Beach Bums

Labor Day weekend was our last hurrah with Mom and Faith, so on Sunday, we took my mom to the beach. My mom has a love for the beach that has never died (a love she almost passed on to me except for the fact that after a couple of hours I can literally feel my flesh burning - especially when I forget to ask someone to put sunscreen on my back - let's just say that I'm a better mother than I am at taking care of myself - which I think might be the definition of a mother).

We loaded up the whole family, packed a picnic lunch, and accidentally found the beach for African Americans.  Luckily, while we were the whitest family on the beach, everyone was very nice, and we live in an America where all races can frolic in the sand and surf together.

The boys and Aunt Faith had a great time digging in the sand, building sand castles, and finding shells. I still have a bucket of shells that Michael and I found hanging out in the back of the suburban.  

Grandma hangs out with my beach baby.  There is absolutely NO FEAR living in the heart of Ryan Newhouse (unless it's the jungle gym at the Chic-fil-a).

I love this picture because Mom and Ryan both look so happy.

Aunt Faith shows Michael how a castle should be built.

Michael considers which area of the beach will make it's way from his hand to his mouth.  I'm pretty sure he's still pooping sand a month later.

James takes a short break to design a castle of his own (when we play with mega blocks, we only build castles, and James likes to stack the single red blocks as high as he can).  James spent the majority of his time darting back into the water.  We had a hard time keeping up with him and there was absolutely no way to make his departure from the beach pleasant.  He had such a great time.

Fun in the sun!  Regardless of the fact that my back is currently 45 shades darker than my shoulders (which I could reach with my sunscreen), I had a great time and can't wait to get back to the beach with the boys.  For right now, I'm pretty sure we can't go without an entourage as some one would be sure to drown, but I'm looking forward to the coming years of picnics and kite flying followed by a dip in the ocean.