A trip to the beach

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the beach. We packed up all 6 kids, and ourselves, and went on vacation with my Mom and Dad. 

{Beach Baby}

I was honestly a little nervous about going on vacation (and the 8 hour one way road trip) with our new foster babies. I mean what person in their right mind takes 2 extra toddlers they barely know on vacation for a week? But we had already made plans, and we all agreed that we would just go and do our best to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

{napping in the van on the way to the beach}

I can honestly say in retrospect that we had a wonderful time! My worries were completely unfounded. Sure there was more "stuff" to take with us, and more food and water to carry down to the beach for snacks, but it really wasn't at all like I worried that it would be. There were no major melt-downs, no near death drowning  experiences, no major problems of any kind. I did actually get to sit and relax (at least a little bit!) I had a chance to get in the water and swim... Rodrigo and I got to take a few walks along the beach at night during the full moon. It was really nice! It helped a lot that we had the foresight to bring a beach shade tent and 2 portable cribs with us. We set up the tent every morning on the beach and put one of the cribs inside along with a quilt. Claire would nap on the quilt and the little boys, B and J, napped in the crib together every afternoon for at least 2 hours. My dad likes sitting on the beach watching the world go by, so he stayed with the babies and I got to swim and play with our big boys! Mom and I took very long walks down the beach looking for treasures, sometimes the boys tagged along and sometimes they just stayed and played in the water closer to Daddy and Grandpa. 

{Ethan hunting for crabs}

{Claire and B in the shallows}

{Matthew heading out to play on the boogie board, even I played on the boogie board a few days we were there... although there is no photographic evidence!} 

{The toddlers playing together}

{Me watching the little ones}

{Claire fell asleep on her Grandma after a full morning in the sun and waves!}

{Matthew and Claire}

{Logan comforting Claire after she decided to go all the way under!}

{In the condo, packing snacks and water to take with us down to the beach}

{Rodrigo took Ethan fishing}

{His first fish ever! He was so proud!}

{Daddy and Claire}

{I love this picture of the two of them!}

{Our fearless baby girl! He tried pulling B and J slowly around, and they really didn't like it thank you very much!}  

{Claire loved it!}

My dad invited Rodrigo and Logan to go deep sea fishing with him one early morning. They had an awesome time. Logan said he caught a ton of fish. He was especially impressed that his Daddy managed to catch a shark! As they were pulling it onto the boat out of the water the line snapped and it got away... oh well maybe next time! The bummer was they didn't get any pictures of the shark! 

{Logan with his Grandpa on the boat}

{Logan and his Daddy}

{He caught 2 fish at once on his pole!!}

 On our last evening there my parents met my uncle who lives nearby for dinner. Rodrigo and I decided to take the kids out to town and see what we could find to do. There is this fun place called "Broadway at the Beach" that was just the thing! Rodrigo spotted a museum featuring the work of Gunther von Hagens called Bodies Revealed. So he took the big boys there while I walked around the boardwalk with the little ones. The picture below is of the boys when they came out. Logan was calling me to find out where I was so they could come meet us and find a place to have dinner. Doesn't he look all grown up? It shocks me! 

{we found a loud happy place to have dinner, 6 children fit right in with all of their noises and mess! }

{The big boys were given balloon hats...}

{chaos ensued :-)}

{Happy, goofy boys!}