A Day at the Beach (in Maryland)

This weekend's plans were originally to go camping at Asssateague. Unfortunately, a tropical storm headed up the coast with warnings of thunderstorms and lots of rain. So for the first time we had to cancel our camping trip. We still wanted to get together with our camping buddies, so we made plans to meet on Sunday at the beach at Elk Neck State Park (the site of our first camping trip) and hoped the weather would cooperate.

We arrived to warm weather but cloudy skies. But the clouds quickly passed and we had sun for the rest of the day.  Here is everyone taking a lunch break.
Paul and N

The family H.

The family G (two sitting, two in back).

Rudy ate and then ran back to play. He was digging holes and then discovered the little gullies that had been formed from recent rain.

Soon all the kids wanted to check them out (especially once they realized how warm the water was).

Then they followed the waterways to figure out where the gullies came from.

N had a great time in the water. Charlotte kept watch over him and played with him and was a great babysitter.

He also loved splashing with Chris.

Rudy was hard to photograph because he and Lily G spent most of their time way out in the water. (The nice thing about this beach is you can be out where the boats are in the back ground, and the water is still only up to the kids' chests.) On one of the forays out there, the kids found a live and a dead fish. Rudy brought the dead fish in to show every one and then buried it.

And prayed over it.

The "big kids"- Rudy, Lily and Lily had fun on the playground.

Some views of the beach from the top of the hill where the parking and bathrooms are.

It was a beautiful, fun day and well worth the two hour drive to get there!

Camping, Part 4 - Day 3

We woke up well-rested on Sunday and had a lazy morning around camp before breakfast (eggs and sausage - we ate really well the whole time!).

Liliana and Lily hanging out with Olav.





Rudy snuggling with Kim.


After breakfast we started packing everything up. Here Lily and Liliana play in an empty tent.

Before we took the tent down, we had a family picture taken.

Kim occupied the kids with a story.

A butterfly landed on Liliana's sandal and stayed there for a few seconds.

The whole gang - one last picture before leaving our site.

Then the kids - our gorgeous Guatemalans. Rudy is the oldest and Lily is the youngest but there are only 5 months between them. You can really see how tall Rudy is in comparison to the girls. I'm guessing he'd be off the charts in Guatemala.

And not to be left out, Charlotte poses for her picture.

After packing everything up, Kim, Olav, Lily, Paul, Rudy and I headed for a trail that led to a lighthouse. Here we are overlooking the Chesapeake Bay (I think).

It was a beautiful walk. Lily and I are way ahead trying to hide from everyone.

Taking a rest.

Now Rudy and I walk ahead of everyone.

Lily and Rudy got in the habit of running ahead and finding the next bench to hide under. Then we had to pretend we couldn't find them and they'd jump out at us.

The lighthouse - it is high p on the cliffs, so it didn't have to be very tall. There was a very narrow windy staircase to climb up and look out.

After walking up the lighthouse, we took little rest on the lawn.

Once again, walking back the kids were behind us, instead of in front. Lily running to catch up.

Paul and Olav encouraging Rudy and Lily to walk, not be carried.

Such a cool picture of the dads and kids.

Paul and Lily running ahead - at the end at last!

Olav and Rudy taking one last look at the view.

One of the nice things about this trip was how well the kids all got along (yes, there were some squabbles but they were minor and easily overcome). It was also neat the way the kids got along with the other parents and would hang out, talk to, or walk with, someone else's mom or dad, even if their own was nearby.

On the way home, Rudy (delirious since he wouldn't sleep) said, "Look at my thumb. Take a picture of it. " So Paul did. We made great time going home. We really enjoyed our first camping experience (although is till say it is a lot of work - not exactly a vacation!) and had a BLAST with our friends. Maybe we can get together sooner than a year, but either way, we're doing it again next year!

Camping, Part 3 - Day 2

Rudy was, as always, awake early the next morning. Near our campsite was a playground, so we headed over there while waiting for some others to wake up. This view is of our area from the playground - you can see some tents just past the trees.

After playing on the playground, Rudy decided to chill out for a while and wait for breakfast.

After a delicious breakfast of french toast and strawberries courtesy of Kim and Olav, we headed to the beach. We had to drive about a mile and a half. This is the view as we entered the beach area. You can see the water in the middle. I think we decided it was part of the Chesapeake Bay or Elk River.

The water was nice - not too cold and very calm (at least in the beginning). This fish flopped all around in the water and was very hard to catch.

The two Lilys playing in the water. If you look closely you can see Paul and Rudy in the background. Although they were out pretty far, Rudy could still stand there. The bottom was full of rocks until you got to where Paul and Rudy were so anyone who went out deeper made it a point to go that far and stand on the sand instead of the rocks.

Charlotte enjoying the water.

After playing in the water for a while, we had lunch and then headed to the playground. Rudy and Lily loved spinning and swinging on this tire swing. Every time it slowed down, they would tell Paul to push them again. A few minutes after this picture was taken, poor Liliana felt the effects of spinning after lunch and got sick. She told Paul she was sorry she had just thrown up and then asked him to push her again! The poor girl was not happy to be taken off the swing.

Lily, on the other hand, was content to just sit in this swing and be pushed by me.

After playing at the playground, Liliana and Charlotte went off with Chris and Megan for a drive (aka a nap) and Lily went with Olav for the same thing. Our son, being the one who wouldn't sleep no matter what we did, went back into the water for another hour to swim and play with Paul. Kim and I got some time in the water to just hang out and talk.

We finally decided it was time to head back to the camp and packed up and went back. Liliana and Charlotte were still out, but Lily was back, so she and Rudy had fun drawing pictures together on the drawing pads.

After her nap, Charlotte was raring to go. She loved playing with the soccer ball. The problem was, she loved playing with it on the cement right next to the cement wall of the bathhouse - it led to a few bumps and bruises.

Once everyone was back and awake, and had played for a while at camp, Kim, Paul and I decided to take the kids for a walk on a trail, which would lead us to the park store where we could get ice cream. Megan, Chris and Olav stayed back to start dinner and do things around camp.

Heading out on our walk- notice that the kids are running ahead of everyone - that changes later! Rudy, Lily and Liliana ran ahead, stopping periodically when we would yell for them to stop.

A perfect spot for a picture - 4 gorgeous, happy kids chilling out. It's amazing that we got them all to sit and pose for the camera!

The trail took us around part of the lake. At one point there was a sign showing turtles on a log and an arrow pointing to this area. We were disappointed that we couldn't find any turtles. In fact, Charlotte had to be encouraged to leave because she insisted she was waiting to see the turtles.

When we reached the store, we came out in a field and I saw a small animal - maybe a groundhog or mole - run and hide under the building. I told the kids if we stood quietly, maybe we could see it come out. They were good sports, but it didn't come out again. At one point, we did see it stick its head out, but it scurried back when it realized we were still around.

We stopped for ice cream, but no pictures were taken because 4 kids 4 and under with ice cream are a little messy and we were busy wiping hands and spills. I wish I had taken pictures, though. They sure did enjoy it!

Before heading back to the trail, Rudy and Lily tried to leave some grass for the animal hiding under the building to eat.

There were several obstacles on our walk including a big mud puddle and this little log bridge.

This is approaching the last area before we returned to our campsite. You can see how Paul is first, like the Pied Piper, and he has 3 little mice following him - no one running anymore!

And here are Charlotte and Kim bringing up the rear. Charlotte was such a trooper - she's only 2 but she kept up with the big kids and pretty much ran the whole time. She has such energy and toughness. She never asked to be carried or complained she was tired.

Kim and Olav had brought some craft supplies for the kids, which was the perfect relaxing activity after our long walk while we waited for dinner.

Rudy taking some down time with Paul after a little meltdown. He was soooo exhausted after swimming for so long. He hit the point where even if we gave him exactly what he wanted, he wasn't happy.

Olav brought his guitar (Paul was sorry he couldn't bring his, but it just wouldn't fit in the car), so he played some songs and the girls had fun dancing along.

Liliana was just sooo happy to have the opportunity to sing and hear the guitar.

After a yummy dinner of burgers, chips and strawberry shortcake, brought and cooked by Megan and Chris, we also made some s'mores again. (No, it wasn't our healthiest eating day when you include the ice cream - but we did get lots of exercise to balance it out!)

After the s'mores it was bath and bed time for all the kids. This time the adults (or most of them) managed to stay up a little later and sit around and talk - a nice relaxing end to a busy day.