OBX Day 3

Even though everyone was up at a decent time, our morning was a bit slow as we batted around ideas and ate breakfast. The kids spent a lot of time putting together a talent show that they'll perform for us later. The boys were using the Internet to find magic tricks they could do and the girls were practicing songs that they plan to sing. Should be cute. Around 10:30, we gathered our gear and gooped up with sunscreen and walked over to the beach. It was a real hot day, but very pleasant on the beach with the breeze. Since Rho isn't here to do ocean play with the kids, I did the best I could. Corban and Cameron stuck together and went pretty far out. Since Eddie was out there, I felt ok about it. The girls needed more attention, of course, and fortunately, Eddie took Karis out to where she wanted to go.....further than I could make myself go. I went up to my waist, however, which is farther than I've ever been, so I'm getting braver! Karis is so brave and just loved being in the water. I was so proud of her and am happy that she isn't showing signs of having lots of fears like I did as a kid. Kaela enjoyed the water, moderately. I was trying to take her out further, but even though I was holding her, she repeatedly asked me to go back closer to the beach. The adults got a little more reading done (I have started Twilight, compliments of Shannon, and am really enjoying it) and soaked up the sun. We saw a group of dolphins go by at one point. That was exciting. I'm just glad I wasn't in the water then. I'm sure it would have scared me. We also saw an F18 or something like that fly over and do a little show off move. When we were all hungry, we packed up and came home for a late lunch. After lunch, Mom and I and all the kids went down to the house pool. I was able to convince Kaela to use only ONE floatation device for a little while. She wears a life vest AND wants an inner tube around her also! I don't have to worry about her drowning! When everyone had had their fill of the pool, we came in. The kids played around the house while Mom, Dad and I cooked dinner (bbq chicken on the grill, fried potatoes, stir fry green beans, squash/zucchini, and rolls....sorry Rho!) Eddie and Shannon did another Jeep ride to take her parents to view the wild horses. Mom and Dad and I stayed here with the kids. The kids messed around and then rode bikes and scooters out front. Corban and I played Jai Lai (sp?). When the Jeep riders returned home, we ate brownies that I had made earlier in the day along with homemade ice cream that Shannon made. So good! Sorry again Rho. :) Then, the whole gang walked down to the beach to do some "crabbing." Armed with shovels, buckets, and flashlights, the kids ran around chasing and catching crabs. It was really neat. Corban and Karis worked together and caught 7 or 8 crabs. Kaela was carrying her little bucket around, too scared to actually catch one, so Corban caught a couple for her. She was very content to carry them around and when she dropped the bucket and her crab friends escaped, she was very distraught. All together, I think the kids got close to 20 crabs and we had a mass release when we were done for the evening and bid our crab friends goodnight. Another fun day here!

Oh, the turtles. At some point today, I walked down to the neighborhood pond with Corban, Cameron, Karis and Kaela (Matthew was napping) to feed turtles. We had walked by the pond on Sunday, stopping to look at a couple of turtles that we spotted. The turtles spotted us too, and there were probably 100 turtles that came swimming over, waiting for us to feed them. We were ready today, with a few heels of bread and some Matzo crackers left over from communion. I just couldn't get over how many turtles were in this little pond! I tried counting, but they don't cooperate and just keep moving around.