Jackson Soccer

There is something so entertaining about watching 6 year olds play soccer. This year, Jackson's league uses goalies. That makes it even more exciting. Jackson was so excited to be the goalie. I think afterwards he realized it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Too much pressure. Ha. 

This year, Jackson's games are at Centreville Junior High. (Where both my parents attended school.) There is a horse pasture right behind the soccer fields. Gray and Clara liked seeing the horses, but especially Gray. It was a good season of soccer! 

Wave Chasers

Wave chasing was one of the kids favorite activities during our trip. Everyone took turns standing next to Clara and Gray while the waves came up and crashed against their little legs. Sometimes a big wave would sneak up and knock them right over. They didn't seem to mind much. Ha. Because they loved the water so much, we had to watch them closely so they didn't get swept away in the tide.

Sometimes Clara would hold whoever's hands were closest and pull her crazy flexible legs up out of the water as the waves would roll in. There are a couple funny pictures of her doing that.

Usually Gray would be beaming and screaming as he jumped in the waves. His face was a permagrin. Cute boy. And Jackson made the whole wave jumping thing a game. He would stay in the water much longer than everyone else jumping around in his life jacket. He was so happy at the beach.

During our stay our buddies the Serafines came over for dinner one night and then we went to their house for dinner a different night. It was so fun to see them! I can't believe I didn't take one photo. I'll blame it on me not feeling well. Even though there is no photographic evidence, we had a great time with them. Someday I hope we can live near the Serafine family again.

It was hard to say goodbye to our lovely Oceanside vacation. We packed in so much fun into that week. Thank you Mom and Dad for making all of this possible. We will have beach memories that will last forever. Love you both!

Playing in the Sand

These kiddos love playing in the sand. I think they had sand in every spot possible at the end of every day. You can see how sandy they are in some of these pictures. Especially that last one of Gray playing with the beach umbrella. I don't know how he got so much sand stuck to his face, silly kid.

Jackson loved building sand castles. Clara and Gray liked filling buckets with sand. There was also a lot of sea shell hunting during our time at the beach. I loved sitting in a beach chair next to them while they all explored. The beach really is a piece of heaven.

Vacation Exhaustion

As you can see, we played hard during our Oceanside stay. The room we slept in was bright and as soon as the sun came up, every one was awake and ready to party. The long hours of sunshine and playing and the shorter hours of sleep eventually took their toll and the kids starting falling asleep in the most random places sporadically through the day.

You can see Clara cuddled up on our bed watching Frozen after her bath. These kids were a sandy mess most of the time we were on our trip. Bath time was always welcome. Jackson fell asleep on my lap during Sacrament meeting while on our trip. He was in such a deep sleep that he didn't stir during any of the hymns or even after the meeting ended and people started leaving. He was totally drooling all over my skirt. So funny.

Gray cuddled up on my lap after church and went straight to sleep. Something he never does. So funny.

One evening Troy and I ran to the store to pick up a few groceries. While we were gone Clara fell asleep on the tile floor, half-way under the couch. Ha! My mom and Lindsay did everything they could to try to wake her up, since we were hoping to keep her up a couple more hours until bedtime. No luck. She slept through all of their efforts. She was one tired girl!

Another funny story. When we ran to the store to get the groceries mentioned above, Troy and I forgot the kids swimming suits were hanging to dry on the top of our van. We drove off and didn't think a thing of it until several hours later when I went looking for them. We went walking around the neighborhood trying to see if they had blown off somewhere, but couldn't find them anywhere. Whoops! So the next morning I was up early headed to Target to buy new swimming suits for Clara and Gray. Ha. Turns out swimming suits are kind of picked over in August. Luckily I found them each a decent suit.

Also included in this post, random pictures of Clara in the bath tub. She climbed in there any chance she got. And some cute pictures of Clara eating her crackers. These days, Clara is the one most likely to sit still for a photo, hence there are more photos of her than Clara and Gray. Ha.