Fun in the Sun

23 July 2007 -- MONDAY -- We decided to spend a day at home to let the little ones rest from traveling. Jackson was just happy to be at "Boppa's house" playing with "Boppa's trains", meaning of course our Thomas, Percy, Donald, and Mollie trains in the family room. But we did manage to coax him outdoors for some water fun. This slip-n-slide is actually Jackson's that Sabrina brought to us at Christmastime because their backyard in Texas wasn't suitable for it. So we hauled it out of the garage and set it up to play!

The water was SO COLD! Jackson wasn't sure

he wanted it sprinkling on his head ...
Olivia demonstrated how to slip and slide (perfectly!)

Baby Karis was content to stay with mom

and play at the water table.

We had a pretty quiet Monday, just what we needed.

24 July 2007 -- TUESDAY -- We headed out in the early afternoon to Grand Haven for a beach day. It's a good thing we didn't heed the weather reports, because they forecasted rain for the most part of the day, and it did rain at our house quite a bit of the morning. We decided to take a chance and just drive out to the beach anyway. I'm so glad we did. It wasn't too terribly crowded and not too hot. There was a nice off-shore breeze too. It was one of those hazy days ...

This is still one of my favorite spots on earth ...

... and I don't think there will ever be a time

when I don't thrill to this sight ...

Look at Jackson in his beach outfit,

a truck in each hand --

HAPPINESS!

Olivia has already tested the water and concluded it is pretty cold.

Jackson got the diggers out and made roads

and hills and holes ...

I like his Speedo life vest ...

We girls decided to "tunnel" in the sand

Olivia and her mom actually dug an arm's length through

the sand and reached each other ...

I dug a secondary tunnel, you can see the entrance

on the front left of this picture ...

This was a posed picture that Andrew had set up ...

but I snuck in a shot of my own ...

I like it very much!

I bet you are wondering where on earth is Baby Karis

and Grandpa? Me too!

Olivia and I had run down to get a spot on the beach

and Grandpa took Karis on a separate walk on the pier ...

So Karis isn't in on these family pictures ...

Oh! There she is ...

I really like her beach hat and outfit ...

she is a real cutey ...

Karis snuggling with mommy ...

We played for close to two hours and then packed up

our beach stuff and took a walk into town ...

We wanted to check out the shops and get a bite to eat.

We had dinner at Porta Bellos (which I am sure I have misspelled)

and then walked along the canal for awhile.

And then since all of us grown-ups were tired,

we headed on back to Grand Rapids!