Go Quakes

Just realized I forgot to post this picture from the beach...

it is one of my favs (and I'm sure Ma-mere and Pa-pere's too!)

WY at 10 months

Farewell Beach

As our trip to the beach comes to an end, here are three pictures from today. This afternoon, the ocean enabled us to swim past the breakers and ride the waves up and down...William showed he's fearless as he headed straight for the ocean after playing in the sand...and we had a special visit from The Hunters - Charles, Dawn, grace, Olivia and Reese - who live here in Hampstead. (Charles and Avery are first cousins as Charles's mother and Avery's father are siblings).

Beach Day Recap

My 5 am wake-up call was redeemed with another great day...but we sure do miss daddy!

Poor little guy had saturated his diaper and couldn't get back to sleep, so we headed out for an early morning stroll in an attempt to keep peace in the house prior to 7 am. This morning while William napped and Thompson and Andy went to the park, I escaped with the ladies for a rejuvenating massage. Delightful! Today's weather was perfect with sunny blue skies and an great ocean breeze so I let Thompson skip QT so we could hit the beach for some 1-on-1 time.

After snack-time, William joined us on the beach where he crawled in the surf and sand.

Interestingly, garbage day was today - the same day as back home. So upon waking up, Thompson's first question was "has the garbage truck come yet?" With his experience helping our garbage man, he made certain to remind everyone these garbage men don't know all he knows about dumping trash and operating a garbage truck. And the best news...we didn't miss the truck! It came by during lunch, so Thompson ran to the front balcony to wave to the men and got a horn-honking in return. As you can imagine, he returned to the kitchen beaming from ear to ear.

Oh, and as I'm blogging, I'm sitting on the perimeter watching the parents play "chubby bunny". Congrats to Doug who won with 11 marshmellows!

The Beach Boys

William, Thompson, David, Andy and Jackson...and I won't disclose how many pictures it took to get this one!

Beach Morning #2

We are in for a great week weather-wise. While William napped this morning, Thompson and I enjoyed playing outside. After nearly an hour of jumping the breakers and riding the waves, we hit the sand where we dug two diggers and constructed an elaborate speed bump system. And once William hit the beach, his facial expressions confirmed that he loves the water. (I'll hope to capture some good water pictures in the coming days.)

Thompson and William are two of five grandchildren here this week...all grandsons I might add. Thompson is the oldest, followed by Andy (3), Jackson (14 mos), William (10 mos) and David (6 mos). Stay tuned for a group photo. Anyways, Thompson has been excited to have Andy as a playmate and, as you can imagine, has been trying to convince Andy it is fun to play Star Wars. This morning while pretending to be Luke Skywalker, Thompson made his light-saber sound effects and then said to Andy, "I'm going to cut you" to which Andy replied "I'm not paper" and continued on his way. Too funny!

Beach Bums

The boys and I (Avery) made it safely to Topsail Beach, NC yesterday where we are spending the week with the Harrelson "Beach Buddies" crew. Thompson got a taste of the beach late yesterday afternoon and hit the sand running this morning. With his PFD on, he was ready for the waves and spent most of the morning riding in the waves. William enjoyed the sand and water as well after his morning nap.

Our Family

We moved Thompson's crayons to his room earlier this week and talked about how to properly use crayons...at his desk and on paper (you'll recall from a June 2009 post that quiet time+crayons=train track-covered carpet). What a delight for him to come out of his room one day after quiet time with these drawings of our family. Look closely and you'll notice correct eye color, including the whites of our eyes. We went downstairs where he used his "kid scissors" and cut-out each figure himself. From left to right you've got daddy, mommy and Thompson (after all, he is the BIG brother, right?). William and Dobson speak for themselves. One thing Thompson discovered from his project was that Dobson has 4 legs instead of 5 and that he forgot to include his tail.

Manhole

While out riding his bike this morning, Thompson passed a manhole and asked me if they were only for boys. Makes rational sense, don't you think?

Are you ready for some football?

With the college football season opening tonight, the boys are ever-ready to cheer on daddy's team. GO GAMECOCKS!

Slide-Scoop-Stuff..."Yes!"

William method of dining most entertaining. He's proficient at picking up bite-size pieces of food between his fingertips, but with smaller-sized foods, he opts for the "slide-scoop-stuff method". We think you'll get a pretty good laugh. And as an added bonus, he showed off how he can sign "yes".

Walking soon? You decide.