Rehoboth Beach

Our friends, the Thibaudeaus, spent a week at their neighbor's beach house in Rehoboth this summer, and they invited us to come down for a few days. I had wanted to get the boys to the beach, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. So we packed up our swimsuits and beach toys and headed to the beach! The first night we got there, we took the kids to ride go-carts. I had never been in a go-cart before- they're a lot of fun! Sean giggled the whole time. Rex was big enough that he could drive some of the smaller ones all by himself. It's a good thing the track wasn't crowded- he had to sit down so far to reach the pedals that he could barely see where he was going. He did great until it was time to stop. No one had thought to tell him where the brake was. The poor attendant was nearly run over as he tried to bring the cart back to the starting area. I made a mental note to make sure I show him the brake pedal in eleven years when he starts driving a real car.

The next day was cloudy and rainy in the morning, so instead of hitting the beach, we went miniature golfing. The kids had a lot of fun, even if they did cheat the whole way through.

Afterwards, we headed to Fun Land, which is a little amusement park on the Rehoboth Boardwalk. The Pirate Ship was a big hit. Sean broke out into tears every time we rode it...not because he was scared, but because he was mad when the ride was over and he had to get off! I learned that five times is my limit on the Pirate Ship before my lunch starts to reappear in my throat. I think Sean would still be riding it if we let him. Luckily, he also enjoyed "flying" the airplanes:

That night, we hit the outlets. No trip to Rehoboth is complete without tax-free outlet shopping. I'm a sucker for a bargain. I was excited to visit the new Kate Spade outlet. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say, I wasn't disappointed. The kids were easily entertained as they waited.

The next day, we finally made it to the beach. The boys had fun splashing in the waves a bit, but they spent most of their time playing in the sand.

Michael spent his time digging a huge hole for the kids to play in. Then he kept them busy by making them fill it back in again.

And don't worry, Michael was very careful to dig the hole in tiers so it wouldn't collapse on anyone. He is an engineer after all.

Jack's first trip to the beach was pretty uneventful. He slept most of the time, and when he was awake, he preferred people watching to playing in the waves. The water was a little too chilly for his liking, but he loved eating the sand!

We were having such a nice time, but alas, it was time to come back home. It was a nice little get-away, but I’m thinking a longer beach trip will be in our plans for next year! I should have all the sand cleaned out of my van by then.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Everyone knows how much Sean LOVES Thomas. So it wasn’t hard to figure out what to use as a theme for his birthday this year. We actually celebrated Sean’s birthday twice this year-once on Friday and then again on Saturday. I don’t think he minded too much. He actually walked around the house singing “Happy Birthday” to himself for almost an entire week. It was really sweet. On Friday, we did a lunch pizza party for Sean’s class at school. We decorated the tables with Thomas covers, used Thomas plates and napkins, and topped it all off with a Thomas cake and Thomas goody bags. It was three-year-old heaven. But before we could get started, we had a little bit of clean-up to do. You see, Sean loves to play in dirt. Sean also sweats a lot. So when Sean found a pile of dirt on the playground after he had been running around getting sweaty, this is what happened:

Kind of reminds me of a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins. I don’t know why we bothered to clean him off, he just ended up replacing the dirt with pizza sauce and cake frosting, but he had fun doing it. He was so excited to have everyone singing to him.

On Saturday, we celebrated by taking Sean for a special birthday dinner at Chevy’s (a Mexican restaurant). The Mays (our neighbors) came with us. Once the waiter found out it was Sean’s birthday, you can guess what happened next. The entire wait staff came out to clap and sing to Sean, and they gave him a sombrero to wear. He loved it!

Then we came back home for more cake and ice cream, and of course, presents!

When Sean isn’t playing with Thomas, he spends his time playing with the Geo Trax system that has taken over our basement. So in honor of his birthday, the Geo Trax family welcomed several new members. Sean had a smile from ear to ear all evening as he played with them. My goodness, how that smile warms your heart.

Sean has made a lot of progress over the past year. He went from hardly being able to tolerate solid foods to loving crunchy carrots and potato chips. He went from barely being able to communicate, to stringing together three and four-word sentences. His speech still has a long way to go, but where he was tip-toeing with baby steps, he is now jumping with leaps and bounds.

One of Sean’s favorite games to play with me is “Hang On.” Basically, Sean wraps his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist as I spin him around without holding on to him. (Thus the only way to avoid being flung up against a wall is to “hang on”. Not that I would actually let him fall, but you get the point). Every time he wraps me in one of those big bear hugs, I think to myself, someday, he won’t want to hug me anymore. He will be “too big” and it won’t be “cool”. So while I am so proud and pleased with the progress he has made, I’m not ready for him to grow up just yet. I’m hoping he’ll ‘hang on’ just a little longer. So Happy Birthday Sean-Sean. As your supply of energy is endless, so is my love for you. You are small, but mighty, tough, but oh so loving, and everyone who meets you wants to take you home for their own. But you are mine, and even when you don’t realize it, I’ll always be hanging on.

4th of July Parade

The "Windmill Hill Ladies Association" pulled it off again. For the third year in a row, we entered a magnificent float into the Annapolis Independence Day Parade.

It was hard work- we had to shove pomp (tissue paper) into chicken wire for almost an entire Thursday evening happy hour. (Maybe if we had put the beers down and used two hands, it would've gone faster.) But we got it done with time to spare. Luckily for us, one of our former neighbors lives in Murry Hill, which is where the line-up for the parade is. So on Saturday, we just towed the float over there and had a July 4th cookout at his house while we waited to put the float into place.

Here's Rex with his best bud- our neighbor Kelly:

And Sean with Michael in his festive hat:

At promptly six o'clock, we loaded up and headed for a ride.

It's always a little surreal seeing all of the people lined up to watch the parade- but it's also a lot of fun! Here is a view of the crowd gathered at City Dock:

Michael pushed Jack along in the jogging stroller as he handed out candy to the spectators. Unfortunately, Jack has no recollection of any of it:

It must have been contagious. Sean was out-cold before we hit Main Street.

I guess the excitement was just too much to handle! Plans for the 2010 float are already underway. All comments and/or suggestions are welcome!