The Desert!

A few weeks ago we took a grand trip to the desert!  No, actually, it was to the beach.  But Sydney kept exclaiming that she was at the desert.  So we indulged her.

It's so nice having family so close to the beach.  It's like two trips in one!  Visit the grandparents plus the beach - and extra bonus this time was Pat's aunt from Missouri and his sister's whole family were there too!  

Hurry up guys!

Miss Priss had little interest in the waves so she stuck to the sand.

 

Not only did we hit the beach, but Mamie and Papa have a dock and a boat behind their house.  This was Fletcher's first boating adventure.  I knew we were in trouble when, before we even left the dock, he began saying "All done, all done!"  The choppiness of the bay was a little unsettling but when we got back into the calm waters, he loosened up and tolerated the trip.  He might have even enjoyed a few moments.

 Our favorite boat captain, Papa!

There was a pretty big swamp fire not far from us and the constant stream of helicopters above, produced a lot of photos like this...

Mamie and Papa also have an awesome backyard.  Fletcher turned into a nudist most afternoons there.

We did spend some time indoors.  All that fun in the sun made us ravenous!

Fletcher bonded with his Great Aunt Shirley.

 He especially loved her cane.

 Which quickly became his weapon of choice.  Oh dear!

Sydney got her first make-up lesson.  

And braids!

Overheard conversation between Sarah (my niece and Syd's stylist) and Tracy (my sis-in-law and Sarah's mom)...

Tracy: Sarah, do you think it's a good idea to let Sydney play with that make-up? 

Sarah: But she's really good at it, mom.

But then Fletcher wanted in so we had to shut that operation down.

Even a little rain outside couldn't squash their fun - or creativity.

And Willie is always a central part of our lives during these visits.  It absolutely made Sydney's day when he crawled onto her lap one morning.

I cannot end this post without boasting about how amazingly good the kids were in the car.  It's a long ride.  9 1/2 hours.  That's long.  Even for an adult.  Much less two little kids.  And this was our first road trip with Sydney post-potty-training!  Despite my worry, we never - not once - had to stop for that little girl's bladder.  Good thing for her, her daddy makes frequent stops and she was always grateful to stretch her legs and check out another new bathroom.  What's the fascination?  Really?  Anyway, super, duper trip!  Tangled and The Lion King on endless repeat didn't hurt either.

Braids

The one who screams bloody murder when you wield a comb (regardless of the fact her hair is so stick straight it will never, ever tangle)...
The one who runs in a panic when you dare produce a ponytail holder...
The one who yells "Don't Mess My Hair" in protest against any effort to clip or tie back her growing locks...


Let me BRAID her hair!!!

Say Cheese!

So we get back from a mini-vacation (more on that later) and Sydney's teachers ask for a photo of Syd and her daddy - probably for some upcoming Father's Day project.


I had at least 800 photos on my camera from our trip to the beach.  Shouldn't be a problem, right?  WRONG.


Would you believe that there was not one photo of Syd and Pat to be found!?!  At least none with both of their faces toward the general direction of the camera.  No pictures from any recent months either.  


Well, we can't have that now can we!


Impromptu photo shoot time!  


She's a tricky one so we had to be clever and fast but I think we did pretty good!