Beach Week

Another amazing beach week just came to a close. I'm still sad, as I am every year when we drive away from the beach neighborhood and say goodbye to the Isle of Palms and our family. Mia cried when she said goodbye to her cousins this year and she misses them like crazy already. We all just had a wonderful time and I treasure this beach vacation and family time so much.

Mia was so brave in the water this year. She even tried boogie boarding! Ellie was just lukewarm about the water, but she loved just walking on the beach,  and climbing on anything she could. We had plenty of relaxing time, delicious seafood dinners, jogs on the beach, puzzles and bubbles, tennis, and my favorite summery drink: Pisco sours.  Ahhhh....

Lots of pictures and more up on my new photo storage site. http://www.mcbridesphotos2011.shutterfly.com/.

Need to do this more often

Last weekend I was able to spend some time away with my oldest, dearest friends. It was one of those days that doesn't happen often enough, and that is just good for the soul! We were celebrating Delight's engagement :) and just the rare opportunity to all be together. We toured a few winerys in Calvert County Md.and throroughly enjoyed ourselves. Can't wait for more fun times with the girls as we approach the wedding! Love you guys!

Oh, and afterwards we had steamed crabs, yum! Haven't done this in years! Fantastic!

Camera fun

I finally bit the bullet and purchased a "fancy" DSLR camera last week! I've been hemming and hawing (sp??) forever and just decided that I really want to try to capture the best images I can of my fast-moving kids. So, these past few posts, and many of the future ones will be heavy on photos as I sort through my favorites and learn a TON of stuff about this camera. It doesn't come easily or naturally to me and I'll have plenty of trial and error but I am having a blast with this thing! I can get great close-ups (which I love) and blurry backgrounds (awesome!) and 3 photos per second (so cool!) So, forgive me while I admire and critique my latest shots and use my blog as a place to post them. At least they are of cute subjects :)

 I love this smile on Mia but wish I had a prettier background than our nasty grill cover!

 Mia's self portrait :)

 Man I wish that you could see Ellie's face and that I held the camera more still, but the look on Mia's face as she hugs Ellie just makes my heart swell.

Brown eyed girl:)

just playing around

Ellie and the slide

Happy Memorial Day!

Busy, fun, Memorial Weekend for us. Just a few pictures for now. Profiles, Silliness and Summer Flowers. More soon!

The girls at play

Sean spent last week in Naples eating yummy pizza and drinking awesome wine and I guess working a little too. We missed him a bunch but we managed to have some fun anyway. The weather has been gorgeous lately, although summer heat and humidity are around this week.

Ellie is walking like a champ and will probably be running marathons soon :) She is Trouble! (in the nicest possible way, of course). I can no longer always blame Mia for writing on walls, and unwinding all of the toilet paper. And Ellie does things that Mia never even considered. I wish I had appreciated how relatively easy Mia was at this age... Ellie throws toys in the toilet, eats cat food, dirt, and sand like they are delicacies, and has examined the contents of her diaper. She will be so happy that I wrote about this one day :)

Mia is almost done with her second year of pre-school! She's taking swim lessons at the YMCA and is having a lot of fun. We are looking forward to a busy summer with plenty of playing and visits with family and friends. McB family beach trip is less than a month away!!

Little Bo Peep

Mia has been talking about her latest school program for weeks. All of the kids acted out a part from a nursery rhyme. Just when I thought these programs can't get any cuter! Here is a clip of our sweet Little Bo Peep :)