Beach 2011

Last week we were at the beach for our annual Hatten family vacation with Mimi & PopPop and Aunt Wissa, Uncle Andy, and baby Marshall. The kids, especially Will, had been counting down the days until we could go to the beach. We always have so much fun and this year was no exception.

On the first night we were there, PopPop found a boogy board. (I don't know if that's how you're supposed to spell that.) Will declared that he knew how to boogy board and was going to do it in the morning. "Sure...." we all thought. And sure enough, the next morning he went out to the ocean and promptly started riding the waves. He was much braver in the ocean than he is in the pool. He had a great time jumping waves, riding waves, and playing with Jay in the ocean. He spent lots of time in the ocean. And I tried not to worry about the reports we heard about sharks and jellyfish!

Anna had a great time playing with Marshall. She currently loves baby dolls (learning from Catherine I guess) and says "baby" all the time. I'm pretty sure she thought Marshall was a really fun baby doll. She'd chase after him while he crawled all around and they kept getting into all kinds of mischief. They'd go up and down the stairs together, into bathroom cabinets, and bang on the window (notice the low window in the laundry room that was just perfect for them). On this particular morning, they decided to help with laundry and threw laundry all over the place.

Catherine loves being with her family so much. She cherishes the role of big sister and cousin and is quick to organize everyone's activities. She loved the pool more than the ocean--she's my girl and cries if she gets saltwater in her eyes. But she did enjoy drawing pictures in the sand. She also did lots of puzzles, played games, collected lots of shells that we're now making crafts with, and watched Disney movies.

On the last night we decided to take a sweet group photo of the kids. Look at these precious children! And sweet little Marshall is so much fun. Our kids adore him. At times they overwhelm him with their adoration I think.

After a couple of photos though, the sweet photo shoot was going more like this.

Crazy fun, I say.

We can't wait until beach week next year!