We're Getting Closer to the Ocean

So far this summer we've gone to the beach on the James River in Williamsburg, on the lake at Deep Creek Lake, and this week we went to a beach on the Chesapeake Bay. Someday we'll make it to the real beach on the ocean. It's nice that the kids don't notice or care. At this point a beach is a beach no matter what body of water it's touching.

Yesterday we went to Sandy Point State Park. It's a park that runs along the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis. It is an absolutely beautiful beach facing the Bay Bridge. We went with Shauna, Ligia and Madeleine. It was the perfect little trip. I have never seen both my boys have so much fun around water. Tade is a little fish no matter where we are, but Seth is more apprehensive. At Sandy Point he didn't think twice about getting in the water. There were little waves that were the perfect size for the kids and the water was a decent temperature.

Look a that view. The ocean doesn't have a great bridge in the background.

Me and my boys!

Ligia and Madeleine came with us to discover this great spot.

It was a little windy. It took us quite a while to get the umbrella to stay in the ground and we had to use the camera case strap to keep the umbrella from turning inside out.

Tade was running around acting like a velociraptor. It's one of his favorite dinosaurs.

Seth loved watching the sand wash over his feet and hands as it made them disappear.

Seth was not in favor of getting a sibling picture. One of his phrases at the moment is, "go away."

This massive ship in the background went sailing by right before we left. It didn't look like it was going to clear the bridge, but as it got closer the ship all of a sudden looked a lot smaller and it fit under the bridge with plenty of room to spare.

Seth kept checking on Tade to see how he was standing so he could copy him. It is so cute how much he looks up to his older brother.

What a wonderful day at the beach. We are definitely going back to this new favorite spot.

A Real Man

Seth is a real man. A while ago at dinner Seth discovered A1 Sauce. Yum yum! Who needs the burger when you can just got straight to the bottle?


The taste.



The approval!



Tade is a pretty tough dude also. When he was an infant and we had to go in to get shots he wouldn't cry. I loved it because most babies cry when they get shots. That all changed when he was two or three. Now he freaks out big time. When I made his five year old kindergarten appointment he was in the room and heard me on the phone. He started freaking out the second I hung up. He didn't care if the appointment was a month away. He was just concerned with getting shots. So I started to prep him or I guess bribe him. I told him if he was good and didn't freak out he could get a prize. Sometimes bribing is just the way to go. In this case it totally worked. Tade is still talking about how brave he was. It helped that he only had to get one shot this time as opposed to four of them when he turned four.

Tade the Tough holding his bribe.

Deep Creek Lake Our Sixth and Final Day - Fishing, Sparklers, and more

Saturday was our last full day at Deep Creek. It was supposed to be sunny so we had planned on renting boats then kayaking and canoeing around the lake. When we woke up it was rainy and was supposed to be like that off and on all day. Needless to say we scrapped the boating. We hung out in the house for a while. Then we all went out for BBQ. At this point it was nap time. The house we were staying at had it's own dock. Jake had brought up fishing equipment. He and Tade try to go fishing on Saturdays back home. So while the little ones slept some of us headed down to the dock to attempt fishing. It was VERY windy and we didn't get any real worms.

Tade had fun anyway. His dad had bought him a new fishing pole. Actually it was a fishing shot gun. Seriously, have any of you seen the commercials for the fishing pole that shoots like a shot gun. Well we have one now and it is kind of funny. No one was having great luck casting in the wind with exception of Tade with his gun. He got it out there every time.

Tade had to sit down the whole time we were out there. It wind was making the water very choppy. We all had a hard time standing up. I'm surprised no one ended up in the water.

We had a little Lightening McQueen pole with us. It's not the best to fish with, but Matt and Ligia kept using it because their last name is McQueen. They got it out there a couple of times.

See I told you Jake was on vacation with us. He did make it into a couple pictures of go carting and fishing. He and Tade have matching fishing vests. A little dorky, but oh so cute at the same time. Tade just loves having matching stuff with his dad.

I had bought some sparklers earlier in the week when we were shopping. I guess they are legal in some counties in Maryland. They sure aren't available near us. I thought it would be fun to have them since we can't get them in Montgomery County. We finally go around to doing them Saturday evening before Tade and Seth's bedtime. Seth showed no fear with the sparklers. Tade on the other hand wouldn't touch them. When he was about one he grabbed a lit one and hasn't been to fond of them since.

We finally convinced Tade to hold some for pictures. I think he gave in when he noticed his LITTLE brother showing him up. I got about four pictures in before he decided he'd had enough. You can tell he's not so excited to be holding the sparkler.

We did get one smile right before he put it down.

You might think I'm crazy letting my two year old play with sparklers, but he knew they were hot and if he did grab them then there is a lesson learned. I'm a tough love sort of person at times.

Seth had the time of his life with these sparklers. Matt couldn't keep them coming fast enough.

"Look mom, do you think it will hurt if I lick it?"

Each night after the kids went to bed all the adults played games. It was great. We chose to give up sleep for fun, but it was well worth it. Some of the best nights were playing the Newlywed Game. Adam had printed out lots of questions before he came up. For two night we learned all sorts of things about each other. Some things shocked us, but most made us laugh. They say laughter is the best medicine. If that is true then we are all ton healthier after our week at deep creek. Here are a few final pictures of our wonderful week.

Tade takes pretty good pictures. Our first night of games playing Apples to Apples.

The never ending game of Settlers of Catan.

Foosball. Ligia and Sean were the foosball pros.

Seth hitting on the girls in bikinis. It's in guys blood from birth.

Madeleine has so many little boyfriends. She is the cutest little girl.

Playing on the bunk bed when we first got there.

Tade and Seth were occupied for hours climbing up and down on the bunk bed. Oh, just a followup from the Williamsburg trip a week earlier. We did buy this thing called a porta crib tent. It keeps kids in and lets parents sleep or play. Well worth the money and allowed more game playing time in the evening.

Our little munchkins at Deep Creek Lake. They did such a great job the whole week. They all got along really well.

Thank you McQueens for putting this together, Ellsworths for the after midnight laughs, Kings for the enthusiasm, Whalens for all the help, and to everyone for a memorable week. Outer Banks here we come!

Deep Creek Lake Day Five - Go Carts

I promise this is the last thing we did on day five. This was Tade's favorite part of the trip. He is still talking about it. The house we rented was near all sorts of activities. There was mini golf, laser tag, batting cages, bumper boats and go carts. From the time we drove in on the first day all Tade wanted to do was drive the go carts. I told him he had to wait until the end of the week when Jake was there. That was the sort of activity a dad has to do with is son. So Jake was finally feeling better by Friday night. Tade was so excited.

The first track we went on Tade was too small to drive the carts so he went along with Jake as a passenger.

There was another track that had smaller cars. Tade was allowed to drive by himself on this one. It was really fun because he was the only kid on the track. He just kept going around and around. At one point the guy running the thing jumped in a car and pretended to race Tade.

Tade ended up going back the next day to do the go carts again and again he was the only one on the track. This time we remembered to have a charged camera so we could get some video footage.

Deep Creek Lake Day Five - Sand Castles

We went back to the beach on day five after we realized the nice weather was going to stay around for the entire day. It was just Tade and I with the the rest of the crew on this trip. Jake was still at the house not feeling well and Seth was napping. So we ventured back to the beach on the lake. Tade really wanted to build a sand castle.

So I got one of his buckets and a shovel and helped him build a castle. He collected rocks from the lake to decorate it. Everyone in our group was loving our creation.

Then Adam and Harley came along and wanted in on the sand castle building. They turned it into a competition. I thought it was funny how they wanted to beat out a 5 year old.

Anyway, Sean saw them competing with Tade and decided our castle wasn't fortified enough. So he went to town reinforcing it.

This is what it ended up looking like.

The little kids kept trying to destroy the castles as they were being built. So we decided that in the end we would let them decide who's fortress was the best. When we were all done we let them have free reign. Funny thing though. When they weren't allowed to mess with the castles they kept trying to come over, but when we let them go to it they just stood there. So we helped them out a little with the destruction. In the end ours was the last standing, for a moment.

Deep Creek Lake Day Five - Mountain Coaster

On our fifth day in Deep Creek we were threatened by rain. Actually the whole week the weather was crazy. Sunny days turned into rainy days and rainy into sunny. Our fifth day was supposed to be rainy the whole day. So we got up and took our time. We were planning on going to a movie. Then we realized the weather was completely wrong. So we threw some plans together for our now sunny day and this is what we ended up doing. Jake was up there by this time, but unfortunately he ended up sick. So once again he's no where to be found in the pictures. Don't worry he recovers for day five.

I sent Shauna ahead of me with my camera so she could take pictures of us coming down. She also decided to take pictures on the way up. We rode on these little coaster things. There was an automated track that took us to the top of the mountain. Then we rode down at our own chosen speed. This picture shows some of the track we rode back down. That spiral looking thing sure got us flying.

You can see Tade and I coming down the track through the trees. I guess I should have given Shauna the other lens so she could have zoomed in better.

Slowing down for the end of the track.

Tade loves this sort of thing. The faster the better.

I think you're a little small to ride alone Tade.

The whole way down Tade kept saying, "faster, faster" and "Dad has got to come do this." He had so much fun.

Deep Creek Lake Day Four - Swallow Falls

Day four was spent on a family hike to Swallow Falls. There are two falls that come together. It sort of makes the shape of a Swallow tail. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. It had rained in the morning so everything was wet, but that's what made it so beautiful. The leaves looked so green while the trunks of the trees had that dark wet look. The sun was shining through just perfectly and the air had that crisp cool feel. It was perfect.

Our Deep Creek Group minus Wendy who was taking the picture and Jake. I promise I do have a husband, but he couldn't come up until the end of the week so he didn't make it into many pictures.

This hiking backpack was a godsend. We went for quite a while. Seth would have slowed things up big time if he had to walk or if I had to carry him. Thanks Mike and Libbey for passing the backpacks onto us.

Right behind us are the falls and a very long drop.

In the previous picture we were standing right at the top of these falls.

Tade had so much fun climbing on the rocks along the trail.

Climbing with Uncle Sean.

Sean can be careful with my boys when he chooses to which isn't very often. The concern comes out when he knows there is a possibility of real injury. Like climbing on rocks.

Posing in the cave.

As we were walking to the second set of falls there was a snake crossing the trail. Harley decided to pick it up. The kids loved it.

Our picnic at the top of the falls.

We kept Seth in the backpack during lunch. He is at that age where I don't trust him at all at the top of a waterfall.

Uncle Sean and Tade bonding at the tops of the falls with Harley and Anderson.

Our complete hiking group from left to right: Seth, Me, Desmond, Adam, Tade, Maricel, Shauna, Sean, Harley, Anderson, Wendy, Ligia, Madeleine, and Matt