The Closer

Just to wrap it up, I thought I'd do one more vacation post...there were too many pictures not to!  There were well over 300 of them!  Here are just a few more I wanted to share.

Our kids both love the sand and water, but they are so totally different in their approaches to it.  Each day when we would head out to the beach, Christian would want to go straight for the water!  He'd settle for playing in the sand with a bucket and shovel, but what he really wanted was to go out into the waves.  As with anything else, he would keep going a little farther and a little farther until we called him back.  He tried to jump over the waves as they crashed in.  He would keep edging out until the waves were big enough to wash over his head. Even when one would knock him over, he would come up smiling and laughing that big, open-mouthed laugh.  The one that makes it really hard not to join in with him.  

Little Bit, on the other hand was content to roll, crawl, dig, draw, and anything else she could do in the sand.  I'm still not sure I got all the sand out of her hair!  I figured out pretty quickly that not only did her hair need to be up, but up in such a way that no stray pieces could possibly get on her face.  Otherwise she would just keep trying (with totally sand-covered hands) to wipe her hair back out of her face.  Of course, the result was sand being all over her face!  More than once she came to me to ask for help and was chewing the sand that made its way into her mouth!  After a couple of days, she figured out that she could go just to the edge of the water to wash the sand off her hands.  Every time, she would run (because she runs everywhere she goes) down to the edge of the water, put her hands down only long enough to get them wet, and then turn and run as fast as her legs could carry her away from that water.  I'm pretty sure she thought it was going to get her!

She's not so keen on smiling for the camera, and it's difficult to get him to stop talking long enough for a picture!

There is just something too sweet about holding a little one while they sleep!

We had a great time at the beach, but I'm glad to be home.  

When we came in the door, Dad had dinner going on the stove.  It was lovely to come in from traveling to a home-cooked meal!

As per my usual, I came right in and unpacked everything.  I'm aware that there's no prize for the person who gets packed or unpacked the earliest or the fastest, but it makes me feel more comfortable- when I get where I'm going and when I get home.  The laundry's not quite caught up (and I probably washed at least 8 loads while we were on vacation!) but we're all settled back in.   

I'm thankful that home is a place I like to come back to.  Home should be a place of peace.  Even though there's no beach out the back door, it's a happy place for me.

Thumbs up for being home!