Monday, July 04, 2011

Beach Vacation #2

After our time playing on the beach, we went back to the house we were renting for the weekend and made heated up some frozen pizzas in the oven and had lunch with my Mom and Dad and then set off to get a seat for the 4th of July parade, which just happened to be a couple of blocks from the house we were staying in. Trying to get four children to pose is of course near impossible, but this is as close as I could get to them all looking at me!

I tried again in vain to get my Mom to take a picture (mainly to prove that I DO go on these vacations too) and Josiah decided that he was going to be difficult and not allow himself to be photographed. The kids really enjoyed the parade and Grandma bought them some M & M's to enjoy as they watched. Naomi fell asleep half-way through the parade though in her little stroller and we strolled her home that way too.

She got to saying, "Ooo, AHH" over and over again with very pronounced vowels and Caleb joined in with her and I caught Caleb in an "AH" and Naomi in an "Ooo." Fun to see them interacting. Caleb is the best at doing "baby things" with Naomi, but he is also the one who will suddenly turn and randomly hit her or push her down too, so I have to watch carefully. Here is a video clip of this same photograph.

There was this big fire truck that was mainly a water truck with huge wheels that came by on the parade route that then parked across the street from where we were at the end. The driver allowed the twins to sit in the wheel well for a photo opportunity. We got one of Josiah sitting in the other wheel too!

After all the kiddos had a nap, we journeyed over to Long Beach where my parents were staying and roamed around that area for a bit. There is this nice little area where we stopped and let the kids look at the pretty flowers and such while we were waiting for the rest of our party to meet up with us. Naomi blends in well here with her pretty flower dress and Daddy is lifting Daniel up in the background.

Naomi gets her turn to be lifted up by Daddy, but this kind of activity doesn't prove to be girl-approved for long as she started to fuss and want down pretty quick after Daddy started swinging her up and down. Girls have things to do when there are flowers around Daddy!

There was this little "Mother Goose" show at a stage that was set up downtown and we caught the tail end of it where Mother Goose was letting the kids pet her bunny. When Caleb sidled up to her, she saw his black eye (which he got falling off a chair about a week prior) and remarked, "Did you and your brother get in a fight?" and he said, "Yeah!" Not far from the truth, but not actually the truth in this case.

Then we went to pay a visit to the Carousel as Naomi had never been on one before. I strapped the twins onto their ponies of choice and then got Naomi on a pony of her own. Before the Carousel started to move, she was pushing on his mane and bobbing back and forth to try and get him to go. We have a youtube clip of that here if you would like to see it! In that same video, you will see Josiah on the pony next to her as well. After we had dinner, we all headed to Grandpa and Grandma's hotel and went swimming in the pool there. It was Naomi's first encounter in a pool and she wasn't too happy to be in the water. She clung to me for dear life the whole time and was super sleepy and so we didn't stay too long in the pool. All the kiddos wore life jackets, and with three adults in the water, it worked out nicely.

When we got home from our trip the next day our "I'm not tired" Josiah was crashed out on our chair with his new boat that he got from Grandma. This about sums up what a vacation is like with four kiddos under the age of six! We needed a vacation from the vacation! They always have a hard time adjusting to new sleeping arrangements and new routines, and so it is a challenge for all of us, but we made some fun memories for sure!

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