What Mondays Should Be

 Another great day at the beach!

The boys liked going out a little deeper in the water to float over the waves (with us, of course).  

The cousins were out in the sand & water most of the day; our boys took a break in the middle of the day to draw and relax (well, mostly it was Mattie instructing me to draw pictures of various zombie levels). 

In the evening, Grandma and the kids played cornhole.  James really liked it (in fact, when people were out on the outer deck, James insisted that Grandma come back and play with him!  He also insisted that they throw the beanbags at the same time toward the target.  Lucky for him, Grandma agreed!)

For dinner, Walt grilled delicious burgers mixed up by Paul.  And the kids had ice cream for dessert.  :)

After dinner, we went back on the beach.  Mike and Chris were playing monsters, chasing the kids around.  Whenever a cousin would get "captured," James ran to the rescue, trying to save the cousin from the monsters!  He's a brave boy!  (The only other one who attempted any rescues was Quinn.)

Let the Beach Festivities Begin

We arrived at the beach house this afternoon (after stopping for a seafood lunch).  The kids couldn't wait to head out to the water, but we had to hold them off for a little bit while we unpacked. :)

They had a great time!  The surf was a bit rough, but that didn't seem to bother the kids any (even when they got knocked down).  The other cousins spent time building sand castles, but for the most part, Mattie and James were all about the water.  (Mike went out further for a little while to ride some waves in, and Mattie kept saying, "I want to go in the deep end!"  Not quite yet, kiddo!)

When we took a break from the beach, Grandma gave Mattie a notebook to use as a coloring book (she'd gotten ones for all the kids), and had some markers.  Mattie said, with delight, "Markers?  I didn't know we had markers!"  I told him that Grandma had gotten them, and he said, "Grandmas do things we don't expect!  Grandma is cool.  I was wanting to draw with markers, and now my wish has come true, thanks to Grandma!"   (I should note that he had mentioned nothing about drawing or markers previously, but I love his enthusiasm!)

After dinner the kids chased each other around playing zombies, and after the after-dinner beach walk, James introduced his cousins to Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad: "I'm playing with my cousins and my one brother, Matthew!"  (Cousin Daniel would be proud.)

At bedtime, they informed me that Mattie was the Frozen Pea Shooter ("I'll keep shooting frozen peas as long as I keep eating ice cubes!") and Jamesie was the Cherry Bomb (both of these are plants from the game).

The Cousins Have Arrived

 ...and had a great time playing together. 

Swapping Relations

 Grandpa G is on his way home, and now we are awaiting the arrival of the cousins!  It will be a full house tonight.  

(James did not think Grandma could go down the slide, but she proved him wrong!)

Baseball with Grandpa

  The South Dakota grandparents have arrived! (And Florida Grandpa as well.)  The boys wanted Grandpa Walt to chase them around, and then James wanted to play baseball with Grandpa.  He didn't want Daddy to play, but then we explained to him that baseball is actually a team sport.

Mike has just started to teach the boys about running around the bases.  It was a bit confusing this evening because James wanted to just hit the ball from a pitch, and Mattie prefers to use the t-ball, so there were two different home plates.  And James likes to run the bases even when he's not batting, and Mattie just sort of runs around.  :)

Grandpa got at least a little break after that -- they wanted Grandma to read their books to them.

Mattie, by the way, was extremely cute when James was going to his doctor's appointment last week.  As James and I were walking out to the car, Mattie said he wanted to say goodbye to James, and he ran up to James, gave him a hug and a kiss, and said, "I love you really much!" Awww. 

James had so many appointments last week that Mattie asked the other day, "When is James going to the doctor?"  (Not today!)  And later when I asked James what he had done that day, he said, "I didn't went to the doctor!"

James showed off his belly scar to (I think) Grandma, and she asked him if it hurt.  He said, "No.  I was a baby."  (I am so glad he doesn't remember those days!)