much..and the sand, and the seagulls, and the seaweed, and the salt, and the sun, and the snacks...and everything else about the day. Just before we left he spotted something in the ocean and ran back and dove in to see what it was. It was a $5 bill. He felt like the luckiest kid in the world! (Check out the guy behind Jordan getting pummeled by the wave. Jordan thought that was pretty cool when he saw the picture.)

The kids are crazy and they think this game is just grand--daddy saving them from crashing waves. They love to hold onto his arms while the waves whip them all around. Look at them laughing hysterically. We've been discussing how to teach our children to use caution at the same time they enjoy life to the fullest. The kids were so happy to play with Jason all day long!

Tyler is on the boogie board and loving every minute of being in the water. He's also got a talent for running on sand. Jason and Tyler raced across the sand and Tyler was a little speedster--I think it surprised Jason. The time is not far away that Tyler is going to beat the dad. Tyler liked jumping the waves and helping keep his brothers and Sarah safe.

Ahhh. Sarah loves her daddy. She's growing so fast and doing so many things he has a hard time keeping track of everything. She's got a tooth now and 3 more are on the way. She tries to crawl to objects we put in front of her. We give all the encouragement we can but she ends up just scooting backwards. She gets so frustrated that she just buries her head in her hands and cries. She turns her wrists and kicks and breathes so fast whenever she sees the mom and wants to be picked up. She can't be put to sleep when she's not really tired but you can wake her up any time and she will have a smile for you. She likes to be dressed and to get dressed. She loves her brothers and wants them around all the time. When I pick her up she immediately turns forward and looks for something to do. She grabs everything and she wants new things to do all the time. When she nurses to sleep her eyes roll in the back of her head about 5 times before she finally drops off to sleep. She still doesn't like any kind of real food. She just likes to nurse.

At least that's what we thought before we introduced her to sand.............

Fistful after fistful she was eating as fast as she could. When her fist wasn't fast enough she just buried her face in the sand and started eating. She cried when we took the sand away. Which baby food tastes most like sand? I'd definitely being willing to try whatever it is. (I changed her diaper after church today. Ewwww. Lots and lots of sand.)

This is my friend, Julianne, teaching me the finer points of the delicate art of boogie boarding. She's good. Really good. That's my Southern California friend who is in love with New Hampshire. There's not many of those, you know. She's good at lots of other things, too. Thanks for a great time!!! (All the time.) Oh yeah. And this is me the one and only time I caught a great wave. I'm looking forward to getting more practice.

This is an arranged marriage. Well, I haven't discussed this with the other party, but don't they look cute? Claire and Carter got really brave near the end of the day. They jumped waves over and over again. It was near impossible to get them out of the water.

"This is my favorite day, ever! Thanks for bringing us!" All three boys are still beaming. Tired, but beaming. We'll be going back again, soon!