The Beach, Part Three

I don't know why this picture is posting first. Bruce cut his foot on one of the mean grasses outside. Here he is in the only bandages we had, Princess Tiana:)

We ended our beach trip with a return trip to the Turtle Hospital. The line was so bad the day before, so we headed out early the next day to try to get ahead of the line. We still had to wait, but not too long.

They wouldn't let you take any pictures and I know why. It is basically a warehouse full of tanks. They introduce you to 6 turtles, but they keep it moving. There were 20 in all. Each has a story about being caught in a net or something equally tragic. Leni was a turtle that had been caught in a net and the fisherman beat him until he fell out. The poor thing was now blind and would never be able to be released. He was only 4 when caught and he could live until 90 years old!

It is free to go in, but they ask for donations. They also have a turtle store and the lucky girls had Gigi there! They each got this turtle with a sweatshirt and Bennett was brought a turtle with a little turtle baby on it's shell. It has a squeaker and he loves it. I did buy each a turtle shirt. Hey, it was for the turtles!

Carly with her turtle

Joiner with her turtle

Gigi

Running out to enjoy the last night on the beach

More sand play

Joiner had been trying to do a handstand and she nearly got it!

Carly's Baywatch moment

Carly's attempt at a handstand. She got up, but I just couldn't catch it.

Andy bought the girls a better kite and they actually got it in the air for a while.

Joiner giving it a try

Bennett and Gigi

Sweet boy

Now these pictures are so funny. There was a faucet on the landing of our deck to wash feet and beach things. Bennett discovered that he could stand with it on the last day and he was so excited. He was a mix of playing, drinking, and laughing. We literally had to drag him away.

We went out for ice cream the last night. Here is Carly riding the dolphin.

Here is Bennett trying some vanilla ice cream with Bruce. I don't know why I have no other pictures of the rest of us, but I don't. You can see my nose and Carly's head:)

It was a great trip! I already wish we were back:)

The Beach, Part Two

The next few days at the beach were more of the same bliss. We would head out early in the am to play.

Here are Daddy and B in their matching sun shirts. I have these for all of us now and they are so awesome. It keeps you active for hours without reapplying sunscreen all day! It is so much easier to just put it on arms and faces!

A note about Bennett's pink hat. It was obviously the girls' and it is the best hat ever. It sticks to his head. He never messes with it and it is SPF. I have looked for others, even on Ebay and they just don't sell these hats anymore. So, since he doesn't care, he is wearing it this year!

This day we were working on a sea turtle sand sculpture. Topsail is the Sea Turtle Sanctuary point for North Carolina so they are the mascot of the island.

Bennett loved to sit in the break and let the waves crash on him. He would just squeal!

Pretty much Carly and Ellison didn't have the desire to work on the turtle. Joiner stayed with Margaret the whole morning to get it just right. It was really beautiful. She put shells for nails and then drew this beautiful pattern on the shell. If you look at the bottom you will see she signed her masterpiece.

The Townsends left on Tuesday about lunchtime. Here is the rest of the gang enjoying a nice lunch on the upper deck.

The other boys!

Leah left their kite. Here are Andy and the girls trying to get it in the air.

Bruce brought his truck and our bikes. We had to drive a short way to get to the bike path with the girls. These beach roads are too narrow to try to ride on without the path.

Bruce carrying the bikes across the street to the path. Margaret taking the girls.

The sunset over the sound

Bennett enjoying his evening stroll with Margaret and I.

Carly cruising by.

Joiner was nervous at first, but here she is flying by with Bruce in the background.

I think this picture is so funny. I wasn't taking a picture of this runner, but when I looked back at them, here is this guy and it looks like we are all watching him. I think we were actually looking back at Andy or Bruce.

The next day digging in the sand

How sweet....all playing together in their pink hats!

Now a disclaimer on this picture. By Wednesday, the humidity was about as high as it can get without raining. I have curly hair and I have all these little "baby bangs" from having Bennett. The result of all these forces is some pretty fierce hair, I will admit. When Andy was looking through the pictures, he started cracking up. When I went to see why, I realized it was my hair. Well, I can't help it, so here it is!

With Joiner and B

Letting the water crash on us.

Mom and Dad came around 4 on Wednesday. Here is the new crew enjoying our dinner.

We went for a walk after dinner. B with Gigi. The wind was really rough as you can see by both their hair.

The walkers

Somehow Bennett was on the sand again!

This was a really cool "drip" sand castle. It was very elaborate.

Mommy, Carly, and Bennett walking

The next morning when I was running, the ocean was literally full of fishing boats. When I finished, I came back in to take a picture, but many had already moved inland.

Gigi, Joiner, and Bennett up with the sun.

You can see by this picture that the humidity has come out. I think this is Joiner and Gigi sitting in chairs right at the surf.

Bennett loved the low beach chairs. He would just climb in and then sit down and grin at you.

Carly

Running off to sit with Grumpa and Joiner

Gigi and Bennett

Bennett helping me sweep up all the sand in the kitchen

Coming to get me. If you follow the blog, you know this happens any time I try to get a picture of him.

As I mentioned earlier, Topsail is a turtle sanctuary. There is a turtle hospital on the South end of the island. We left Grumpa with Bennett napping on Thursday and headed over to check it out. Well, so did the rest of the island. The line was around the building. We decided to forgo that for this day and went shopping instead. The girls each had their money from allowance saved. They both got turtle rings and then Joiner also got a fishing net. She had wanted one since the beginning of the trip. We headed over the the tip of the sound to let he try it out. There were actually a lot of little fish in the water, but she didn't catch any. With Carly and Gigi "fishing"

Daddy giving it a try. It really did look so easy, yet so hard:)

More to come!

11 Months Old

I had to take a break in the beach posts to commemorate 11 months. Bennett will be 1 on Monday (don't get me started on that) but I still couldn't let this month go by! It has been such a busy month with Andy off and us all over the southeast. Bennett has travelled so well.

Looking out at Daddy grilling with his buddy, Belle.

Carly caught this cute one of him on the move.

These next pictures are so indicative of who Bennett is right now. He is so busy. He is so sweet. He is trying so hard to walk more than a few steps. And Bennett loves books!
Here is the sweet part (standing on his own)!

Reading his books. We have a book basket on the hearth and he will sit there for as long as you let him and take the books out and look at them one-by-one. It is so sweet. He loves to be read to as well and definitely has favorites. If I get Goodnight Gorilla out to read and try to read another book first, he will squirm around until he gets it to read.

"Hmm..,.Interesting"

Funny face and a good view of his little chubby neck!

More books

This has to be my favorite picture of the bunch. It is hard to see, but he is sitting on my tummy and just looking at me. I get a little teary (I know, big shock) but I want to keep this picture as a reminder of how he looks at me. He is such a Mommy's boy and I love it. The girls were always mommy's girls as well, but didn't encourage it as much with them. I have a great relationship with my mom as most girls do, and I hope to always with the girls, but I know soon Bennett will think that Andy is so much cooler. They will bond over all the boy things and that will be wonderful. And I will have pictures to remember that he thought I was pretty cool too:)

Walking

Bennett is into everything right now. He is a superfast crawler and will cruise all over. He is taking steps and can take about 10-15 at a time. He is fully committed to walking and will face-plant when he loses his balance. He can say Mama and Dada and some version of "hey" He is waving and dancing. He still likes all food, but lets you know more now when he is done. He loves bread, pizza, crackers and most carby things of course. He LOVES daddy's roast chicken; he can't seem to eat enough. He also loves all fruits and most veggies. He still has the sweetest disposition and personality. When we move his from an undesirable choice (all day long) he just moves on. No Drama! Boys are so much different!

We love you Bennett!

Beach Session Sneak Peak

We had our beach pictures done on Monday night of our trip. Julie just posted this little sneak peak of B on her website. I can't wait to see them all. Especially my sweet girls! Look how old he looks! Where is my baby?