Myrtle Beach 2010

First, let me say that I don't take our good camera down to the pools and the beach, so these are taken with our old one.

Joseph and Joshua spent most of their pool time in the lazy river.  Jeremiah had one of the overhead buckets dump unexpectedly on his head on the first evening while riding along with Tony and refused to go back in the lazy river the rest of the vacation.

Instead, he spent most of his pool time jumping to me, sitting/standing on the pool steps, and floating around while holding on to me.

(I got sand under one of my contacts on the first day and couldn't wear them outdoors the rest of the trip.  Glasses at the beach are not easy to deal with!)

Even though he played freely in the shallow ocean water last year, Jeremiah would not go near it this year.  Tony and I had to take turns in the waves with the big boys.

Joshua loved digging in the sand where the tide was coming in.  He would occasionally go out into the waves, but not as frequently as Joseph.

Jeremiah had plenty of fun in the sand away from the waves.

The first of several sandcastles.  It was the parents' job to build them and Jeremiah's job to decorate them with seashells.

Supervising Daddy

After our second day, I realized Jeremiah would enjoy a sand truck of some kind, so we found one at Target when restocking on sunblock.  Jeremiah's pink skin here is not sunburn--he gets very pink when he is warm.  When I pick him up from childcare at church he is often red-faced from running around and getting hot.

Jeremiah has the lion's share of pictures since he stayed up on the sand where I was sitting with the camera.  Here he is playing football with Daddy.  Joseph often joined them for a three-way game of catch.

Our room included a kitchenette, so we took a break at lunchtime each day to eat, rest a little, and reapply sunblock for the afternoon.

Missouri Miscellaneous

Grandma and Grandpa's pool table was converted to a Hot Wheels table about 13 years ago when Ben, their oldest grandson, entered the car-playing stage.  Jeremiah is now the 5th grandson to play on it.  The two granddaughters do their share, too.  This was Jeremiah's first time to be allowed to climb on and off by himself (with the help of a chair) and not have to have someone standing near the edge the whole time he played.  Such freedom!  Usually at Christmas there is at least one day the table gets cleared off and used for an actual game of pool.

Grandma and Grandpa got free snuggies at a Cardinal baseball game, except since they are baseball-themed, they are call Sluggies.  Joshua took over this one and wanted to sleep in it a couple nights.  It was actually quite dark in the room when I took this--my flash just illuminated it this much.

Daddy and Joshua shot some hoops in Grammy and Granddad's backyard.  That's a cow pasture in the background, behind the fence.  Joseph and his cousins were playing wiffle ball off to the side.

I'm not sure what precipitated this.  : )

Sluicing at Bridal Cave

While we were visiting Tony's parents (Grandma and Grandpa), we all went to nearby Bridal Cave.  We had about a half-hour wait before our cave tour began, and conveniently there was a sluicing activity set up outside.  Both older boys wanted to try it out, so we did.  For $6 you could buy a bag of dirt that contained an unknown number of gems.  (Also, there was a larger bag for $8, but Joseph said, "Mom. We should get the small bag. The bigger one costs $8." We have trained him well.)  Honestly, I was thinking there were probably 2 gems in the whole bag. 

Step 1:  Daddy pours a portion of the dirt in one boy's screen-bottomed box thingy.  Daddy is a careful pourer, so each boy gets multiple sluicing opportunities.

Step 2:  Boy carefully lowers dirt-filled screen box thingy into trough of running water.  Based on my extensive internet research (skimming one article), I believe the trough is called a sluice box, even though that's what I want to call the screen box thingy.

Step 3.  Water enters screen box thingy and startes washing away the dirt.

Step 4:  Boy carefully lifts screen box thingy out of the water, revealing gems left behind.

Step 5:  Boy proudly displays rare and expensive (or not) gem.

Step 6:  Boy puts gems into baggie conveniently provided by Bridal Cave.

Step 7:  (At Grammy and Granddad's house a few days later).  Boy categorizes gems using identification card conveniently provided by Bridal Cave.

The pictures taken inside the cave didn't turn out great, but the tour guide took one that wasn't bad. 

Gateway Arch

While we were in Missouri visiting family, we took the boys for their first visit to the arch.  (Tony doesn't remember having gone before, either, but his mom says he went as a preschooler.)

We were there on July 5, technically a holiday, and LOTS of other people joined us.  We waited to get through security (similar to an airport), waited to buy tickets to the top, and then waited for our scheduled trip up (1 1/2 hours after we purchased the tickets). 

It was lunchtime and the arch has no restaurant (nor were we going to leave to find lunch and wait through the security line again), but the gift shop sold various bagged snacks.  Between those and the soda machines, we were able to have a snack picnic while we waited for our scheduled time.

At the ticket line, they have a sample of the elevator you ride to the top.  It's there for you to try out to make sure you're not going to get claustrophobic during the 4 minute ride.  Here is Jeremiah trying it out:

Mork from Ork, anyone? 

Obviously, the 7 of us could not fit in one elevator car.  Tony and Joseph rode in one with strangers, while Grammy and Granddad rode with Joshua, Jeremiah and me.  I took cell phone pictures in our car, but can't currently upload them.

Once at the top, you are allowed to stay in the viewing area as long as you'd like.  There are platforms by the windows to help kids see out:

Here's a view of the new Busch Stadium.  The window was smudged.

This next picture is toward the Illinois side of the Arch, though it still shows Missouri since it is taken straight down.

A couple notes about this one:  1) Notice the arch's shadow on the ground.  2)  St. Louis has a big 4th of July celebration, which had ended the night before.  They were still in the process of taking down the stage, cleaning up trash, etc.  Normally the area below would be much cleaner.  3)  The Mississippi River (that ugly brown thing at the top of the picture) was above flood stage.  Normally there would be more road below (or above, as you look at the picture) where it ends here.  4)  See the riverboats in the top right corner?  When I was a kid, there was a riverboat McDonalds there.  My kids would have loved that, but it is gone now. : (  I wonder how many thousands of pounds of french fries floated their way down to New Orleans after kids dropped them overboard to watch them float? 

One final shot, taken from directly under the arch.  If you look really closely, you can see the rows of windows at the top.

3-2-1-Blastoff (Almost)

This summer we have pulled out several birthday and Christmas gifts that we just never got around to during the school year.  One of those was a Mythbusters science exploration kit that included a rocket.  Tony and Joseph worked together to assemble the rocket and get it ready for launch.

Note Joseph's pensive look (again) and Tony's concentration.

Ready for takeoff:

Alas, liftoff was unsuccessful.  While Tony was still shaking to mix the baking soda and vinegar, the stopper released, leaving the rocket in his hand and not soaring through the sky.  Our ensuing vacations have prevented a second attempt, but I'm sure they'll be back at it soon.

How to Fill a Summer Afternoon Part 3

Joshua's second school summer camp was a science class, so he started wanting to do science experiments at home.  We got out our 100 Science Experiments book and tried a few.  These had to do with surface tension.

Joseph has perfected his pensive look as he poses for pictures this summer.  This experiment involved sinking the floating paper clip by adding a drop of soapy water.  I don't have a picture after it sank.

Next, pepper floating on the surface and then dispersed with a soapy toothpick:

There was also an experiment with food color, but it didn't photograph well.  After that, our attention span waned.  : )