Happy 4th

We were in our first parade this year for 4th of July.  Noah's Ark had a float in the Barrington parade and it was a lot of fun.  It was literally almost 100 degrees during the parade, so once it started all the kids did actually ride the float as opposed to walk, but it was still fun and we hope to be in more parades in the future.

Even though Jonah doesn't go to Noah's Ark right now he got to come along and be in the parade with us.

Please Touch

We finally made it to the Please Touch Museum in Philly this visit with Gran.  It was lots of fun, as long as you go early.  Here I am in the hamster wheel having a nice run.

These blowers were supposed to blow balls around, but Jonah thought it was funny to have it blow into his face.

When mummy said it was time to leave the water table and go downstairs, this is what Jonah thought about her idea.

On the drive out to Avalon, we watched Alice in Wonderland for the first time.  It made this exhibit where we painted the white roses red all the more interesting for us.

Maybe I have a future in medicine.  I was able to convince Noah to let me check him out.

The Adventures Continue

It wouldn't be a visit to Gran's without visiting the Elkton Orchard.  This year we met the Watsons there to extend our playtime from Avalon.  It was another perfect day in Elkton.

Even Sadie got in on some of the action, even if it was just to watch.

We all loved the wooden vehicles to play in this year.  Anyone for a school bus ride?

We also went to a retired airplane museum in Dover.  It was super cool.  Here were are next to the recently retired Airforce II.  I already forget if it was retired before or during the Obama administration, but it was in action not that long ago and we got to go inside and check it out.  It was awesome!

 Inside the museum they had a little airplane that we could play in and look like we were flying.  Anna's got to learn to keep 2 hands on the steering wheel.

Noah has the same lesson to learn.  He got to go into the old air traffic control tower for Dover Airforce base.  the stairs were pretty steep, so only he and mummy went up but he said it was interesting.

You'll see that I have already mastered the 2 hand driving technique.

Adventures in the Mid-Atlantic

While visiting Gran we went to some local botanical gardens.  Forget the flowers and trees, I was most interested in playing in the water fountain!

Full family shot

Who can resist little kids walking up a hill?

 Hanging with Gran

The night before we arrived to visit Gran, her neighborhood was hit with a microbust that took down one of her front trees.  While we were visiting we got to watch them cut the rest of the tree down and then grind the stump.  It was interesting work and we were great supervisors from the porch.

5

Not only did I get to celebrate my birthday in Avalon, I also got to celebrate at Gran's house.  Although she didn't ask me what kind of cake I wanted, I was full of suggestions for her.  We settled on a garbage truck cake that didn't taste a thing like garbage.

Here I am blowing out my candles.

The Gang's All Here

The whole Avalon crew: (back) Murgatroyds, Gordons, Watsons, Goodalls, Dorns (front) Leslie, Whitlock, Lohneses (just in case you're counting, 15 adults and 15 kids)

Cademond and Jonah were pals back when we lived in MA because they're so close in age and they were able to pal around again in Avalon.

The family photo from this year.  The thing with more kids is that it's harder to get a good picture of everyone, so this will have to do for this year.

 Me and my brothers.

Last year they were the freshmen class, so I guess this year they're the sophomore class - Jonah, Cademond and Pillar.

All the kids: me, Jonah, Brenna, Cora, Lily, Noah, Cademond, Sam, Hannah, Jack, Sadie, Ellie, Finn, Selah and Pillar.

Me and Noah working on our crazy eyes.

Beach Fun

No trip to Avalon is complete without a trip to the boardwalk arcade.  Jonah didn't get to play too many games, but did like to get close to learn our technique.

Here Noah and I are working on our bowling technique.  Mummy thinks that skee-ball is the most awesome arcade game ever and doesn't understand why we would choose to bowl instead of play skee-ball, but there are some things that mummy's just don't understand.

In this car I can't be a backseat driver, but I can be a passenger seat driver.

For Noah's birthday we took him to Avalon Freeze for a special treat.  We don't know if it was the ultra-hot weather or the overwhelming fun he'd been having all week, but all he wanted was a bottle of water.

Jonah was more interested in the ice cream aspect of our special treat though, which is clear by his chocolate face.

Auntie Leslie came with us for Noah's birthday treat.

Party

To up the ante for the Avalon birthday party for Brenna and me, Mrs. Murgatroyd got a pinata.  What she didn't realize is that dolphins are my favorite sea creatures, so I had a hard time with this.  Well, only kind of.  I wasn't excited about the idea before pinata time, but did get caught up in the mob mentality when the time came.  Of course, the next day I sat with the remains of the dolphin to mourn the loss.  Although there will be probably be a pinata next year, I don't think it will be any kind of sea creature, for which I am grateful.

Our birthday cake this year was a step up from last year.  It does reflect the beach theme a bit more then last years.

 Me and Brenna right before cake time.  Don't you think we look a little older then we did last year?

As you can see, I did get into the pinata experience during the moment.

Mr. Murgatoryd going a little "pirate" with the dolphin.

Jonah found candy on the ground an exciting development.

Avalon Shores

Another successful trip to the Jersey Shore.  Avalon was actually listed in the top 10 family beaches in the US this year and we know why.  We had a great time catching up with old friends and we really didn't miss a beat, despite it being almost a year since we last saw everyone.  It was an awesome trip!

Everyday shortly after we arrived at the beach Anna would ask for a snack.  On this day she was told she had to wait, and as you can see she wasn't excited about that prospect.

For my birthday the Murgatroyds gave me a kite.  It really was fitting, as every year they bring a kite to fly on the beach.  I had a lot of fun flying my dog kite and understand why the Murgatroyds think it's a fun beach activity.

Jonah loved being at the beach.  He loved playing with the toys in the sand about as much as he loved playing in the water.  He really is a beach baby!

As a classic beach activity, I was buried in the sand.  They tried to turn me into a merman, but it's kind of hard to see.  It was fun to be buried in the sand, but I was pretty worried about getting sand in my eyes.

Jonah made the sand burying a bit tough because he kept crawling all over me.  My favorite part of it all, breaking out of the sand.