A Morning of Hands-On Fun

This morning we met some friends downtown at our local children's science center. Rachel came with her little girl, Laurel, and Sarah and Ryan joined us with their little boy, William, and their niece, Claire. The Science Center was four floors of pure hands-on fun for the kids. Right now, they are featuring a Mr. Potato Head exhibit. Claire enjoyed meeting the "real" Mr. Potato Head, as well as petting some sharks and stingrays in the water tanks. Emma loved petting a live bunny rabbit, and playing in the water and sand tables. I'm sure we'll be back!

Happy Birthday, Claire!!

Monkey Joe!!
At one point during the party, Emma got away from us. Of course, we went searching down low for her, but, thankfully were pointed in the upward direction by another parent at the party. It seems Emma managed her way up the back of one of the big slides, but wasn't so sure about coming back down. Pictured below, you see her as we found her - up high, sucking her thumb while twirling her pigtail, and waiting for rescue.

Wheee! Cousin Owen enjoyed riding the slide with Mommy. . .

Claire is officially 5 years old! Her special day began with early morning present opening in Alabama, and ended with a party at Monkey Joe's in Georgia. It was so heartwarming to watch Claire reunite with her friends. They had so much fun!! I believe that Claire's candle wish of "the best, happiest birthday ever" came true. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate - in body or spirit!

Beach Week 2010

Fun Times!

Emma observing her new ghost crab friend. . .
Happy 4th of July!
Everyone celebrates Independence Day with a pinata, right?
Aside from our pinata, there were lots of great firework shows up and down the beach at night to keep us entertained. In fact, we had a pretty good one of our own. Claire loved the fireworks. Emma was nervously unsure about them.
Uncle Brian "helping" Claire with the pinata. . .
Happy Birthday to NeNe!
The girls made an extra special cake. . .It tasted better than it looked.

And Then There Was Oil. . .
Unless you live in a cave, then you have heard about the BP oil spill out in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately for us, it has effected our beaches. The dark specks in the pictures below are the "tar balls" that have washed ashore. They seem harmless enough to look at, but get one stuck on your foot and you have a gooey mess. These tar balls were already on the beach when we arrived. While we were there, we would see some small, new ones wash in, but overall the water was clear.
The day before we left the beach, the clean-up crews moved in. Although it would have been nice to have clean beaches for our stay, I was glad that I did not have to watch them work all week. It was hardly relaxing to watch. Their process started slow with crews taking turns scooping tar balls into plastic bags, but by nightfall they had tractors combing the beaches and cleaning all pieces that were left behind. I must say, once they pulled it all together, the beach was looking quite clean.

Aside from the oil, we had a wonderful week at the beach. The weather was beautiful, the celebrations were plentiful, and we were surrounded by family and friends. Always a treat!