Shark Week!

We interrupt the vacation blog with this special bulletin... While waiting for Bryce and Skye to awaken this morning, I took a stroll out to the beach. As I was coming out from between the dunes, I saw a fisherman pulling a shark across the sand. I quickly ran back down the hallway, rushed into the condo, and yelled for Aly and Carter to come quick (in their jammies) that a guy had caught a SHARK! Aly and Carter and I burst out of the condo and ran back down the hallway all the way to the beach. Cheryl, quick thinker that she is, grabbed her camera and ran down in her jammies, too. It was a Bonnethead shark. Maybe about 3 ft long. We have seen these, though smaller, in Florida at Papa Bob's. When I saw that the fisherman would be there awhile, I went back to wake Skye and Bryce and get Granny. Bryce was bleary eyed at first, then he heard the word "shark" and woke up on the spot :) So we all watched while the fisherman got the shark off the line (he had to cut it in the end) and then had to work with it in the water to revive it. The fisherman had already caught a couple baby sand sharks, a stingray, and some other fish. Carter said that he bet that the shark was what got Aly's foot yesterday (she had three or four marks on her foot after something "pinched" her in the ocean). After all of the excitement, we had four yahoo's that were not sure that they wanted to get into the ocean this morning LOL! For at least 45 min. they played in the sand or the edge of the ocean. Finally, they ventured in for a bit :)

Skyeler wanted me to include the fisherman to give the shark some scale.

Bonnethead Shark

Boogie Boardin'

We didn't get in tonight till after seven. I'm pretty tired because I was out in the waves with the kids while Cheryl lounged on the beach :) Aly and Bryce (and Skye, too) are fearless in the waves. All of us have to take turns keeping an eye on them. I'm not going to get any new pictures resized for the blog before bed, so here is a little video taken with Aly's camera. It's not the greatest quality but it shows her and Carter boogie-ing LOL!

The Atlantic Side

This morning Aly woke me by mumbling in her sleep. It was 4:46 a.m. I got up to check on her, and she was talking in her sleep (again!). I tried to go back to sleep, but she kept mumbling and for some reason my stomach was growling. Granny woke up at 5:15 a.m. Cheryl and I heard her get up. At 5:30 a.m. we decided that it was useless to try and go back to sleep (the alarm was set for six) so we woke up the yahoo's and started getting reading. We were on the road again at 7:23 a.m. Of course, we had to stop right away because Cheryl forgot that she was on E before we got on the highway :) Dan's GPS (affectionately called "Rabbit") had an identity crisis in North Carolina and for about 30 miles kept telling us it was "recalculating." Granny was ready to feed "Rabbit" to a southern hound dog LOL! We thought it only practical to stop and get groceries on the way into the condo. So to Walmart the Family Friendly store we go. ALL of Myrtle Beach was at Walmart today. Eek! I thought I was going to hyperventilate it was so crowded. It took us forever. After buying a small fortune in veggies, fruits, and junk food, we finally arrived at the condo and got the cars unloaded. Whew!



Aly and Skyeler had never been to the Atlantic side of the ocean before. They've only visited the Gulf with Papa Bob. We spent a couple hours on the beach, even though we were exhausted. The kids wore themselves out riding the waves in the boogie boards we picked up at Walmart and jumping waves. Skye and Granny went out for a short walk around 7:30 p.m. but the rest of us were in our jammies ready to hit the hay after such a long, long day! In fact, as soon as this posts, I'm off to bed. Here's a few pics from today. Remember ... the beach camera is Aly's little camera, not my usual standards :)

Ready, and SO anxious, to get to the beach!

Aly and her new boogie board

Carter

Bryce

Aly

Skyeler, no boogie board

Our condo from the water

Road Trip!

The girls are on the road again! Last summer we made some memories at Papa & Granny's house in Kentucky. This year Granny wanted us to take a trip to the beach. Dan, Glen, and Dad gave us the green light and off we went. North Myrtle Beach. Granny, Cheryl, me and four Yahoo's :) Honestly, I'm not sure that South Carolina will ever be the same. Last night we met up in Wytheville, VA and partied at the hotel pool. It's was loud and busy ... that means the younger yahoo's loved it. Skyeler, smart child, stayed in the room for some peace and quiet.

You Gotta Have Friends

Skyeler and her friends at the end of a long, hard day ... hair appointments, hanging out, and catching a movie ("Letters to Juliet"). The best way to unwind ... in the hammock with a bowlful of cookie dough :)

July 4th

We celebrated the Fourth of July both on the 3rd and the 4th this year. Dan had made homemade smoke bombs in co-op earlier in the year and the girls couldn't wait to have him make "homemade" fireworks for the 4th. They did that Saturday the 3rd and Aly was beside herself waiting for it to get dark. I think the Fourth of July is her 2nd favorite holiday :) Dan combined the homemade ones with a couple of Roman Candles and some sparklers. Someone in the neighborhood was setting off bigger fireworks and we got to see those as well. After much deliberation, we decided on Sunday the 4th to go and see the big fireworks show at the park in town. It was crazy crowded, but it had been awhile since Aly had seen some. We were practically underneath them! The fireworks were amazing and we all enjoyed the evening.

Aly and her Sparkler

Dan's homemade smoke bomb

One of the neighborhood fireworks, pretty impressive

Dueling Sparklers! Ok, so the picture is blurry, but it kind of looks cool anyway!

Catching Up

Well, it's been a little while since I have updated the blog. May was kind of crazy as me and the girls passed around a nasty cold bug. We finished up our co-op year mid-May and had testing two weeks later. The girls both did well on their testing. Skyeler had a bit of a rough start to June. She developed a staph infection on her wrist and we made numerous trips to the doctor and one to the children's hospital. In the midst of her drama we celebrated Dan's 40th birthday (wow! that feels weird to type) and had our Homeschool Showcase. Aly also attended camp for the first time and had a ball! We have spent the rest of June recuperating :)

Here are some pictures from our Homeschool Showcase.

Skyeler was barely well enough to work on her presentation board. She is feeling a bit puny in this picture. She is wearing one of her big accomplishments of the co-op year. The skirt she made herself in sewing class! She was very proud of herself and enjoyed making the skirt (making a shirt was not so fun, she hasn't worn it yet LOL). Aly was upset that she didn't have a skirt to wear to showcase (Elizabeth and Tori were also wearing the skirts they made) so Skyeler had compassion on her little sister and made her a skirt to wear too. You can see the skirt she made Aly in the pictures below.

Max & Nina joined us for the showcase. Babette had prepared a couple songs for them to sing (Babette teaches music class at co-op). It was so enjoyable!


Here is Aly with her presentation board and table. She had so much to showcase that we couldn't really get it all on the table :)

I was so thankful that Doug took the pictures for showcase. Usually that is my job, but with Skye sick that weekend, I was pretty much frazzled.

The camp that Aly attended also took pictures and posted them for the parents to view. Aly really had a blast. Skyeler got to work the last day of camp with her sister. Aly got to ride horses and do some ground work with them, she climbed the rock wall and did some archery and lots of other things. They also had a zip line. The camp director's wife said she was praying that the harness held when Aly went down. The next week when they sent out the email that the pictures were ready, I saw why. This was the picture that accompanied the email to everyone ...

Yep, that's my daughter. A professional photographer took this picture. Upside down, flying down the zip line ... she does NOT get those genes from me!