4th of July Fun

The 4th of July is a big holiday for my family because it's my sister Keri's birthday and we have a lot of traditions. For as long as I can remember, we've spent the day at the beach. We go down really early in the morning, stake out our territory, and try to block out other invaders throughout the day. We weren't sure what to expect this year because the 4th fell on a Saturday, but there were no fireworks at the beach. The morning crew claimed excellent shore front property on Saturday around 6:30. There wasn't the usual mad dash for the last inch of space on the beach, but it did fill up slowly throughout the day. I came down at 9:00 with Bailey with all of the gear for the day. We weren't planning on staying all day and night at the beach because of the lack of fireworks and because we didn't think that all of the babies would last that long. Well, what do we know about babies?! The kids lasted all day from 9:00-6:00! Bailey, Kate, and Owen get an A+++ for the day. They were able to play, eat, and nap enough to last the entire day at the beach.

Bailey's favorite part of the beach was the sand. There were several times during the day when I looked at her as she was rolling around in the sand. Just the thought of being completely covered in sand sounds miserable to me, but she didn't mind at all. She did eat her fair amount of sand while she was playing, but I guess that's just part of being a kid. The water was really cold, but my mom bought a little inflatable pool that we filled with water and it warmed in the sun throughout the day. Most of my day was spent playing with Bailey in the sand and constantly covering her with sunscreen. I really didn't want her to burn, so I put more sunscreen on her at least once every two hours. All of the kids made it throughout the day sunburn free!

After a good day at the beach, we went to the Pack's house for yummy food and a perfect view of the fireworks. I'd like to say that Bailey enjoyed the fireworks, but I think she was way too tired to notice what she was looking at. On our way home from the Packs, we literally drove into a fireworks show in San Marcos so we pulled over to watch. We took Bailey out to watch; her eyes were open but she was totally zoned out. It was a perfect ending to another successful 4th of July celebration.

My camera's battery died as soon as I got it out for the first picture of the day, but I took some with Sam's camera (thanks Sam!). Here are some shots of the day:

This was the first picture of the day. Notice how clean and sand-free she is.

This is a more realistic view of what she looked like for most of the day--completely covered in sand!When she wasn't rolling in the sand, she was eating a little at a time from her shovel.

Here the girls spend a little time with Grandpa in the shade. I believe this picture was right before they both went down for a nap and right before my dad gave both of them back to us!