Photos From The Beach: We Partied 'Cause It Was My Birthday

Sunday morning we (Jim and I) slept in, to the sounds of grand children squealing while playing and the smells of bacon cooking on the stove. It was my birthday and the girls were up preparing breakfast for the family.

When I finally came out of the bedroom, I was greeted by this handsome face. Maddux was all bright eyed and bushy tailed!

These two were thoroughly enjoying each other's company. It is great when cousins are close in age!
They even ate breakfast together at the 'kids table'. They are growing up so fast!
I thought these next two pictures summed up Brooke's personality pretty well.
Her angry face...
...and her happy face! These pictures were taken about five minutes apart. (I think she takes after me!)
Davin LOVES baby Maddux. Here they are on the floor playing together.
What's that? Up in the air? Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No, it's Papaw flying a kite! (A My Little Pony kite, no less.)
It was a bit windy out on the deck, just ask Brooke.
Davin was so excited by the kite that he was ready to flip, literally!
I will be back to post more pictures from later that afternoon when we went to the actual beach.

Seeing UFO's

...Unexpected and Fascinating Observations, that is.

I had two UFO sightings yesterday.

The first one occurred while I was driving in to work.

I had only traveled about a half mile after pulling onto the freeway when I noticed a cow walking up the off ramp toward the freeway. This cow had not missed any meals...so it was hard to overlook. I wanted to circle back to take a picture of this odd sight when I remembered that even though I had all three compact flashes with me, I didn't have a camera. BUMMER!

The second sighting was on my drive home.

I went a different route so that I could pick up Popeye's Chicken on the way. (I had been to the grocery store after work and it took longer than I wanted so I had no extra time to cook.) As I drove down a two lane paved road I spied a cat with the biggest head I had ever seen. I wondered if it was actually a bobcat, so I stopped and put the car in reverse to see if it was still in the ditch. Lo and behold, he was still there...and yes, it was a bobcat. (Still no camera!) I am 46 years old and this was my first live bobcat sighting! I was so excited I sent Jim (who was golfing) a text message to tell him about it. That is probably the closest I will ever come to 'Twitter'ing!

Have you seen anything Unexpected or Fascinating this week?

Photos From The Beach: July 4, 2009

Finally, pictures from the beach! I brought my compact flash to work with me today so that I can share a few (dozen) pictures from our beach vacation last week.

Today's pictures will focus on how we spent our time on Independence Day.

This is our 'Land Without Time'...the place where even the youngest members of the family found it easy to relax.

Doesn't that deck look inviting? Especially with those bright colored Adirondack chairs? I am here to tell you that is a wonderful place.

I woke earlier than the rest of the house on the 4th because I could smell the aroma of barbecue brisket coming from the kitchen...and it smelled like it was time to come out of the oven!

After removing the brisket, I started the coffee pot and slipped out on the deck to see the sunrise. It was a glorious red-orange color as it broke through the low lying clouds. This picture does not do it justice at all!

I then turned the camera on the early morning surf. The water was so blue on Friday and Saturday. The clearest I have ever seen the Gulf of Mexico this far north.

The beach was quiet while I sat on the deck with my coffee, my camera and a book. A little bit of calm before the storm!

I returned to the kitchen to make breakfast before starting the ribs and all the sides for our Fourth of July Barbecue with Robin and her family.

Throughout the remainder of the day different ones would pick up the camera and capture some of the moments. Here are some of those pictures:

Maddux and Papaw

Maddux laughing in his exerciser

Inquisitive Brooke-y Bear

Have I told you that she is a fireball?

And that she can be LOUD?

Davin's funny food face

Will, chilling on the deck mid afternoon.

See all those people who joined us at the beach to celebrate the 4th!

Brian coming in from playing in the surf.

Bri and Booke

Kelli and Maddux

Meagan kicking into 'vacation' mode.

This is where I spent most of my day...but I loved every moment of it. I love a party, especially if it means friends and family and good food.

It appears that Mr. Green killed Miss Scarlet in the hall with the revolver! (while her back was turned, no less!)

The kids played Clue while I cooked. It was like old times!

And for some strange reason, we took absolutely NO pictures of our barbecue party!

But I did snap this one of Davin and Brooke watching fireworks from the deck that night.

Brooke didn't care much for them at first, but then she and Davin would yell 'boom' and 'pow' as they sailed overhead...followed by cries for 'more'!

But for some reason, in the back of mind, all I could hear was the Black Eyed Peas singing!