Cause that's how I roll

Pat called me this morning. He wanted to know if I wanted to go to the beach. We've all been dying to go so I said YEAH! But I can't leave until Carrie gets home from school at 2. Which he was fine with.

I hung up the phone and thought to myself...you are CRAZY! You have Fellowship Week at church to get ready for! Food to plan, the laundry is up to the rooftops...Sean doesn't have ANYTHING clean to wear!! Oh well! It'll be here when I get home!

I got the kids moving and grooving. I threw in laundry so there'd be clean beach towels and swimsuits. Michelle and I spruced ourselves up, I dug a too small shirt and short set out of the baby boy's clothes I had packed away so Sean would have something to wear and we ran to the store quick. We grabbed WAY too many goodies for the day and rushed back home.

We got home with 30mins to spare. I cleaned and filled a cooler, packed up what we bought and then headed back out the door to pick up Carrie from school. Got home and ran around gathering things again...it's amazing how much STUFF you can need to go to the beach! (and we ended up forgetting the beach toys in the front yard!) Pat and Alex got here and we were at the beach by 3.



The first thing we did was set up the tables and EAT!


Then we headed down to the water. Sean LOVED the beach! I always call him my waterbaby and he was true to form today. At first he was a bit confused as to exactly where we were.


Once he sat down in the water though, he was all set. He splashed, he crawled, he laid down and floated. I had to watch him every second because he'd be in water up over his nose in no time without a sputter.



We went back to the table and had a snack or two or three


Some kids went for a walk on the pier


Others took the little girls up to the playground while I sat and spent some quiet time with Sean and Luke.



Then I took the little ones onto the pier to meet up with the big kids already there.





Then it was back to the beach while Pat started the grill for dinner.



I saw a pregnant woman there with 5 boys. I almost didn't say anything but I couldn't help it. I asked the dreaded question....Are they all your's? She told that 4 of them were her's and one was a cousin. When I mentioned...Oh all boys huh? I saw the look and grinned a knowing grin. She was bracing herself for my reaction to her answer. Well...I have 8 kids...6 boys and 2 girls. I laughed and said...I have 12 kids, 7 girls and 5 boys and she relaxed with a...I guess I'm not going to shock you then. lol We had a good time standing there talking for quite a while until Pat came up and let me know the hotdogs were almost done.

After dinner we sat there and talked for a while. I announced Pat gets the "Good Idea" award for the day. He said it was all Alex's doing so we thanked her instead. :o) It was getting late and the skies were getting threatening so we packed everything up and loaded it into the van, then we headed to the playground. Where we...

Twirled


Climbed


Bounced


Hung around


Used the equipment inappropriately


Got tortured by Pat


Found new places to live



We started getting into the van as thunder started rolling in. As we pulled into the driveway it started drizzling. With the last bags being brought in the thunder got more intense and the rain came down. Perfect timing.

I LOVE days like today...when you can just drop everything to have fun. I'll have to remember to have them more often.