Pottery

We went back to the pottery painting shop again this year to make our souvenirs. The girls love anything that involves paint, so needless to say, they had a blast! And, we made some super cute souvenirs!!

Anna really got into this year... didn't want any help at all!

Claire really didn't want my help either!

Grammy made a spoon rest!

The girls making Christmas ornaments!

X Marks the Spot

Grammy had the fun idea to hide a treasure in the sand and have the girls go on a treasure hunt on the beach. The girls had a fun time searching for the "X" that marks the spot!

Heading to the treasure hunt!

Grammy giving the girls their instructions and shovels to begin the search!

They found the "X", now begins the digging.

After some hard work digging, they found the treasure box!

They were so excited!!

Inside they found necklaces and some other edible treats!

"Best Friends" necklaces!! What a fun adventure!

Beach Photos

I got up early one morning to take some photos of the girls on the beach. It was such a beautiful morning and I know I will always treasure these photos!

I titled this photo "Footprints in the Sand". I feel like this photo was a gift from God. I am by no means a professional photographer, but I just love what I captured!

Surf Fishing

The boys enjoyed surf fishing on the shoreline again this year and even caught a couple fish! They also went on another deep sea fishing expedition and brought home some fish to eat for dinner. Fun times for the guys!

Papa with a catch!

The guys doing their thing!

They caught something! So exciting!

Claire checking out the fish!

Uncle Brad on the fishing expedition!

Papa with one of his catches.

They had a good time!

More Beach FUN!!

More beach fun!

Grammy & Aunt Sharon

Love this of Anna & Papa running on the beach!

Family time!

She loves hats! Grammy's hat matched her suit perfectly!

Brothers!

Playing in the surf is the best!

Grammy & Papa were nice enough to get up with the girls most mornings to let me and Ben sleep in. This morning they went to the beach in their jammies to look for shells!

This is a good shot of our beach house in the background!

Pool Time

I am pretty sure the girls enjoyed our pool at the beach house more than the BEACH itself! Ben and I joke that we should just go to a Holiday Inn with a pool from now on! They really do enjoy being in the water. Between our week in the pool on vacation and spending a lot of time at Shawn and Kristen's pool this summer, both girls have learned how to swim! So exciting!

You can see our pool and the ocean in this picture! Ahhh!!

I lost track of how many times the girls jumped in the pool while we were there. It was constant!

The hot tub was so relaxing!

Swimming at night with the lights on is so much fun! We let the girls stay up late a couple nights to experience the excitement!

Both girls jumping in at the same time!

Emerald Isle '11

I kind of forgot to blog about our beach vacation. Better late than never, I guess! We returned to Emerald Isle, North Carolina this year. We LOVE this destination. Our beach house is beautiful and right on the ocean. We practically had a private beach! How amazing is that?

Making sand castles with Grammy!

Ahh, this is the life! So relaxing with not a soul in sight!

Love the ocean! We were blessed with perfect weather... not even a drop of rain and temps in the low-mid 80's. Heaven on earth!

Fun in the sun!