Another trip to the beach

This morning the kids and I drove over to Daytona Beach to meet up with my older sister, Candy. On the way to get on the interstate, I drove through Starbucks for an iced coffee. Joshua said, "um, Mom, I think you are tricking us. I've never seen coffee like that before." I had to assure him that even though it looked like a fun drink, it really was just yucky coffee. Normally I'm only a cold weather coffee drinker, but I think the stress of all the uncertainties is giving me sleep issues and I knew I needed a kick to stay awake for the drive.

On the interstate, we drove past a rest area. Daniel got so excited from the backseat because of all the "Macks" lined up. Then he counted them, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 16, 16, 16, 20".

The kids had a blast at the beach. Joshua is getting quite brave in the water. I spent quite a bit of time standing out there in the water with him while he attempted to swim. I need to sign the kids up for some swim lessons.
Daniel enjoyed playing with his squirter and getting messy.

He was pretty proud of himself for squirting Candy. He stopped for a minute thinking he was going to get into trouble, but then he couldn't help but grin because he was excited to have finally worked the squirter without any help.
Joshua got all excited and said, "mom, quick get a picture of this bird, so I can look it up in my book". By now, my mom and other sister, Pam had joined us at the beach and we were trying to stifle our laughter. We've been taking pictures of animals that we see when we are out and learning more about their habitat and what they eat. Surely my son has seen a pigeon before? Right? Doesn't Bert dance with some on Sesame Street? Warren, my older sister's friend, took a picture of my mom and us three girls. But I have to admit, I fear for my life if I post it publicly on the internet. It is a quite unflattering picture of all of us. And having grown up the middle child between these two girls, I have to admit, if they worked together they could whoop up on me. So until I get a more flattering picture of us ladies, or until I have more sessions with the personal trainer at the gym to give me a fighting chance against the girls, I will refrain from posting our group picture. I will post a cute picture of me and Megan; both of us slightly disheveled from playing in the sand and sun.
I was going to take another picture of Megan, but she turned around too quickly to walk away. I think her little pink swimsuit is absolutely adorable.
After playing on the beach, we walked up to the splash park to rinse the sand off of everyone. They boys were so cute playing together.
After lunch, we were barely out of the parking lot when I heard two little snoring bears in the backseat. Sure enough, this group was exhausted. Notice Daniel's skinned up little knees and Megan's bruised legs. These kids play hard all day long!