Chaplin Family at the Beach

I couldn't resist this cliche picture. Something about sitting on the beach with your feet up??
We had a great week at the beach! My favorite part about this year was getting delivered peach daiquiris on the beach by my loving husband. Every year we go to the beach someone brings us buckets of fresh peaches. This year we decided to make drinks with them, why we didn't think to make these in the past years? It was a great week and lots of fun by everyone. I think one reason it was so successful is that we had extra pairs of hands helping with the kids! Someone was correct when they said it takes a village to raise children. A lot of pros's vacationing with family! A big THANK YOU from the Omaha Chaplin's!

Crabbin

Crabbin' 2011

Rob has many fond memories of going crabbin' from his younger years at the beach. They used to get large trash buckets full of crabs and Grandma Chaplin used to spend hours upon hours getting crab meet. This is also my first experience in crabbin'. I wasn't told it would require a lot of patience prior to our adventure. I am sure this information was with held on purpose.

This is the only crab I caught.

Rob caught the first crab.

I didn't capture the dolphin fin in the picture, but we have very intent dolphin watchers.

History in Charleston

We spent an hour downtown walking around the battery in Charleston before our sunset cruise. I spotted this bicycle peddle cart and flagged him down and requested a ride around the block. We sent the two oldest with Grandma Ellen and Ellery wailed like a siren the whole time. I am not sure if anyone else truly enjoyed themselves with listening to a "siren" the whole time.

Ellen and I couldn't stop staring at this soldier statue. For some reason we found his sword position hysterical!

Sunset Sail

Uncle Tom chartered "The Pride" for a family harbor sunset cruise. It was a beautiful night and even romantic at times. It is different seeing Charleston from the harbor and absolutely spectacular! I'll never admit it to Rob, but going to Charleston puts me into a history mood. The city does have a lot of fun history to offer! The kids really enjoyed themselves, it was a bit nerve racking for me at times. Being a mom is letting things go and just rolling with it, but when you only have a two wire cord fence between the open waters and your children the letting go part gets a bit hard. I was able to let go enough to enjoy the sights, but being a constant companion when the kids decided to walk around. It wasn't annoying enough for them to notice, they just liked the extra mom love given with hand holding and snuggling!
Being on the open waters they advised pouring wine into a glass. I was just happy to have wine and it appears Bryson enjoyed the wine as well!
Captain Mason at your service. He was super excited to be the captain of the boat. They had a gps system in front of him and the boat was a black dot on the map. As I tried to take the picture from a different angle I was informed by "the captain" to move because he wasn't able to keep charting his course. Aka "Mom I can't see the black dot anymore, please move I have to know where we are going!"

Ride Some Waves

Although we didn't catch the big one, the kids really enjoyed playing in the ocean. It is a Chaplin family tradition to ride an alligator in the ocean. Ellen brought the inflatable alligator this year and the kids enjoyed playing on it.

We also enjoyed making sand angels? I promise I didn't give them this idea, proof they have minds of their own. I wouldn't advise playing in the white sand like this! Everyone enjoyed themselves in the ocean and on the beach this year!

Shrimp Boil

The reason we go to Charleston every other year is for a big family reunion. What a reunion it is every year. 40+ family members! Impressive!! This year we had everyone over to the beach house for a shrimp boil. Yummy! A big thanks to Ellen and Uncle Tom for boiling the shrimp and making the grits! Although I don't eat grits I know everyone else really enjoys them and it might be the only time every other year that I give my kids grits! I was worried how the kids would do with a huge house full of people. Surprise surprise Mason went around introducing himself and stating his age. Ellery was a bit more overwhelmed and stuck close to an immediate family member. Bryson shockingly went to anyone who would hold him as long as he couldn't see me. Plus everyone in our family likes shrimp? Who knew??

Bryson's first time at the Beach

Bryson loved the beach and all it had to offer. I think he would have been swept off to sea if we would have allowed it! The salt water didn't bother him at all and the sand was fun to play with, throw, and eat!
He really enjoyed finding all the sea shells.
Caught eating the sand and no chance of slowing down!

Last Day at the Beach

The kids had a great week on the beach and loved every minute of the water and sand. We had a wonderful week as well seeing everyone and catching up. Start the count down for our next family beach reunion in 2 years

Surf's Up

While Mason was more interested in pretending to surf, Ellery was tasting the sand. One would think she would have learned the first time not to eat the sand or drink the water, but we repeatedly found her eating the sand and attempting to dunk her face in the water for a drink? They both loved the sand and the ocean.

Beach Finds

Along with finding the star fish this year we also found and caught other beach life.
We are thinking the Discovery Channel might contact us for a spin off from Deadliest Catch to Amazing Beach Catches with a 3 year old host. I was able to catch itty bitty crabs and I was shocked when Mason asked to hold them. Ellery shook her head no to the idea.

We also found a ray caught in a tidal pool. I was able to catch him in a bucket and put him back in the ocean. Before we caught him we all put two finders in the tidal pool as he swam by and petted him, including Mason.

Star Fish

In all the years Rob has been going to the beach, he has never found a star fish. Must have been something with the moon and the tide because every morning you walked on the beach you would find star fish. It was very majestic to find them and let them swim and move around. When I found all the sand dollars years ago and took them out of the water and bleached them I didn't feel bad for ending their sea life, but I just couldn't bring myself to take a star fish. If I would have found one dead, I would have thought more about it, but I never happened upon one. Mason didn't want to touch or hold one, but after he let it crawl on his foot he warmed up to the idea of holding it. Ellery wanted to look and point, but kept shaking her head no when asked if she wanted to hold it.

Loving on Ellery

Another beach theme this year was cuddling or playing with Ellery. She was a magnet by all and really warmed up to anyone who would give her attention. We are very proud of her for doing so well being tossed around from person to person and being treated like a baby doll.

Beach time with Grandma Ellen

Grandma Ellen enjoyed some beach time with the kids. Whoever played with Mason and Ellery on the beach would end up with sand all over them, more than what you usually got on you. Our first day on the beach TJ asked Mason to help him put all this sand back in the water and sure enough Mason went on working on the task. He worked all week long on getting sand back in the water, what a neat trick TJ thought of and he doesn't even have kids yet. I think everyone enjoyed playing with the kids on the beach and it was nice to have extra hands and people playing with them. I even got some time to myself to worship the sun.The kids enjoyed playing on the alligator that their dad played on when he was little, not quite as little as them but this thing is over 20 years old and has a few patches to show for his time on the beach. I knew alligators lived a long time but I had no idea this also worked for inflatable alligators.

Mr. Bill

This years family joke was a tiny figurine from the Saturday Night Live skits, meet Mr. Bill. Mr. Bill got to experience all sorts of cool things this week and would turn up in all sorts of places including our huge family photo. Ellery enjoyed chewing on Mr. Bill while Mason treated him as an action figure with super powers. If you look closely in the group photo below it's like playing wheres Waldo with Mr. Bill.

The Beach House

This is a view from the deck off our bedroom at the beach house. What a wonderful sight to wake up to everyday. It is becoming a toss up on what I would choose a house on the beach or in the mountains?

Ellery first time

We got off the plane and walked through our beach house straight out to the beach. We didn't change clothes or stop for a potty break and the kids loved it. Ellery took about 30 seconds to warm up to the idea and then she was off and running. She would run towards the waves and when the tide would come in she would run away and then really liked the feel of the sand on her feet. I'll write more later, I just have a feeling I have frequent blog checkers waiting for pictures of the little ones!