Emerald Isle Beach VK 2015

This post was supposed to go up last Saturday, but given that it's focusing on events from a year ago, what's a few more days? The important thing is working on this entry has made me super excited for our trip to Emerald Isle this year. Five days and counting!

Saturday, August 8

Clara finished up her swim season in the morning at the championship meet and then in the afternoon we piled into the car and headed to the beach!

We arrived to stormy skies off the coast but perfect conditions on the beach.

Everyone got out to the beach and settles in pretty quickly. Nay-nay already relaxin'.

Meghan's ready to make some sand castles.

Clara, Jack, and Daddy hit the surf.

First night out and already boogey-boarding...

Jack attempts to catch some riders. Take note because he certainly improves throughout the week!

Sunset through the clouds.

Kids working on first drip castles of the week.

Sunday, August 9

Jack catches some waves with Pop-pop's help, wipeout!

He got it!

Meghan relaxes in the shade.

Memo and Augs hiking up after cocktails on the beach.

Monday, August 10

Some action shots in the ocean. Look at Jack go!

Clara leaping with the help of the wave.

Pop-pop's still got it!

Tuesday, August 11

Lucy and Meghan snuggling in the beach chairs.

Flying a kite

Wednesday, August 12

Clara gets a rider with Lucy's help.

Clara catches the rider and leaves Lucy in the dust!

Clara and Lucy heading back in the ocean.

Clara and Jack work on a drip castle.

Nay-nay and Aunt Betts relaxin' in the shade.

Daddy and Meghan check out the sand castle progress.

Lucy grabbed the camera and told me to get in the picture for once. Almost got everyone looking at the camera.

Meghan got a Memo makeover in the afternoon at the cottage.

 Later back out on the beach, Meghan plays jump the tire.

Thursday, August 13

Meghan, Lucy, and Aunt Betts are ready for the day!

Jack catches a wave as Pop-pop and Clara race out.

More wave ridin'.

Clara buries her legs.

Lucy & co lying in the wet sand.

Jack gets a double.

Homemade chocolate ice cream, thoroughly enjoyed!

Friday, August 14

Our last day, sniff... Starting things off right for Aunt Betts with a new hairdo courtesy of Meghan.

Pop-Pop and Jack walking up the beach.

Daddy shows off his claws as he starts to dig a hole.

Daddy and Jack about to break ground.

Nay-nay and Aunt Betts look on from the shade of the cabana.

Pop-pop recharges with a little mustache water. 

Working on the sand mountain.

Everyone's chipping in.

Nay-nay in the ocean with Clara.

Clara and Nay-nay take a dip.

Putting the finishing touches on the sand village.

Mommy, Aunt, Betts, Nay-Nay, and Clara look to shore.

Look out for Nay-nay on the tube.

Meanwhile Meghan is doing quality control on shore.

Clara balances on the tire.

Meghan's in the ocean with Daddy.

The whole crew is in!

Jack in the sand.

Who wants to leave tomorrow?

But we had a great time!

Next up: Trip to Boston

Summer Swimming 2015 - Part 2, Meets

On the eve of the 2016 summer championship meet, let's take a look back at Clara's 2015 swim season as an 8 year old.

June 30 - First meet of the season at Optimist Pool. Just the sky you want to see before the meet. Thankfully Clara was able to swim both of her races.

25 back

25 breast

July 9 - Meet #2 at Longview pool

At the start waiting to swim backstroke.

25 back

July 14 - Third meet at Pullen Pool. We raced inside the pool to see Clara swim, but in the mean time Jack and Meghan had fun playing on the climbing spider at the park!

July 24 - Last regular season meet at Ridge Road.

25 free

Nothing beats Kona Ice as an end of the meet treat, whether you swam or not. (You better believe I'm got one!)

8/8 - Championship meet at Pullen Park Pool.

25 free

25 back

Rosalind on the far left, Clara in the lane next to her

Next up: Emerald Isle Beach VK 2015

Summer Swimming 2015 - Part 1, Pool

It's amazing, a year and a summer later, to see how much the kids have improved since the beginning of last summer. They made great strides just over the course of last summer though. When we first arrived at the pool, neither Jack nor Meghan were comfortable putting their faces in the water. Procuring goggles allowed for big steps forward!

6/22 - Jack's first swimming attempts of the summer.

6/24 - Jack's ring fetching.

Meghan kicking with her face in.

Jack diving, Meghan kicking.

6/26/15 - Meghan enjoys a snack of cherries at our pool.

7/13 - Meghan has discarded the life jacket and demonstrates her "swim team".

7/20 - Meghan swimming across the deep end. For someone who started off the summer leery of putting her face in, look how far she's come!

7/31 - Enjoying snack time on the lounge chairs

Next up: Summer Swimming 2015 - Part 2, Meets

First week in August 2015

And now it starts, the Great Blog Catch-up of 2016! We're now looking at event from about a year ago.

Back from Richmond at the beginning of August, we finally scheduled to get our back overhang fixed as it was literally falling off the house.

The finished result looks great! I needn't have fretted over the roof color (I went with the rustic red) because it's barely visible.

Jack also learned to pump all on his own!

We had visitors from the North! The Barnes family stopped over to play during their summer trip down to NC. They had fun stretching their legs after their plane ride in our backyard. And we were happy to oblige.

Clara and Caleb chilling on the roof.

We tried to get a group picture but Jack was on the swings and Levi was headed to the house, so we settled for four out of six.

Adelina jumping on the trampoline and Jack swinging.

Obligatory Katie & I picture! We're so glad that though their time was short, they stopped by to see us.

Next up: Summer Swimming 2015, Pool

Last Weekend in July 2016 (7/29 - 7/31)

Setting a record for "furthest into the new year without a blogpost" in 2016, but all that is about to change! As always, I'm determined to catch-up. I was so close last year right before our annual beach trip and somehow was derailed.  One post at the end of the year and here we are now in August. Enough wasting energy on things that cannot be changed, we're looking to the future! We had a pretty exciting "last weekend in July" so before the "Great Blog Catchup 2015/6" begins, here are some of our more recent goings on...

Friday, July 29

Like the past several summers we've spent a lot of this one at the pool. The kids continue to improve their swimming abilities, and never was it more obvious than Friday when I was watching all three of them swim unassisted in the deep end.

Clara was determined to teach Meghan how to dive. While they were working on it, Jack decided he was up to the challenge.

Jack teaches himself how to dive.

Saturday, July 30

After a nice spring and a moderate June, it has been a brutal July. So if we haven't been at the pool, we've most likely been indoors. With a slight break in the heat, Saturday's high being in the low-90's rather than the upper 90's, we took the opportunity to get the bikes out to the track. It was a big day for Jack. He was riding around no problem with his training wheels raised, so we removed them and he never looked back (except to complain that he was hot). 

Jack rides a two-wheeler for the first time without training wheels.

Jack's Holiday Concert

Somehow I'm back to being 4 months behind on the blog, so to kick things off, let's start with a current event! Jack's first grade holiday concert was last night. I'm sad to report that his most animated song was the last one, "Kitty For a Present", which by the time they got to it, the camera battery died, so the video was taken on the iPhone.

The first graders.

Jack and his friend Orrie in the middle.

Penguin Polka

Dreidel Spin

Hawaiian Christmas

Seven Days of Kwanzaa

Kitty For a Present