Playing in the sand!

Sean loves playing in the sand a lot! I asked him what his favorite part about the beach was and he said it was playing in the sand! Daddy and Sean have been looking for shark's teeth all week and have collected about 14 so far! They have also been looking for sand crabs and caught quite a few of those (and of course let them go later that day). The last few days there has been a bit of a drop off in front of our house so Sean took advantage of playing on that as well.

Looking for shark's teeth.

Has his sand crabs in the bucket!

Sand, sand, and more sand!

Whee!

Silly guy!

Getting BRAVE!

So, after 3 weeks at the beach last summer, Sean finally warmed up to getting into the ocean. This year, it only took one day! He walks into the water on his own, which is new, and LOVES to go out into the deep water with Daddy! He asks to go in all the time. He wears a life jacket and he *might* hold on for dear life onto your neck, but he has a blast! He loves jumping the waves also. The area in front of our house has a small tidal pool and with his life jacket on, he walks around in the water alone, jumps the waves, lays down flat on his tummy and "body" surfs, and even tries to swim. One time he got a little off balance with his life jacket and had a bit of a face plant for a few seconds. He didn't cry though and didn't get out of the water. What progress! Dan and I actually have to watch him very carefully now as he is getting so brave! What a difference from last summer! Yay!
Later on, a huge wave came and Dan had to jump over it with him. He got soaked but he was ok!

Jumping the waves with 'Nama and Poppy!

Learning how to brace yourself for the waves. I told him to stand with his feet apart.

"Body surfing"

Running away from the waves!

The Fort Fisher Aquarium

I am not sure who likes going to visit Aquariums more....me or Sean? He was pretty excited the entire time so maybe my love for marine life has been passed down to him. We had a nice trip to the aquarium while on vacation in Kure Beach. It is just a couple miles down the road and a perfect activity for a cloudy morning.Sean was a little nervous even though the alligator was fake!

Checking out the big aquarium with the sharks!

Touching the horseshoe crabs.(he wouldn't touch them last year...progress!)

He said, "ohhh cute!" It is a baby sea turtle!

Nemo!!

First day at the beach=a success!

Boy what a difference a year can make! Sean is loving the ocean! He went right in first thing when we got down to the beach and by the end of the day he was walking into the water without any help. He was even falling in face first and pretending to swim. He was making us a little nervous without his life jacket on. All of us spent a good amount of the day in the water as it was so warm and nice. He stayed out there with us and floated on Dan's boogie board and had a blast. It was a great first day!

Testing out the water with Daddy!'Nama buried Sean!

He loved it!

Getting brave enough to walk into the water alone!
(without shoes I might add, I don't even do that!)

Whew.....tired after a long morning at the beach!!Daddy found a couple sand crabs for Sean and he kept them for a couple hours in his bucket.

Going for a walk with 'Nama.Ended the day with ice cream on the porch swing. What a good one!

Beach Bound!

We loaded up the car and hit the road early this morning for our drive to Kure Beach, NC. It was a smooth ride down with not traffic. The only issue we had was a huge thunderstorm as we were coming into Wilmington. We had to pull off the interstate and let it pass because the rain and hail were so bad. We got all settled into our beach house and started our week at the beach with 'Nama, Poppy, and Auntie. More fun times to come for sure!

Packed up and ready to hit the road!

Our house has a porch swing!

Riding a bike is fun, finally!

Sean has had a tricycle since Christmas but hasn't really gotten much used out of it. First, he is super afraid of riding in the road due to the chance that a car *might* come (can you say worry wart?!?) and secondly, he hadn't really figured out the whole pedaling thing real well. Well, today we pulled the bike out, got his helmet on, and took him to the road. He was a little nervous at first but after he figured out how fun it was, he had a blast! He finally got the point where he would pedal by himself and thought that was a lot of fun. We did have a few cars that came but we just pulled over and let them pass and he seemed fine with that. Beings that cycling is one of my favorite ways to exercise, I hope that he will also grow to enjoy it. One day maybe he'll be riding next to me in a triathlon...or maybe passing me? He can certainly out run me at this point, though I have his baby sister to thank for that!

A little nervous and too serious!

Ok, this is more fun than I thought!

Look at me!Getting braver and going out on his own!

CARS 2!!!

Sean has been asking to watch the Cars 2 preview online everyday for about.....4-5 months now. So, you can only imagine how excited he was to have opening day finally arrive! We were there first thing this a.m. when the movie came out to get our seats and popcorn. He really enjoyed the whole thing, as did Dan and I. It was a great movie and great day!

At the theatre!

In line to buy tickets.Mater!

He picked out our seats.Laid back with his popcorn watching the movie!

He couldn't take his eyes off the screen to take this picture!

Pool Party Fun!

We went to a pool Birthday party on my first official day of summer break and Sean had a blast. He had so much fun playing with the other kids and was actually braver than usual running and jumping into the baby pool and going under water. On the car ride home, he said, "I had a lot of fun at Riley's birthday party!" He was so tired that night and thankfully slept in a little the next morning. You know, to 6:45 am! :o)

Father's Day at the baseball game

We went to the squirrel's game for the afternoon on Father's Day. It is the local baseball team in Richmond. Sean enjoyed the excitement of going to the game and of course eating popcorn but wasn't really that interested in actually watching the game. Either way, it was a fun afternoon.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

His ticket!

Mommy and Sean.

Cotsco for dinner?

We did our Costco shopping today and of course we all enjoyed the various samples out for us to try. As we were about to leave Sean says to us, "I like this store for dinner!" ha ha. He did eat enough samples for a whole lunch!

Pool fun!

We had a nice family day at the pool today. Sean really loves swimming and was even a little more brave in the big pool today than usual. He was practicing floating on his back which was a first for him.Getting braver...

Practicing "swimming"

Silly face!

Cutie!

Friends!

We had a going away party for some close friends moving out of the country. It gave us a chance to get all the kids together for a photo shoot. Sean had a blast!

Whoa, a lot of kids!

He has his arm around Gracyn! He did that on his own!

He loved the backyard playhouse!