Beach Bums - Part 1

Our 11th annual beach trip - can it be? We began taking this yearly family vacation when Seth was just three months old ...

Now, the rattle has been replaced with a Nintendo DS; the baby bottle by a Coke Zero; and the stroller by a bike. Seth, age 10, and Reed, age 7, are both competent swimmers, expert sandcastle builders, and budding boogie boarders. This was the first year that Seth and Reed ventured into the ocean to play in the surf. I think Uncle Barry's coaxing encouraged them to try, and they both loved it.

This year we ate more meals "at home," which made it easy to come in from the beach or pool and come to the table. This meal, pictured below, was one of our favorites - a traditional shrimp boil.

The place where we stay, Litchfield By the Sea, has a fun pool, which offers this splashy playground and a lazy river. Here the boys wait to get dumped on by one of the large buckets overhead. 3...2...1...splash!!!

Last year Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry invited us to try bowling. It was a first for our family, but we had so much fun we went again this year. Thankfully everyone showed me some mercy and allowed me to bowl with the boys on the "bumpered" lane. Seth rallied during our second game to bowl a spare and a strike in his last frame, claiming first place.

We did buy two boogie boards for the boys to try in the surf. Reed enjoyed giving it a go, but Seth prefered bouncing in the waves with Uncle Barry.

Of course, it's not a beach trip without digging several deep holes in the sand and building one fantastic sand castle. Here is the 2009 Tucker sand castle:

Uncle Barry brought along two boxes of his Star Wars collectibles to show the guys. They were all impressed!

Thursday night was our last with Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry, as they left on Friday morning. We were blessed with a beautiful sunset and a full moon on that evening.