Beach adventures 1 and 2

We've been lucky enough to spend two awesome days at the ocean these past few weeks. First off, we headed north to the coast with our good friends. It was a delightful day of playing with our friends, jumping in the waves, surfing on boogie boards, and ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Then earlier this week, we headed to the ocean again (this time straight east) to visit a dear friend before she heads overseas. It was a hot day so we must have gone in the water 8 or more times- it was so wonderfully refreshing. The girls also brought home a bunch of seashells they found.

Showing off the sand castle she made all by herself!

Supergirl and sidekick!

We had chocolate-dipped, sprinkle-covered, waffle ice cream cones. Quite a treat!

Lucy buried in the sand.

Then it was Clara's turn.

Quadelfie!

Blueberry picking, year ?

I forget how many years we've gone blueberry picking with my Grandma (and often assorted cousins), but it's a bunch! We had a gorgeous day for it- a little on the hot side, but the girls kept cool in the shade of the bushes. Tonight for dessert we had a delicious blueberry pie that the girls and I made, and we've been enjoying snacking on fresh berries.

walking to the blueberry bushes

 

L: This is me with my basket for picking blueberries. I have a belt, so I don't have to carry it and it's easier to pick with both hands.

Grandma, decked out with quite a nice sun hat.

L: This is Grandma with Clara, picking blueberries.

Clara was an awesome picker this year- she got so many blueberries!

L: This is a picture I took on the steps of the orchard store. It has Clara and Mama and Grandma in it, with the blueberries.

L: This is one Clara took. I was lifting up the blueberries, that's why my hands were up. And there's also Mama and Grandma, but Grandma's head accidentally got cut out of the picture.

Winter fun

We are surviving the winter- thanks in large part to an amazing 2 week get-away in Feb to visit my folks in sunny Morocco! Here are some pictures from our life since we've been back.

C: That was Lucy looking out of her nook window. There is snow and icicles and all kinds of stuff of snow.

L: This is the icicles before we were going to knock them down. There were so many of them that we decided to knock them down. My dad got a shovel but the shovel wasn't hard enough, so he got a hammer and he did most all of them.

C: That is still the icicles when Papa had to hammer the icicles down. (Note from E: I really liked this artistic shot)

L: This is me sitting in our snow cave that we made in the side of a mountain. It took a lot of work to build it.

L: This is me and my sister Clara, sitting on top of the snow mountain that the snow plow made. I was the one who was breaking big mounds of icicles so we could have more of them, cause we were playing a game and they were treasures. And we had a little hole where we put the treasures in, and that's what we're doing right now. My sister's putting them in but I'm looking.

C: That is Lucy, my sister and she's in the ice cave that we're almost done with, and our footprints are on the top of the roof and we've been climbing up there for a long time.

C: That is me. I am sitting on the heater box- I don't know what that is, but it says 333. I was comfortable- Mama said that I could rest on the snow, but I decided no, that I could sit on the heater box that says 333.

L: This the back of my head. I got a new hair book from Grandma Judy, and this is a cool braid called the fishtail. And my mom did it. It was her first time but she did really good.

L: This hairdo is called a flip ponytail. First, you start with a ponytail. Then you make a hole, reach under and pull all the ponytail out and then it makes a cool pattern.

C: That is my hair. It is a fishtail and I like it.

C: That is me and our neighbor Afrah. (Note from E: Afrah's making bunny ears).

L: This is our big friend, Blizzard Snowman (that's what we named him). And that's my sister in the pink coat and snowpants and mitten and hat (there's a lot of pink on her). And this is our neighbor Afrah, again, making bunny ears on the snowman. We made it just in one day, and the nose is one of the carrots from our refrigerator, and my mom's old hat and the scarf is my mom's old scarf, but she let us use it. And we found pebbles in the backyard for the eyes and mouth. And as you see, it snowed a lot, and we made a snowman before, but then there was a big blizzard and the snow was too fluffy to make a big snowman and we needed sticky snow. And then there were other little snowstorms and that helped us get sticky snow and then we made the other one right here in the picture.

The Lizzard

When we first mentioned the upcoming blizzard to her, Clara said, "No, it's a lizard. That's what my teachers at school said". This has been quite a storm and it's not over yet. Some photographic evidence, followed by snow day activities.

L: This is a picture I took of the snow before anyone, anyone in our neighborhood came out. C: It was SO annoying. That there was so much snow that Lucy fell down.

L: This is our back porch covered in snow. It is so deep!

L: This is me and Clara. We are the first ones to step out in this neighborhood and that's my daddy's glove.

L: This is me. I was diving down the steps, head first. And I got buried in the snow. You see my foot, and the little turquoise thing is my hat. And the other pink thing, standing up, is my sister Clara.

L: This is my daddy helping me up when I fell down the steps head first. It felt really cold and I was screaming.

L: This is me standing up when my daddy helped. C: And this is me standing up almost near Papa.

L: This is me at the top of the snow mountain that the "lizard" made.

C: That is Mama. It's a selfie. And there's snow, deep snow, houses buried in snow, and the cars. Nobody are outside. And the cars are buried in snow.

C: It is Clara. Me. Climbing up a mountain. And my boot got stuck one time and I had to go inside with a wet sock snow. And Mama helped dig my boot out with a shovel and my boot was stuck. And graham cracker. L: This is Clara in the snow, just like me standing in the snow before.

L: This is me trying to rub off my car with my mitten, and that is Clara who fell in the snow and got stuck just like me.

As we were trudging through the snow up to her waist, Clara said, "A blizzard is hard to walk in!".

L: This is all of the cars- you can see the little wipers sticking out.

C: That is us hugging. L: This is me and my sister, Clara, with rosy cheeks after we came in from the snow. Eliz: I think they look like dolls!

C: That's my hot cocoa, that I was eating today. And I had marshmallows in it and it's brown hot cocoa and my dress is purple. And that's my pink shirt that I'm wearing right now.

L: This is my hot cocoa. I was trying to make a smiley face but the nose kept on floating off to stick on the mouth or an eye.

L: We were painting today, and these were the paintbrushes we used. My mom took this picture. She thought it looked pretty.

C: I like that Mama said that she likes my pictures. L: These are the pretty pictures I painted. If you see the rainbow one, that's mine. And you can see part of my name- Lu, that got caught off. And the other one over there, with the blue and purple on it, is my sister Clara's that she did.

Ice skating!

We went ice skating with some of our extended family this last weekend. It was Clara's first time, and we all had a blast!