Some more from the beach...

Jim caught this cute shot after showers and lunch one day. Everyone looks a bit tired, don't they?!? Ben and Ellie don't nap regularly at home,but they did at the beach!!!

The only down side to naps was that it made bed time a little more challenging, since all three of the "older" kids were sharing a room. Some nights, they had a bit too much "leftover" energy. One evening, we listened through the monitor to a conversation amongst the three of them about how they had to go to bed right away - "hurry, hurry!" - because it was almost "zero o'clock!!!" :-) Too funny...now! Too frustrating then...

We made it all the way to Tuesday night before heading to the boardwalk for rides! (THAT was definitely a nap day!)

I LOVE this picture! I think Jim and I had the entire vacation covered from every possible angle. Perhaps next year, we'll save some money and just relive this year's trip through the pictures and video...

More than Jim video taping, I just adore the true smile on Ellie's face! She loves to ride the "carriages" on carousels. She pretends to be Cinderella and does her princess wave and blows kisses during the entire ride! She usually tells me that I'm Snow White or Ariel. I wonder who she made Daddy be this time.

B&E with cousin, Caroline. She and Ellie are only 8 months apart. They're gonna be quite the force to be reckoned with in a few years, I fear...

This is a picture of the Second Annual "Stuff Uncle Mike in the Teacup with all the Kids" Ceremony. Last year, we laughed ourselves silly watching him attempt to sit down. It has quickly become such a fond family memory/joke that Mike was more than happy to do it again...for the amusement of the rest of the family! :-) PLUS, you just have to enlarge this shot and take a look at Caroline's sweet little silhouette! Too adorable!!!!

After a quick and tumultuous (thanks to Ellie) dinner at the Dough Roller, Colin took his first long journey on his feet on the boardwalk! Mike and Jim say it was some 33 steps and that on-lookers were taking pictures. :-) Sarah and I didn't see it since we were cleaning up and stuck in the bathroom with a pooping child, respectively. I know. Too much information. But seriously! Doesn't that always happen at the worst times?!? Don't get me wrong; I'll take this over diapers, but it really will be nice when we "advance" a little further, shall we say.

Oh! I digress. Okay, so after dinner and Colin's walk on the boards, we headed to Dolle's Candy Store to let everyone pick out desserts. Amid the chaos of allowing everyone to choose their own candy, I got these cute shots of Colin walking. Doesn't he look like a little old man in this one?!?

Success! He was so proud of himself!

On Wednesday, Gram and Poppy took Ben (and me) crabbing on the Assawoman Bay. Don't you just love the Protective Gram Hand on Ben's back? :-)

For those of you who are not Marylanders, I'll attempt to give you a quick explanation of the good old fashioned crabbing process. You hook or tie practically anything, from chicken parts to week old deli meat, to the end of a string. You lower said string into the water and wait. Within a minute (literally...if you're in a good spot) you will feel a tugging on the string. Then you slowly pull the string in. When you begin to see the crab coming toward the surface, another person swoops under with a net to catch the crab before he catches on and lets go. If he does let go, have no fear. All you have to do is put the string back in and wait another 15-20 seconds. :-) Certainly not a complicated process.

Now. All that being said, our "situation" was complicated by Ben who couldn't grasp how slowly the string needed to be pulled in and the nervous grandmother who was sure her grandson was going to plummet headfirst into the water and the grandfather who was sure if he just moved more slowly with the net that he could sneak up on the crab and of course, the distracted photographer mother who was little help for most of the time!

Here's a picture of our first successful catch. He's no dumby! He's gettin' the heck outta dodge! He was up and out of that net and back in the water so fast...amazing!

In attempts to educate (go figure!), I posted this picture. I think if you enlarge it, you can actually see a HUGE crab chowing on our chicken neck just below the surface.

And here's our big guy with a new friend. We gave it to another lady who was actually seriously crabbing. I posted this picture so you can see the underside - why a blue crab is so-called.

And lastly, here is a re-post of my favorite shot from that morning. I can't decide which I like best - the color or b&w...



More tomorrow, hopefully!