Life's a BEACH

Its official. The Sanders Family, with our newest addition, has now had our

FIRST FAMILY VACATION.

We headed to Virginia Beach over the weekend.

The trip has potential to take as few as 3 hrs, but with traffic, well, can take as long as 6!!

The kids and I kept busy with Library books, Lucky Charms

and animal flash cards on the way down. They did stupendous, and we were thrilled when

it took just over 3 hours.

We couldn't help but make the most of the lounge chairs provided!

We stayed in a FABULOUS beach front hotel.

Greeting the morning sun, although at this point was well beyond morning.

This is the site I came to find after my glorious sunrise run on the beach.

Thanks to the thick shades you can pull over the windows the kids slept till nearly 8 every day.

I was nervous about sleeping all of us in one room

(Luce in her own bed and the boys both in pack n'plays)

but everyone did superb! They all sleep through the night anyway, so it was just a matter of us all sleeping in the same room.

Anxious to hit the waves.

Neither Luce or Chars took to the sand as I had hoped.

They naturally are not messy kids, (don't like to be dirty. I ask, what kid doesn't like to get messy? Really.) so the sand is their worst nightmare.

That didn't stop me from building a man hole for them though.

Perfect beach food! I always crave fresh foods while on vaca. so lucky for us

I had prepared ahead!

Here he is, the man himself. Neptune.

They have an AMAZING sand sculpting contest in Sept. called

the Neptune Festival.

Check it out, and perhaps we'll see ya then!!!

Miles and miles of glorious beach! We had great weather, all but the day we were to leave.

Warm days, cooler evenings with a great breeze (oh, and no mosquitos!!)

Making some sand castles. Our hotel is the one just behind us.

This was just after we'd seen about a DOZEN dolphins swim past for the second time!

Magical.

Our hotel was a DREAM. It had 4 swimming pools! Two of which were kid pools, equipped with tube slides and two lazy rivers! SO FUN!

They had a theater, kid zone (free babysitting) and free dining for the kiddos!

It was a delight.

Are you KIDDING ME!??!?!

We spent lost of our time down at the board walk.

After our dinner out on Saturday, we strapped the kids into one of the beach bikes!

SO FUN!

There were hundreds of people out. Walking, dancing, biking, swimming, dining..

it was a total party. There were bands, magic shows, and a great deal of laughter.

This bike was so much fun. The kids had a blast, and we all enjoyed the wind in our hair.

(well, everyone but Henry)

Trying to get a better view of the ladies.

Doing some people watching and running on the boardwalk.

On our way home we stopped in Richmond.

This is the ORIGINAL sculpture and ONLY sculpture George Washington allowed

plaster to be placed directly on his face.

This is the original, of which hundreds have been casted after.

Oh the way home...well, what happens in the car stays in the car,

but for a brief moment, this is what it looked like.

Yes, we did hit traffic.

Yes, the kids had snacks, snacks and more snacks.

So many that Lucy said "we're having a lot of snacks today"

We made it though, with so many memories of our first family vacation!!!

FIRE!!!

Right across the street from our library,

same location the YEAR ROUND farmers market is held, is a fabulous park called

Cherry Hill Park.

Thursday nights in the summer, they have free concerts.

Jeff and I enjoyed the music while the kids enjoyed the playground.

Win for everybody.

Lucys first date.

Not exactly the one from her dreams, and I'm sure much more noisy then she'd prefer.

While finishing our shopping, the kids noticed this beauty out the window.

We approached the truck to get a closer look,

and a fireman stepped out and let us have the grand tour.

He was SUPER nice, let the kids wear his gear, and showed them the interior

and explained how things worked!!

This helmet weighs nearly 10 lbs!!!

Both the kids usually plug their ears (as seen) when they hear sirens,

but I think this helped bridget the gap between scary and just noisy.

Times a flyin!

We've made it official.

Henry Jack Sanders

He was blessed on Sunday.

VERY sad for me, that no one but Jeff took part in the blessing.

No uncles, no grandpas and no great grandpas.

Lucky for me, he did look darling in his little outfit I made.

Oh how we love this baby!

I guess I don't feel like my kids are that close in age, its just how it is. But, when I look

at a picture like this, they really are all babies!!

Lucky me.

Not shown in the picture, the HUMIDITY!!! wow! Can't wait for the nice fall breezes!

What 7pm looks like at the Sanders home.

This is one of MANY times our power has gone out (for over 6 hrs!!!) and the best we can

do is sweat it out together, in the great out doors.

This is why I love Jeff. If he want to do something, he does it.

Even if that means taking a nap, ON THE COUTER, at 10:30 am. on Saturday morning.

Let your imagination run wild with this one.

Our popcorn picnic. The kids love popcorn, and don't usually have it.

So when we do, its got to be a big deal.

Oh, the people watching here is great.

If you can't get the candy open, just eat the wrapper too!

Thank you Virginia

Thank you Virginia for giving me the chance to wait in line at your DMV for

OVER 2 1/2 HOURS!!! WITH all three of my babies!!!

Luce, Chars and Henry were DREAMS while we waited.

While we waited, we

had our breakfast, toast, bananas, strawberries and cheerios,

went potty (thank you kind ladies who sat with Chars)

read the books I had brought,

played "eye spy"

rocked Henry to sleep

went potty, again (thank you other kind lady who sat with Chars)

made sure we left our fingerprints on the windows.

made double sure drinking fountains were working VERY well,

woke Henry up, (thank you Luce)

danced in the open space,

played hide and seek with our umbrella stoller

wondered why the security guard would not let the kids roam in the lobby (GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! YOU TRY KEEPING 3 BABIES AT BAY !!! They were not touching, playing or even looking at anything that may have been any concern to him )

Oh, and finally, while we waited, we did get our new license plate!!!

I was just about in tears when, truly over 2 1/2 hours later, we walked out the doors.

After thanking thanking and THANKING the kids for being so great,

I asked Luce to pick ANYTHING she wanted for a treat.

She picked, as she jumped up and down,

A SUCKER!!!

Easy.

We sat, in the shade, sucked our suckers, thanked Virginia, finally, that we had SURVIVED!

LOVE Love LLLLOOOOOVVVEEEEE these kids.

I am so blessed!!!!

Tears of Joy

The National Cathedral. Why is it that some amazing artists took such great care to

construct those unbelievable stain-glass windows? No picture ever does them justice.

Simply Beautiful inside.

I cannot think of the last time I cried simply because something was beautiful.

We fount ourselves at the front of the Cathedral, where we came to a quartet

practicing Mendelssohn, Wedding March. It resonated up to the beautiful beamed ceiling,

and floated back down to our ears.

It was so beautiful, I cried. The children, Jeff and even Henry were all silent, and motionless.

It was more powerful then I can explain.

This little sculpture sits on an island, on the Potomac,

just near the Lincoln Memorial (well, sort of).

Roosevelt Island.

It had great potential to be amazing, but the waterless fountains and dry river channels

led our thoughts to hoping this would be grander.

No worries, we still REALLY enjoyed our Friday night picnic, bugless,

and enjoyed the space to just RUN.

I never did read if this was a "to scale" replica.

Ah, the good old days.

Yes, these beauties (the chairs) were FREE, just near my FAVORITE

(well, one of them) places to shop. Its a dive of a food market, but sells produce at a fraction of the regular cost. Its called "Grand Mart" and I'm planning on taking ya'll on a virtual tour

one of these next days.

Love the prices, love the unusual products, love the location.

Are you kidding? This pumpkin is so stinkin unbelievable.

Look at those thighs. (oh, Henry's, not Jeffs)

Auntie Tessa came to town!!!

We've had a great time with Auntie Tess while she's been staying with us for the week.

She came to the Building Museum with us, and was great entertainment for the kiddos.

Its been SO fun for Luce to have family in town. (she's my cousin)

Tess has hung around with us, and put site seeing on the back burner,

which gives us all time to be with her, and helped us feel more like family, not a hotel.

Charlies chubby toes. Funny that i never told him not to wear my shoes, he just always

goes for Jeffs shoes, and Luce always goes for mine.

May cause drowsiness

Just to fill you in....

Our Friday night habits have turned into picnics at the park.

This park, Hayes, is probably our fav.

With a great splash park, even in hot weather (which we've had our share!!!) its nice and cool.

Anticipating the water turning back on. No, its not loud, just her reaction to most things.

We CAN do it all. Picnic, park, and exercise! Still got it!

Charlie hear there was "BayWatch" tryouts, so he's strutting his best.

The kids parade, which we did our fare share of spectating.

Looks like 3's the max.

We let Luce stay up to watch some fireworks with our neighbors.

She has NEVER stayed up this late (nearly 10pm) and after 3 days of catching up,

I'm not sure we'll do it again.

Enjoying our time at the Smithsonian, while we waited for the parade to begin.

We did watch the parade, got GREAT seats in the shade, heard some great bands,

loved the blow up balloons, and we'll think about doing it next year.

Wasn't there some rule about running with sparklers?

Lucy like them, and chars, we didn't let get close.

We took the family swimming at this great little pool.

We had a great time, and decided this has GOT to be a

new tradition for the weekend of the 4th.

Henry is such a cuddler!

He does this a few times a day, which I can't get enough of.