apparently kale isn’t the only one who thinks markers are for body art.

"no no no nononono"

sharing the bounty of the harvest (part 2).

sharing the bounty of the harvest (part 1).

still life with fake cast and board book.

riley is also about napkin usage.

kale is all about napkin usage.

you know how it is on a monday morning, you write a few speeding tickets, you do a little spacing out.

towel togas are all the rage around our house these days.

nothing quite so refreshing as the spray park on a hot hot day.

just look at those fearless bumper boaters.

melinda stopped by for a little visiting, a little reading.

checking out mommy's sweet patch job while wearing mommy's old shirt.

running, always running.

lending a helping hand at the water fountain.

but really it was more like this. (and let me tell you they did not pick those berries.)

we thought that blue berry picking with the kids would be like this...

julien and riley are winking at you.

mini love muffins.

kale loves a tote.

makin a few bidnez calls in the tent.

hey mr. tambourine man.

riley gets a grapefruit sorbet, kale gets a plastic spoon. nobody said life was fair.

by the end of our vacay there was less almost-drowning and more almost-swimming.

this is riley going underwater.

not a vegetarian.

it's possible that the spraying frog pool in our backyard (cool as it is) might be something of let-down after webb & dori's.

mike's many cousins = teenage heaven for the kiddos.

ari and mike and baby koa joined us for some chillaxin in the sound.

you gotta keep an eye on those sneaky waves.

an early morning (skinny) dip in the ole' atlantic.

sometimes it's very dramatic at the beach.

riley spots the elusive mermike.

look it's ari. in north carolina. teaching kale how to play pool. amazing right?

kale after yet another dunking. usually he just gets back up and keeps going but sometimes a snuggle is in order.

kale is entirely without fear when it comes to the water. it's cool in theory but, since he refuses to wear a floation device of any kind, it means you need to watch him like a hawk and he spends a lot of time getting fished out of the water. (that's what katrina is doing in this picture)

story time with geegeed is popular with all the kiddies.

there is an awful lot of showing off of the pearly whites in this shot.

a couple of busy busy kids.

in between trips to the beach it's important to take advantage of all the amenities at gee geed & big da's.

gearing up for our first dip in the ocean.

and giant touchable sculptures. thanks BWI.

our layover at the baltimore airport was full of delightful diversions...

nothing like a nice heaping spoonful of mud.

riley 'helps' kale open his belated birthday presents from nama.