Do you want to see something really scary?!

Anslee and her cousin Ashlyn!! They are two peas in a pod. You never know what is going to happen when they are together. Our nieces, Ashlyn and Alex, spent the night last night. At any point when we couldn't see Ashlyn and Anslee yesterday, Keith or I would run around the house to check on them. Usually they were in some random room or closet with the door locked!! Luckily we didn't find any huge catastrophes when we found them. Hopefully there isn't a surprise waiting for us.

Graduation

I can't believe how fast time flies. My niece graduated from highschool this year.

It seems like just yesterday that she was a tiny little two year old.

CONGRATULATIONS KIRSTIE!

Hair

Anslee wants long hair more than anything, but her hair is growing SO slowly!! She uses her clothes (or anything else that would work) to put on her head to make long hair. We were in the store yesterday and a little girl with long braids passed by us. Anslee asked if I would "braid her hair long" when we got home. I explained that her hair wasn't long enough to do that yet. She said "how about if you do it next weekend then?"
In the bathtub she figures bubbles will have to do for hair.

Beach Trip

Our family trip to Rosemary Beach is something we look forward to all year long. I can't believe it's over!! This year there were 19 of us. Ten adults and nine children. We had so much fun.

Thanks so much to Mom and Dad for arranging this every year! This is a picture of Grandmommy and Granddaddy and all but three of their grandchildren. The cousins had a blast together and it is such a great time of bonding for all of them. My brother's family moved away from us this summer and now none of us live nearby :-(

This is the first year we've experienced the "June grass". It was a thick green algae that was so thick in the water (think spinach or pea soup) and then there were times it was hardly there. I looked it up and it usually occurs in the Florida panhandle from early May to mid June. For some reason it decided to stick around and wait for us in mid July. Usually morning was nice so we would get to the beach around 8 am until about 12:30.

You can see how clean the water is in this morning picture. Under Uncle Mike's supervision (he is an architect afterall), the children used the seaweed to make their sandcastles extra sturdy.We spent the afternoons going to the pool...

and riding bikes. The favorite destination was the Sugar Shack and Starbucks.

On Thursday all the guys (except Colin because he is only 1) went deep sea fishing. They caught Red Snapper. This is a picture of Keith and Andrew (with Anslee) when they arrived at the dock. The pink tulle on Anslee's head is her "long hair".

The deck hand cut all the fish for us and then bagged it for us to take to the restaurant located nearby.

We walked to the restaurant and they blackened and fried the snapper for us. It was incredible! It had to be the freshest fish I've ever had!A favorite time for everybody was cooking dinner every night. Each family had a night to cook dinner. The first night my sister RM made the most delicious shrimp and sausage gumbo. The next night Brandi and Mike made steak and shrimp kabobs, oven roasted potatoes and vegetables. The next night Keith made his low country boil with shrimp and crab legs. Then Ben and Amy made sashimi nachos and fish tacos with red beans and rice. Probably the best dinners ever. Luckily, I only gained 1 pound :-).

Andrew and Anslee are always so sad to leave the beach. The first night home Anslee cried because she missed her cousins so much. I miss everyone too. Now we have a whole year to wait...