Beach Vacation Day 2

We woke day two of our beach trip to more beautiful weather.  We stepped out of our hotel room to this beautiful sight and decided that the hotel restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking this sight was the perfect place to start out day.

Banana and Jeff went with some yummy cinnamon bun french toast and Carrot and I split some chocolate chip pancakes.

Then it was off to the beach where I finally captured some pretty good shots of my boys where he was not making crazy faces but just having fun.

The water was pretty nice even though the air still was a bit chilly and Jeff joined the kids for some boogie boarding while I spent some time strolling the boardwalk where I found a cute dress for 60% off and a cute purse sack that I could use on the bikes and boardwalk so that Jeff didn't need to carry my phone all the time :)

The waves were pretty high so I joined the kids for some boogie boarding then they died down just as I got wet.

After a fun day on the beach we showered up for a nice dinner.  While waiting for dad to grab his sun glasses the kids almost fell asleep on the bench....too much fun I guess.

Dinner again in a beautiful boardwalk location facing the ocean.  We grabbed dinner early so we got a table right at the edge and had a great view.  Jeff went with ravioli again but this time seafood ravioli so I guess that was different.

Our view from our table.

After dinner we strolled down the boardwalk to the rides.

Carrot was loving the ferris wheel but my fear of highs and possibly Jeff's teasing of rocking the basket made me nervous

Carrot loved it

Banana decided to hide his eyes at first

The view was spectacular and I loved how we captured the shadow of the ferris wheel

Hugging the center pole when Dad thought about rocking the basket

Getting ready to enter the "dark ride"

of course you have to the carosel

Beach Vacation Day 1

We had such a lovely mini-vacation to the beach.  I thought the weather would almost be too chilly but it actually turned out perfect.  I will post the pictures per day for memory and to not overload one post with a ton of pictures

We arrived a little later than planned so we strolled the boardwalk for about an hour and then checked into our room and then headed for the beach.  We actually got a hotel right on the boardwalk this year so it was just a short walk to the beach.

The sky was just awesome to look at.  So blue with huge fluffy clouds

Jeff getting caught up on all his sail boat magazines

Carrot showing me her finds

Banana found this awesome hermit crab while boogie-boarding so he gave it to Carrot to bring in and play with...so cool

We packed up out beach gear late afternoon and showered for dinner.  We decided we were in the mood for Italian so Italian we found we we ordered some pretty yummy spinach raviolis

After dinner we strolled back to the hotel on the beach to grab some pictures during the prettiest time of day.  

We should have done this shot of our shadows first when we had a little more light but it still turned out cute.

All worn out after a long day of play

Arrrrrgh!

We kicked off our week of vacation with a trip to a pirate festival and Carrot went fully embraced the idea and donned her brothers homemade pirate costume.  That morning we even got a surprise call from Aunt Suzannah and she decided to join our fun.

It was a pretty hot day but she insisted on keeping it on for most of the day even though she had a nice cool jumper on underneath

 There was suppose to be a beach treasure hunt for the kids at noon but I'm pretty sure we found the wrong treasure hunt.  We ended up walking for miles around the town in the heat.  It was fun and exhausting all at the same time but we did finish the hunt and thank goodness Uncle Chuck called for the town shuttle to give us a well deserved ride back to the center of town.  Here we relaxed for a nice cold drink and waited for the pirate costume competition.  They look all tired out don't they.

Carrot getting ready to join the pirate parade

I think he could possibly be a real pirate

She patiently waited through the pet competition and 0-5 year olds

Giving her pirate name for the competition

The winner was a very creative costume where the girl had her legs dressed like a pirate and her body dressed like a mermaid then a fake pirate was attached to her back and fake mermaid legs came over a treasure chest....if that makes sense at all....should have taken a picture.  It was very impressive.  But my little pirate was happy she got a free ice-cream coupon for being in the competition.

 We finished out day off with a nice dinner where they ran out of crabs right before we sat down....oh well shrimp is good for me.  Thanks again for paying Uncle Chuck :)  YIKES

13 Month

We have been waiting 13 months now.  There is not much to update with the program.  Emigration permits (EPs) and court dates are coming in slowly each month but referrals are almost at a stand still.  Our agency has not referred a baby in over 2 1/2 months and only 4 or 5 so far this year.  This is pretty disappointing for many as we were hoping for a big surge of referrals this summer like last year.  About a month ago I ask my agency if they still expected to get the 10+ referrals they were still expecting for this year and they really did not know.  I think since EP have slowed down due to the courts they have drastically slowed referrals down as well.

Here is hoping fall brings much good news.  

Is it really August?

I just can't believe it is August with this awesome weather.  Yesterday was one of those days you just can't waste so we packed a picnic lunch and headed off to enjoy the day.

Group picture under the waterfall 

Jeff's first selfie