Boys At The Beach

I think I will have to frame this....

Updated My Shell Box

I have a shell box by the fire place full of shells from various beaches. These are the shells that i write on. Just a few words from that day to remind me of the memory of the beach day. I got a BIG shell even though i probably could have just written Adolpho 2014on a little shell and remembered it, but in case i am not around someday i figured all the information would jolt the kids memories to match the shell to my scrap books, photo books, blogger books, Facebook books......i'm starting to think i might have too many photo books of our family adventures!!!  

Beach Day With Oki Peeps!

You know how there are some people that you just mesh with...you meet and everyone just gets along and it is just fun and no trying to impress or anything. Just being yourself and having a good time? That was the Adolpho's who lived across from us when we lived on the island of Okinawa. They are in most of our pictures and almost all of our memories. My kids grew up with Adolpho kids for 5 years. They saw them daily except for when one of us were off the island, and somehow we even managed to run into each other when we were off the island and have spend time together on two other islands while hopping back to our home island of Okinawa! we were on Hawaii and Guam together and the kids have flown in a C-5 together! How many neighborhood kids have those kind of memories together?!!!  It was literally like we had never been apart!

Abby their deaf dog learned how to swim today....it was so cute to watch her as she figured out what to do! In the end she figured it out and i think she even liked it! Not enough to go charging into the ocean but enough that i think she thought it was a fun thing to check off her on her dogie bucket list!

Vicki thought she was just going to sit and get some sun....nope, Ajaye picked her up and threw her in the water! No special treatment for being a girl, she has always been like a sister/cousin to him so it was full fledged pick up and throw in! Later he threw plenty of wet sand on her. Definitely just like old times!

Yep, these kids haven't missed a beat! They had a blast playing in the waves, burying Byron in the sand, throwing each other in the water.....it was like they had been playing with each other on the beaches their whole lives and hadn't taken a 6 year hiatus due to the military sending their Dads to different duty stations!

Happy Beach Day

It was a beautiful day at the beach and a perfect way to kick off Spring Break 2014!

My toes were VERY happy to be in the sand!

Happy Toes

Yes, my toes are VERY happy!!!!

Spring Break Begins, Monday

Spring Break has begun!!! It is Monday! Day one at the beach!!!

My December Sandman

Can't build a snowman in the 70's but we can sure build a SANDMAN!!! I have been building one every year for a long time with all our warm beach locations!!!

Football On The Beach!

Life is good.....Ed and the kids had fun playing football on the beach today. I had fun taking pictures of them!!!

Ty Catching Footballs in the Air

Ed taught Ty first how to run the stairs, jump the wall, and catch the football in mid air.....i had fun taking the pictures....some of the failed attempts were painful to capture....the life of being a MOM!!!

Finally catching the football!!!!

Ryan Makes The Catch!

Ed was teaching the boys how to run down the stairs, jump the wall and catch a football in mid air!!! It took some practice, but they each were finally able to make a catch after a LOT of misses and sand eating!!! 

My Perfect Day

This picture says it all!

True that!

No School Today

I didn't have to work today so Vicki and i spent a nice chunk of the day at New River Marina. It was gorgeous out! We stopped at Sonic and got our favorite drinks and than just sat in the sun listening to the waves lap up on the shore while enjoying the warmth of the sun on us. It was a perfect day to not have to be sitting in a classroom!

Fins Popping Up Everywhere!

This was the summer of fins breaking the surface!!!  Every time we went to the beach we saw at least one fin pop up to the surface of the ocean!  Most of the time we are pretty sure they were friendly fins, but there were a few times it was too far out to tell.  When we saw the single fin we were a little nervous until it got a closer to shore or I got my super zoom lens out on my camera to take a quick peek at what shape the fin was, but most of the time, these fins were in groups of 3’s and 5’s and very obviously dolphins!!!  It was sooo fun to watch them this summer!

Hitting Up The Pier

We love to head out to the Pier on Emerald Isle, Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier. It’s a great beach with parking almost to the sand, showers to wash off all that sand before you get back into your car, and a great pier to walk to see what everyone is catching!  We have seen some really fun stuff over the years!  I probably haven’t blogged this Pier…..i usually don’t take my camera because the kids don’t like me making them look like tourists in our back yard!  But, I got some pretty good pictures with my phone this time and later when we were on the beach I actually took a few pictures of us at the beach and the boys in the water before I dove in!  It was fun watching these guys bring  in a Sting Ray, although, the Sting Ray didn’t look too happy, in fact he looked really pouty laying there on the pier while the guys were deciding what to do with him.  Bet he was glad when the decision was made to toss him back into his home!  He flew over and did a perfect belly flop below!  We saw all kinds of other fish as well as a small pod of dolphins swimming along the shoreline.  It was nice seeing those friendly fins because one of the fishermen pulled up a baby back tip shark!  Not sure where Mama was, but we had fun diving in the waves later with the dolphins swimming back and forth along our coastline!

Cold Water Leverage

Ryan had been teasing Ty non stop.  He knew he had no worries as his big brother had chosen to NOT wear his swim suit and was in his shoes.  Ryan on the other hand was bare foot and in his swim trunks.  The water was his safety net everytime he went a bit too far and Ty started to chase him.....i think this story tells best in photos with caption bubbles....





It all started because Ryan was building a giant fortress and Ty kicked some of it over, apparently on accident....but Ryan did not seem to think it was on accident.......words were exchanged....Ty thought he should kill Ryan, Ryan ran to the safety of the water since he had no shoes on and his brother did....Ryan proceeded to verbally torment his big brother from the safety of the water.....and the following pictures kinda tell the rest of the story!



Ty got tired of watching Ryan parade back and forth and walked back to shore.....

 

Ryan now wondering how long he must stay out in the cold April Atlantic waters!



It didn't end well....Ty ran and caught Ryan and threw him face first into the ocean.  It wasn't pretty, but sometimes they need to end their own stories.....or battles i should say.....




When i confronted Ty on pushing his little brother into the water on his face he just quietly put his finger under his nose.....this lets me know that he is NOT Ty, just a random stranger who looks like Ty with a mustache.....





Someday their battles might not end blood free......





But, till than.....we have survived another outing with the boys!



December Beach Days

We left for Southern California the day after Christmas and had a blast enjoying the sun, sand, and the ocean with our California family and friends. I finally felt like i was at home again. Cold weather clothing is just NOT my thing and Boogie Boarding in December is NORMAL!!!! Here are a few pictures of the fun we had....









The first thing Vicki and Julianna wanted to do was jog the beach....and they did



Ed and Ty started off by playing tag, Ed won...

I just love walking along the water

Ryan was busy building sand castle forts

And boogie boarding

John catching a wave while Dallin got sucked into the wave

Carissa running along the beach

Loving all the negative ions!

My favorite photographer!

Ryan heading back in again

Ed, Jake, and Justin coming back from the tide pools with creatures

Jake, Ty, and Ed playing football

Football on the beach is a must!

On a walk with Ed.....telling him i was Queen of the Rock! 

Every beach always gets tagged with my art work!