Hank is really starting to give us grief in his high chair...screaming if he doesn't get what he wants, or if it's not fast enough...it is so crazy because most of the time he's so content, but when he gets ready to eat he turns into a baby monster! 

 One or two afternoons, the girls ate lunch on the porch looking out at the beach.

Look at this handsome 5-year-old! He shares a birthday with Hank!

 We went out to eat early in the week...it was pretty chaotic but the kids had so much fun. We went to the Sanitary Fish Market and so I now have the all-NC-famous t-shirt :)

 Joel came over to help keep H entertained...the screaming fits were so awful, even the bigger kids were interested in how to make him calm down...

 We took a few pictures in front of the boats after dinner.

 Joy is so beautiful! She is 33 weeks along with a baby girl, Anna Beth!

 I took the camera out on the beach only a few times...but the basic gist is that they all had a ball with whatever they were doing...Seth and Vivian became more brave and more interested in swimming in the waves...the daddies did well to take them out in the water. Kate went a few times, too!

K got a few sand toys for her birthday...so they made lots of cupcakes and ice cream cones throughout the week.

 Bathed and ready for dinner and bed! We usually spent as much time as possible on the beach, so bedtime each day seemed to be almost immediately after dinner.

I love how the baby is in the background doing his own thing :)

 Silly faces!

One night at dinner, we continued a tradition of having cake and singing Happy Birthday for all the summer birthdays. All the kids have birthdays pretty close to each other.

 The view of our house from the beach.

It was a duplex...we had the left side of the house and we didn't have any problems with our neighbors. In fact, they had older kids and one of the boys became interested in fishing because of Jonathan and Aaron, so he borrowed one of Jonathan's rods and learned how during the week!

 My baby boy had plenty of sunscreen each day...

 Joel brought his very popular lawn mower from home. The girls and Hank really enjoyed playing with it.

 Love that baby belly!

 The men having a pep talk...trying to wake up from naps.

 H learned new things this week it seems...I watched him put the lid on and off the bucket, and put the cupcake holders in the holes...he is figuring out the concept of putting things inside other things and then taking them out. It's so amazing to watch them learn something that they hadn't noticed ever before.

 Sweet (hilarious) Joel. Both of the Morgan boys are really funny and like to try and make people laugh!

 Yesterday evening, our last chance on the beach, the boys discovered these mounds of sand and tunnels...the older ones jumped and did obstacle courses...H crawled up and down and around and up again...he crawled over these for about an hour straight! 

 While they were doing that, Aaron had taken the girls on a walk...on the way back he was carrying them.

 Whoa...orange-man Aaron! My auto-enhance on iPhoto did that...

 So then they all got in on the tunnel digging and destroying. Good times.

 Hank helped his daddy fish for a few minutes!

Aaron and Jonathan fished several times a day while we were all playing on the beach...they caught enough to make it fun!

Hoping that one day soon he will want to stand beside him with his own fishing pole :)

I have other pictures from Aaron's phone that I can post later. He and Jonathan took the kids on the boat two mornings, so I'll try to get those pictures he took and share them.

We are glad to be home and ready to start school, but I am so thankful that we saved our family vacation for the end of the summer...it was so wonderful to be together and share the time with such good friends. This is our 3rd year, so it seems like the tradition will stick, and tonight when we got home in our pajamas, Vivian said, "Oh man, we have to wait another whole year to go back to the beach with Seth and Joel!"

The girls went to stay with their grandparents, Mike and Peggy, for a few days last week. We met them in Greensboro on Saturday to make the switch, before we left for Jamaica on Sunday. We are loving this tradition of the kids being able to spend time in Spring Hope and hope to continue it every year! They absolutely love going to Grandma and Papi's house. I will try to get pictures from their time there so that I can share them here, but overall I know they had a blast going to Uncle Ben's pool in Raleigh for the day, visiting a farm, going to the movies with Papi, and just hanging around their house and exploring. We are so thankful that Mike and Peggy are available and willing to do things like this!

 I took a few pictures around the resort so that we could show V and K where we were.

 The service there was really great. Every night when we returned to our room after dinner, we had surprises like this.

 Our room (suite) was really spacious and had a perfect view of the ocean with two balconies. 

One morning we slept in until 8:30...latest either of us has slept in a long time. :)

We didn't spend too much time in the room though...we were on the beach every day, all day! 

 Aaron played volleyball every day. I watched the first day, and then joined the second and third days for just a game or two. He could play game after game, though. I read 4 books throughout the trip, mostly while lounging on the beach...vacation of my dreams, haha!

 This is where we hung out most of the time.

No excursions. No scheduled anything. Just whatever we wanted to do! We didn't leave the resort. We pretty much didn't leave this spot except to go to dinner!

We made some friends while we were there, too...fun to meet new people and have different conversations that aren't the typical day-to-day interactions.

 Another view of the volleyball court

 We didn't even get in the pool...not once! We stuck to what we liked :)

I loved not feeling any pressure to do certain things. We were both content to just rest. 

 I took this picture of the hut that served pizza by the pool...ate there for lunch each day. Aaron had the jerk chicken at the grill every day for lunch. It was an all-inclusive resort, so we ate and drank all we wanted! One night we went to a nice dinner at one of the restaurants, and then walked outside to the grill beside the pool and Aaron got a burger :)

On the way back to the airport!

We were ready to leave by the 4th day...we knew we had accomplished what we went for...rested and enjoyed each other, so we were anxious to get back to the babies!

The county we live in just finished building a new library right down the road from us! We went a couple of weeks ago for our first visit and were very impressed. We were there long enough for the girls to do some coloring while I picked out books, but we could have stayed for a lot longer...I hope we are able to spend many mornings here!

Yes, green beans and potatoes for breakfast for one little girl...I'm a cruel mommy :) 

Lunch:

His first PB&J ever! Big moment :)

Dinner:

We enjoyed the day with our little guy!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

 Every Monday this summer (except for vacation week), we have been walking with a friend at Green Hill Park first thing in the morning. We grab a quick breakfast thing to take with us and whoever rides in the stroller with H feeds him because as soon as we get back home he has to go back to bed! They take turns on the bike...one rides to the end of the trail and the other rides back. 

 He is a happy boy in the stroller.

These walks have been a huge gift for me. I enjoy getting moving in the morning, and the conversation with Lara is always so helpful.

 Kate wore a precious shirt today with her birthday number on it :) Thanks to Allyson for making these for our family (last-minute, too!)! I will post more pictures of the birthday shirts soon.

 We came home to have a few more bites of breakfast at the (simply) decorated table, and Kate opened a few cards and two more gifts.

 Then we waited for H to wake up so we could join our friends at the pool! We have been here pretty much every Monday and it is perfect because of the awesome shallow-water play area.

 I kept H out of the water for the sake of simplicity today...this boy is happy anytime there is a ball around, even if it's a pink Cinderella one :)

After we got home from the pool, we did our regular afternoon stuff...chores, verses, catechism, and rest time. 

We got baths and got ready for taking family pictures with Shannon.

 I am very excited about how these pictures will turn out! Can't wait to share them! 

Dennis brought Daniel along, too, so we went out to eat with them afterward, and sang one more Happy Birthday song to Kate at the restaurant to end the day. 

We won't forget this 4th birthday! 

We love you, Kate, and are so thankful you are part of our family!