fun with friends ~ July 3rd

After the Treasure Island 5k, we enjoyed Saturday with some college friends.  Tyler and Laura Nysoe came out to the beach with their too cute for words baby Julian :)  He is 6 months old and so adorable!!!  We were so excited to finally meet baby Julian, and of course to see Laura and Tyler too!

The Daddys and their boys ~ as you can see, they get a little more wiggly at 11.5 months ;-)

Troy and his girlfriend Brandy also joined the party.  Troy, Tyler and Garrett are fraternity brothers.  Alli took about 20 minutes to warm up to everyone but once she did, she had no problem asking ordering the guys to play with her on the beach ;-)

We lucked out and had a pocket of about 3 hours of really sunny, warm weather and took full advantage by going down to the beach where the guys dug clams and the kids played with rocks!

The guys digging (okay, digging may be a huge overstatement!) clams ~ notice the little helper . . .

Alli took quite a liking to Troy who was kind enough to throw rocks with her :)

After spending lots of time on the beach, it was time to grill up those clams!

I'm not one to eat clams but everyone else said they were great!

It was so much fun to sit around relaxing and chatting. 

I got to hear some VERY entertaining stories about G in college ;-)

Laura and Julian seemed to enjoy visiting too!

G holding baby Julian while Tyler (aka Daddy) holds a beer ~ life is good!

Everyone took off around 7ish.  It was pretty cute ~ as the Nysoes were leaving, Alli announced that she was going with them!  Yep, she definitely warmed up to them.  She hopped in the passenger seat but looked at Laura and I and said "Don't worry, I'm not really going" ;-)  She is such a funny little gal!

We had such a great time with everyone and hope to do it again soon!

After they left, we put Eli to bed and Alli got in her PJs.  Since they were sharing a room, we wanted to make sure Eli was completely zonked before putting Alli to bed.  She thought this was great since she got to stay up way past her bed time and enjoy roasting marshmallows and watching fireworks (various neighbors put on quite a display on Saturday!)  We roasted Alli's red, white and blue marshmallows and they were Yum-O!

A perfect day and we managed to get Alli down for bed at 9:30 without disturbing Eli!

Treasure Island 5k

On Saturday morning (July 3rd), we packed the car and the kids and headed out to Treasure Island to spend the 4th of July weekend.  We needed to be there early as we were participating in the Treasure Island 5k ~ our first 5k in years and the kids first ever road race :)  As you can see, they were very excited!

They were bundled up because it was a little chilly and misty.

So deceiving since I didn't actually push the stroller ~ that was G's job ;-)

Here we are with our fancy and BRIGHT shirts and numbers.

Sadly, Eli didn't get a shirt because they didn't come that small but I don't think he was too upset about it :)

Alli was VERY excited!

Look at our little runner go . . .

She even pushed Eli for a little while!

Okay Daddy, your turn again!

She fell down and scraped her knees but only cried a bit :) 

Then decided it was more fun to be on Daddy's shoulders!

Okay, so I guess I did push the stroller for a bit while running with just Eli in it! :)

Here we are back at the beach after our fun "race" ~ I use that term very loosely!

All that running made for two very hungry munchkins!

Our first family race was a hit!

4th of July Treats

Our 4th of July weekend of fun began on Friday, July 2nd, when Alli and I made some very yummy red, white and blue treats while enjoying a patriotic lunch :)

Who doesn't love a star shaped cheese sandwich with blueberries and strawberries???

Alli was very excited for this lunch and project!

Multitasking ~ she gets this from her Daddy ;-)

So proud of her red, white and blue sprinkled rice krispy treats!

What to do with the left over sugar crystals?  Dip your strawberries in them of course!

The finished project . . . red, white and blue marshmallows!

Alli LOVED these and G and I decided that they make the BEST s'mores!  YUMMY!

BQ 2010

So after Alli's dance recital on June 26th, we decided to head out to the beach to partake in BQ 2010 (i.e. Booty Quake).  This is an annual shindig that G's brother Zach hosts every year at the beach for his buddies.  We were assured that it was "little kid" friendly so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went.  It was interesting ;-)

First, I have to share a pic of Alli "reading" in the car on the way to the beach.  I had brought along one of my Mommy magazines and she insisted that she needed to read it . . .

We showed up to find 5 or 6 guys sitting around the table outside playing drinking games.  No kids and no females!  Fortunately, the guys cleaned up their language a bit in front of Alli and Eli.  Alli wanted to know what some words meant ~ we explained that the boys were just being silly and promptly went down to the beach ~ YIKES! ;-)

The kids had fun throwing (Alli) and eating (Eli) rocks! 

Alli did her best to convince Eli that rocks weren't for eating :)

Since it was so nice, we (okay, Alli and G!) decided to jump in the water.

This is about as much water as Eli got to enjoy, but I assure you, he had a great time! 

The water isn't exactly warm but Alli wanted to fully jump in just like Daddy.

I managed to get the full progression of this event and it is quite cute . . .

Working up her nerve

There she goes

And, she's down

Back up, still trying to get to Daddy

Down again

Finally, Daddy to the rescue ~ she was less than pleased.

I was laughing hysterically on the beach.

All the while telling her what a great job she did!

So proud of her first "Polar Plunge"! 

 Yep, that's how Mommy spun it, making a huge deal to get a smile back on that cold, and somewhat grumpy, little face ;-)

Back at the cabin, entertaining Eli.  He was giggling nonstop as Alli put the toy on his head.  Silly kids!

All dried off and fed, time to play with Uncle Z and be silly

Needless to say, both kids crashed on the way home.

Definitely made for a very fun day!!!

Happy Independence Day!

More to come later . . . we're exhausted after a fun filled weekend.  Hope your 4th has been as great as ours!