Beach Buddies: Port A 2011

Since we just couldn't stand the thought of summer ending (hopefully the sarcasm was obvious)...

We Five headed to Port A, TX with the Other Mezgers and Nana Franny for

"Mezger Beach Vacation 2011".

 Here are the highlights (in other words - most of the pictures I took since I'm not good at culling)...

MAGGIE

Maggie did pretty well this week - the traveling didn't upset her (non)schedule very much and she continued to sleep through the night - going to bed around 11. Would love it to have been earlier, but still can't really complain. 

The first day was pretty windy so our tent/canopy wasn't really working for us...so Maggie chilled out in her own little bit of shade thanks to some chairs.

  After one of the big kids gave her some sandy-lovin'.

 Ocean bath after a diaper blow-out.

 Her tongue. This won't be the last picture of it you see...

 Chillin'.

 Why so sad pretty lady?

 Ah, much better now that I can stick my tongue out at you.

 Me and my bay-bay.

 How do you make cute even cuter? Add ears.

 Cutest. (Notice Kyle's thermal shirt since it dipped waaaay down to the 90's!)

 Enjoying the sunset from her car seat while we feed the birds - aka try not to be eaten by them.

 Deer in headlights baby with dimple chin!

 Love this one. It's almost a smile. And its our classic "baby in the jungle chair" shot.

 DIMPLE!

Ergo time.

 Girl talk.

 Bumbo time.

REBECCA

This milk-addict drinking a little water on the beach.

 The two BEACH BUDDIES or "beath buddieth" as Becca says. These two were pretty much inseparable. The big kids did their thing, Maggie was mostly with me, and Rebecca was almost always with Nana in the water. 

 Blowing bubbles? Probably not.

 A little relaxing. I'm sure Nana hated this part.

 Burying my toes in the sand.

  This girl luvs her some Mary Poppins and luvs the kite song! It's just precious to hear her sing it in her quiet, lispy little voice! Our kite was tethered to our beach canopy and R just kept swinging it around and singing...

 Let's. Go. Fly. A. Kite!

 ...and I love quiet walks on the beach...

 ...and splashing my Nana!

 R got this really nice booboo on her chin at school the Wed before we left. It did surprisingly well in the sun and saltwater. Still hasn't totally healed but its mostly because she continues to pick at it! 

MY booboo!

 Flying like an airplane.

 Whoosh.

 Melissa actually wrote this in the sand, but R spent quite a bit of time tracing the letters (E! R! T! - she says for all the letters) so it looked like she was writing it!

 My attempt at artsy.

Sporting one of Nana's hats.

 Mel gave R the "Gettalong Gang Award" for the week. Don't disagree!

OWEN

Could only put this one photo up of him and that would pretty much sum it up. Boy, does this boy like to dig/build.

 On the job for Uncle Luke - Foreman.

 Goofing off at work.

 Surveying the building site.

 Nepotism. Lovely, muddy, nepotism.

 One of our attempts at a partial group shot for Nana. The Gen 1 Cousins.

 I love you Bailey.

 What?

 Now Mama...let me tell you something...

I am SO fast.

 But mostly I just love to fill this perfect rusty ol' dump truck up with sandy mud.

 And learn cool things about shells from Nana.

 And be a very protective big brother to Becca.

THE OTHER MEZGERS aka THE MUKES

Here is Luke taking a nap. Ha! No, seriously, Luke wins the "I can nap under any circumstances or any number of small children"- Award. (At Camp Buckner that would have been an actual award.)

 Blakers giving me a Zoolander. He's so hot right now.

 What are you doing???

 Bailey - the other half of the Junior Mezgers Building Crew.

 Mud bath.

Big Cousin. Little Cousin.

 Anything is a ride-on toy if you ride on it.

Ah - all to myself.

I love you too, Owen.

 Look at those BLUE eyes!

Spunky Brewster.

 A round of very (NOT!) funny knock-knock jokes kept us in stitches at lunch.

 Knock knock!

 The Brothers Mezgerazov.

 Luke's arch (part of our best sandcastle which also included a bridge supported by a flipflop).

Mel with Blakers. Want to see more prego shots??? Patience!

 Probably the only time I saw Mel just sitting and relaxing the whole trip. Unless it was after 9pm when she POWERS DOWN.

Before and After.

Getting our title shot ready.

THE NEWEST MEZGER - BLAIR KATHRYN

Trying to get the hump sillouette...

But Mel doesn't have a whole lot of hump to work with...

Can you believe there's a baby in there?

Pretty cool.

 Her name is Blair.

 Blair likes to relax on the beach.

 With Mama.

 Can't wait to meet her around Thanksgiving!

THE MATRIARCH MEZGER: NANA

Playing Go-Fish with Owen.

Protecting Maggie from siblings/cousins who would love to cover her in sandy attention.

Trying to coral the hoodlums for the ever-elusive group shot.

 Flying a kite with her beach buddy.

Nana with 4/5 grandkids...not bad.

 This lady LOVES the beach!

 She could retire right here...

 "But no, silly Ali, I would miss you all and your craziness too much!!!" - ah, shucks..

 But it is pretty nice here...

A FEW OF THE CREW

All 5 grandkids on the couch about to enjoy "movie night" (complete with a Thomas video and popcorn in coffee-filter bowls). Maggie is screaming her head-off. Take the picture!!! 

So, not really a few of the crew. Just the one. 

ARTSY WITH A FAIR AMOUNT OF FARTSY

Nuclear Winter or really awesome photo because I was messing with the aperture? You choose.

 Regular. You can see how white the sand isn't and how blue the water isn't.

 Our beloved airplane kite. It didn't make it back with us.

 Luke and Bailey flying high.

 Not our sand castle. It had an amphitheater and no toddlers vying for destroyer-rights! (Only he who builds it can destroy it - so sayeth the Lord.)

If you've ever been to the beach with me or read one of my posts about the beach...you know how much I dislike "the feeding of the birds".

 Sing it with me...Feed the birds...Tuppence for birds. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence for birds..

 My foot.

 Some sand.

 Some water ripples.

Highlights from the week? 

• Great beach house (thanks to Nana or finding it) - right next to the pool (just a few doors down from where we stayed with "the gang" last year. Rooms for everyone and everyone in their room (or closet, if you're Blake and Maggie).
• Great company - wonderful time with Nana and the Mukes.
• Time to actually PLAY with our kids (okay, so Kyle did more of this than me because of my primary role with Maggie).
• My sweet husband letting me sleep in (with Maggie) while he got up with the kids and got the crew moving to the beach, and take a couple of unnecessary naps (the best kind)!
• Watching Owen get more and more comfortable going out into the waves (taking cues from his little sister) and doing some MAJORLY awesome swimming with Nana in the pool. 
• Actually playing a couple of games with Luke and Mel...dominoes just like the old days!
• Easy food...and lots of us. Total diet-buster, so maybe this should actually go on the low-points list? Nah-ice cream and DP are never low-points. 
• Watching Rebecca try to fly our kite.
• Crab hunting (for Owen and Bailey and Becca...) -  even though Owen was "very sad" that he only caught 1 crab and Bailey caught 3. (Then he got "really very very sad" when he realized that Becca didn't catch any and therefore she must be really very very sad. 
• Some time to actually read. And most of it not standing up while holding a baby in the ergo.
• Redbox kid flicks for the drive home - genius! (Thanks Kyle!)
• Hearing Rebecca say "beach buddies".
• Watching Maggie smile (big!) and laugh.
• Owen said the road to the beach was too long and he only wants to go back next year if we can go on a shorter road...I'm tempted to agree. :)
• And we could probably skip the eating out - people left the dining room we were in...
• But WE had a great time...until next time Port A!

Laughter

With laughter like this, its hard to care about a to-do list or lack of nap...

In a Hurry

Rebecca's impersonation of Owen "in a hurry"...

August Randomness

It's been a while since our last general kiddo update. This time, let's start with "what they're up to" randomness, and then we'll end with August and early September photo randomness...

Miss Maggie

• Well, for starters, she's huge. In a perfectly healthy baby kind of way. She's huge and happy - such a sweet baby. She is now doling out her huge dimply grins to anyone who will take one. She even takes her older siblings' (well-intentioned) abuse with a smile
• She wants to talk sooo badly! She's making lots of those little guttural baby squeaks - moving her mouth a lot. And the bubbles, oh, the bubbles she'll blow...
• She sucks on her fists like a champ. The noise level is quite impressive. 
• And she has absolutely found her tongue. And she loves to do this little click/smack thing where she sucks on her top lip and it makes a funny little noise. And if you stick out your tongue, she mimics it. 
• Her sleeping schedule is really not much of a schedule (at least that I've paid enough attention to notice). Her bedtime is still a lot later than I would like (12 or 12:30) but she'll sleep a good 8 hours straight so I really can't complain. And she takes decent little naps throughout the day. At some point (soon?) we'll do a Ferber weekend...it's just harder to fit in that into our schedule than I like to admit. We're going to Port A with the Other Mezgers next week so maybe when we get back?...Perhaps that'll be her 4 month birthday present (to me).

Miss Rebecca

• Personality. This girl it in spades.  I could really leave it at that. But for those who haven't witnessed it/her in person lately...
• Right now I would describe her as: happy, silly, dramatic, playful, easily entertained (by herself!), fun, fiesty - A STINKER.
• She likes to get ALL of Owen's socks out of his sock cubby and put them on - layering them on her feet and hands (which she needs help with - which for some reason we always offer). Then she runs around like a little sock monster. The game ends when she gets frustrated she can't pick stuff up (like last time).
• In the last month her vocabulary has really taken off. She pretty much says everything, it just may take a time or two for me to figure it out. Some of her favorite phrases:
• "The question game" - this is where she says someone's name, waits for them to respond, asks them a question, they answer and the giggling begins. Example: "Owen?" - "Yes, Rebecca" - "Yont dinner?" - "Yes, I do want dinner." - hehehehehehehehe! Then it repeats with another simple questions and more laughter. 
• O turned to O-en and is now a very clear O-Wen (sort of makes me sad!)
• Maggie is "Ah-ie" or maybe even "Ahn-ie"
• Can finally say "wubbie" (for her lovie) and is very intent on making sure that Ah-ie always has hers too. "Dis wubbie fo A-hie". 
• Diaper adventures...she's stopped taking off her diaper at night so often, but that doesn't stop her from taking it off during the day when it's wet. I walked in on her naked in the playroom a few weeks ago - asked her where her diaper went (not really expecting an answer) and she pointed to (and said) "da tash" (and it was in the trashcan). She has started showing lots of interest in the potty - especially the "rog potty" (little frog potty used for potty training). She likes to sit on it (just for fun) and then climb up on the big potty and flush it. Hum. I'm wanting to wait as long as possible to really train her - thinking it'll shorten the duration of time it actually takes - but we'll see. When we change her diaper she says "no diaper on!!!". 
• She is finally letting me do stuff with her hair - she'll wear a little flower headband she picked out sometimes, or she'll let me put her hair in pig-tales. But you never know when she'll take them out. Halfway through church the pig tales come out, but then she wants them after her bath before she goes to bed (don't worry - I didn't do it). It's a love-hate relationship
• Oh, the girliness. The full-on dress-up pretend play has definitely begun. The toy jewelry and dress-up clothes she got for her birthday (or stole from me) are her most used toys. She's very very fond of her purses (random bags she carries all at once, saying "my purse").
• Deep Deep Water. For a while now she'd move her hands in a certain way and sing this little tune that sounded like "deep deep wah-ter" (over and over again). One day when she came up to Maggie and grabbed her hands and started moving them to the tune I realized that what she was singing all along was Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Sing/say it a few times and you'll see...
• She's definitely trying to mimic Owen a lot - she likes to count things (1-2-1-2-1-2!) and say her alphabet (E-R-E-R). What's funny is those are her default, but she actually can count to 10 (thanks to grandparents, not us) and sing the alphabet song, but I don't think she realizes what shes' singing. So, when she sees letters now she just says, E! R!
• Rebecca LOVES to give everyone "tis" and "hud" - whenever someone comes or goes. While we find this absolutely precious with our family and friends, when she tried to give the shoe salesmen a hug last week I had to redirect her. Perhaps its time for a "stranger danger" talk...

Sir Owen

• The phrases that rule our world (and that I hear approximately fifty-eight-seventy-one-hundred-thousand-eleven-twenty-seventine-million times a say--that's one of Owen's numbers by the way):
• Momma, did you know.....?
• I need to tell you something......
• Watch what I can do!
• Owen has started showing a LOT of interest in letters, they sounds they make, and how words are put together - READING! We don't want to push it and in any way hinder his excitement, and we feel like there's no real rush/benefit in getting him to read early, but we still want to answer his questions and encourage his curiosity. So, we're talking a lot about letters and the sounds they make. 
• His letter interest was partially brought on by a show called "Word World". We know this because Owen asked Kyle write the word balloon for him. Kyle wrote "BALOON" and Owen corrected Kyle - there are 2 L's in balloon. 2 L's and 2 O's. Kyle yells at me from the other room - Ali, how many L's are in balloon? I say 2. Owen says, "See Dadda! I was right and you were wrong". Oh boy. Respect for elders. Pride comes before the fall. Oh boy.
• In the litany of things Owen says to us when we're telling him goodnight (I don't think I can go to sleep, I love you, Sweet dreams, Dont' let the bed bugs bite, I'm thirsty...) he has now added "I hope you wake up". We're not sure where that came from. We sure hope we all wake up too!
• Owen is such a good big brother - to both of his sisters. He loves to (all on his own) come and "give Maggie sweet things" - which basically means he makes a bunch of funny noises and faces about 2 inches from her face. 
• Camp Bucknerites out there would be proud...Owen's favorite song right now (and maybe Rebecca's too) is HERMAN THE WORM. He has all sound effects down pat. Herman almost always eats the following before burping: a grape, a shoe, a big truck, a mountain. 

PHOTO RANDOMNESS

Playing at Chick-Fil-A: the 100+ summer life-saver. We should own stock. Or open up a franchise. 

Nana with Maggie. (FYI: This pic was taken when we were lucky enough to have Nana living with us while her house was being finished...well, it's done! She's moved in and getting settled and us Mezgers now have an AWESOME place to congregate!

Owen only had to "rescue" Rebecca from the indoor gerbil-maze type play-scape.

  A little bumbo-nap. I think this was the day we were trying to keep her awake more in the evening so that maybe she would be so tired (earlier at night) that she'd actually go to bed before midnight. It didn't work so much.

Sleepy stretch.

Awake stretch.

 Rebecca's favorite hiding place - I'd only know she was in there because she takes almost everything out of the bottom pantry shelf before she climbs in.

 Working his magic with the hoola-hoop. Actually got the hang of it.

 This girl could exist on a liquid diet - MILK. We have to majorly ration her intake so she'll get calories from other sources. But one healthy food we never have to ask her to eat twice is broccoli - whodathunkit? She loves her some broccoli! (When she doesn't want to eat something we have told her to eat, she defiantly sticks her hand - her whole hand- in her mouth, as if to say "no room!")

 Dimply nakedness. (Is this the first picture I've posted of Maggie smiling?)

 And this is her serious side.

 We have photos of all 3 kiddos with this "jungle chair" background. Some day it'll probably hard for us ol' folks to tell them apart!

 Maggie usually eats while Kyle gives the older kiddos their bath so I've missed that part of our day for a while. But here are some fun shots from a night when he was at the hospital. Good times in the tub!

 Oh, happy days - PRESCHOOL! "Winter School" (what Owen calls his regular preschool - differentiating it from "summer school") has begun! Here is Rebecca meeting her teacher Miss Jessica, or "Caca" (yep!) as R calls her. 

 Rebecca goes MW and Owen goes MWF. Here they are together on their first morning. 

Rebecca is having NO problems being dropped off...she hardly even says goodbye to me! And Owen is thrilled to be back in Ms. Joyce's class with a bunch of his buddies from last year and even a few from the year before!

 We had a little swim date with a good friend of Bee's and it was Maggie's first time in the pool. She LOVED it - who wouldn't when it's this hot outside?

 Another morning at Great Uncle Doug's dock - Christal and Nathan joined us. Nathan caught his first fish!!! (Owen was very protective of Nathan the entire time - making sure he didn't get too close to the edge of the dock. The little parent.)

 I am VERY PROUD of this picture - because OWEN TOOK IT! With our big DSLR camera. He can barely hold the thing, but I showed him how to get look through the viewfinder and push the button. And this is his first real pic! Maybe he'll be the photographer in the family!

 (He then went around with my iPhone and took pictures of "the important things" in our house - our bed, his favorite truck, the refrigerator. I'll have to post some of those for you since they're so important...