vacation part 7--grand finale

So, all the pictures that haven't been posted are coming at you now, and we can really wrap this vacation up! 

 Grandpa loves hanging with his boys.

Swimming was almost as fun as the beach.

 Owen with his aunties!

 Lewis on the side of the pool.  He just wanted to jump in over and over.

Neglected to post this one earlier.

On June 22nd, we celebrated Billy & Linda's anniversary.  Justin's parents have been married for 50 years!! It is rare & amazing, so we celebrated at a local seafood restaurant, and they put their names on the sign outside.

We were happy to be with them on such a special occasion!

The next morning, we started the long drive home!  We listened to a lot of music and maracas.

We stopped at the peach park, for peaches and a photo opp.

We listened to more music and more maracas.

And then Lewis saw a sign leading to HIS town.  He exclaimed, "It's a burg for me!" Such a funny boy.  Trip home went miraculously well with less stops.  We got to experience Whataburger too.  Stay tuned for highlights from the rest of our summer, in much less photographic detail.

vacation part 6--Owen's birthday

Owen's actual birthday was June 21st.  We did some shopping that day, and the surf was rough, so we hadn't gone down to the beach before dinner.  (This picture was taken at lunchtime).  As we were eating dinner, Owen asked about going to the beach.  We said we might not go today.  He started crying and saying how he was supposed to go to the beach on his birthday, and he wanted to go.  So, cousin Shari piped in that we could go down and take the flashlights to look for sand crabs.  This seemed to be the perfect solution (to avoid changing everyone's clothes right before bedtime), and Owen was really excited!

 Owen with his net out, searching for crabs.

 We stopped to commemorate the moment.

 Justin commemorated this while we were taking the other picture.

 

We tried to get a family portrait (minus Phoebe)

And we tried some more!

 

Aunt Monica and Aunt Jeanne helped!

And after finding a ton of tiny crabs, we found one we could really see.  It was quite fun, and the boys LOVED it!! Perfect end to Owen's birthday.

Phoebe talking!

We had to interrupt the vacation recap in order to bring you a sweet video of our girl saying some words in the bathtub.  She has been trying so hard to communicate.  She sees things outside and tries to say or sign for them.  She signs: bird, milk (for nursing), cheese, more, banana, cookie (sort of!), and yes.  She seems to try to sign other things sometimes, but I'm often not sure what she's trying to communicate.  She does a lot of pointing and yelling to get what she wants.  Her favorite word is "yeah."  We'll ask her if she wants this or that and she'll say, "Yeah!"  So funny.  She also says "baby" a ton. 

This little video shows several of her little words that she is saying a lot lately.  Every time she hears a dog barking she says, "Doggy!"  She's a fun little girl!! And she always has an answer for everything even if sounds like a totally foreign language. :)

vacation part 5--the lagoon

When the waves got too exhausting, we ventured down the beach to a little lagoon.  It was super shallow on the edge and about 3 feet deep in the center. 

Phoebe loved sitting in the water.

They all loved it.

Owen looked for fish, crabs and things to collect in his bucket.

At first, Phoebe just sat and splashed.

 Lewis wanted to float on the boogie board.

The kids all together.

Lewis loved wading out into the deepest part and just hanging out.

We were glad to have found it because it was one of the highlights of our time for sure.

Here's a video of Phoebe walking in the lagoon with Aunt Jeanne.  After she fell in the water a few times, she started doing it on purpose and often would go face first into the water, so it got much less relaxing.  It's sweet to see her exploring the water.

vacation part 4--beach house

A view of the house from the street. It was located in a lovely condo village of sorts, with a nice pool, just a couple blocks from the beach. Each condo had a funny name, and Owen loved walking around reading the names.

The boys slept on these lovely toddler cots.  They called them "beach beds."  We were amazed at how well they slept, but all of the activity had a lot to do with that.

 The view from their cots.

And Phoebe's set up in the closet. She was teething so there was one night of horrible sleep, but amazingly the boys didn't wake up.  They did wake up each morning around 6 which was pretty early, but Grandma was happy to hang out with Owen at that hour.

A couple more indoor shots of the boys.  This is one of Owen eating a beach themed cupcake that Olivia made.

And this one is the boys napping after a long swim.  Well, Owen fell asleep right after this was taken.  They were watching "The Incredibles" and just couldn't stay awake.

 Phoebe learned to climb stairs about 3 or 4 days into our week which made things challenging!  We put some pillows in front of the stairs leading up to the loft where some of the group were sleeping.  She was very frustrated by it, but it kept her from getting up there.  She could climb them in a moment by the end of the week. 

 This is Lewis drawing a picture of the fam at the beach.

 Grandpa and the boys on the back porch.

And the view of the beach from the porch.  It was a nice place!

vacation part 3--sand and waves

 So we enjoyed some time at the beach.  Here's Lewis and Owen walking from the beach house to the beach. Lewis was pretending to be a ninja.

 Grandpa & the boys.

 Three generations of Shepherds.

 Lewis shows his stuff.

Owen asked cousin Shari to help him stand in the rough water. We had yellow and red flags the whole week, meaning the surf was rough and a hurricane/tropical storm came in just after we left.  Owen was very concerned about the flag colors each day, but it was very difficult to wade in the water, especially with kiddos!

 Cousin Olivia and Aunt Jeanne found some shells and showed Lewis.

 Phoebe loved boogie boards and wanted to sit or stand on every one she saw, which made for some awkwardness among our beach "neighbors." Her cute personality and appearance was quickly forgiven.

 Phoebe enjoying the waves.

Owen taking some pics with his new camera.