I think I've set a personal record...almost 3 months without a post...you'd think I was busy or something?!?!  I won't try to update you exhaustively on our summer...we had a great one...here's the highlights.

• planted a garden
• watched the garden drown in spring rains (we literally sunk in to our knees if we ventured in)
• what survived the spring rains, we watched scorch in the summer heat...didn't think to do much watering after the spring drowning...the plants, however, forgot about the spring rains eventually.
• contemplated a better place to put the garden next year.  Enjoyed our 2 green beans per person dinner treat.
• Endured garden envy, but also enjoyed the fruits of other people's labors...fresh tomatoes, green beans, peppers, corn...etc...it's not all bad being a garden failure
• Enjoyed a summer free of responsibility.  There were literally weeks where we didn't go anywhere except church...what a blessing that was after a busy year!
• Enjoyed the air conditioning about 1/3 of the summer.  I'm thankful for that 1/3...and I'm also thankful that it's September now and opening the windows actually helps.
• Killed approximately 62,573 flies
• Started enjoying what will be a 3 month break from milking the cow 2 times a day.  I'm sure she's enjoying the break, too...
• hatched a half-dozen more home grown chicks
• gave away a rooster gone evil
• 2 cats "disappeared"
• 1 cat hit by a car
• Kids are conspiring to add a cat or two since they seem to be dropping like flies...I kinda like having only 3 cats.

Umm...that was all off the top of my head, so I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff...surely we did more this summer...anyway...on to the point of this post... 

We capped our summer off with a wonderful, glorious, relaxing, amazing time at the beach.  Seriously...it could not have been better.  We got to go with good friends (the Ball's) and my parents for part of the week and it was just refreshing!  Thought you all might enjoy some pictures, along with some lame commentary...

Becca turned 11 months old and started walking at the beach.  She LOVED the sand, she loved the water, and she loved the waves!  ...and she was a major momma's girl all week.

...and now for the obligatory "line-'em up" shots...the kids did GREAT for our "photo-shoot"!!

Garrett (11), David (9), Julia (7), Virginia (7), Joshua (6), Isaiah (4), Susanna (4), Samuel (3), Rebecca (11 mo).

We came to the beach when Samuel was almost a year old, but this was his first real experience and he LOVED it!  After playing in the ocean the first time, we were back at the beach house and he pointed out to sea and said, in all seriousness, "God made that big pool!"  Best line of the week!

Sammy's pants were always so full of sand that his tan line is half-way down his bottom...cutest plumber at the beach, if you ask me!!

My friend, Susan, was our resident sand sculptor and delighted the kids making Julia a mermaid, Virginia a princess, Susanna a ballerina and Sammy a surfer-dude. 

Here Julia seems to be deep in thought...when she saw the picture she promptly informed us..."I was going potty"...um, thanks for the info, Julia...let's all just go back to thinking she was lost in some deep, profound thought and forget she said that!

We enjoyed lots of friendly competition playing "spoons" and "Sorry"...Yes, I said friendly...very friendly ...we're not at all competitive in our family.

...and enjoyed lots of good food...see, Susan's already eaten one of the crab's legs...or perhaps he lost that leg in the sea somewhere...yeah, we'll go with that!

Susanna and Isaiah enjoyed a rivoting conversation while everyone else played in the water.

All of the kids got along famously...er, the girls got along...and the boys got along :-)...and at times they got along together. 

Joshua was always ready to carry more sand toys than should be legal to the beach each time.  Amazingly, he carried them back to the house, too!

All of the kids loved catching the waves on their boogy boards! 

On our final full day at the beach we spent about 6 or 7 hours on the beach.  The kids, with the help of David Ball, built a pretty nice "turtle fort".  They determined, as the day wore on, that they were going to defend the fort against the impending tide.  The next series of pictures are from their valiant, though ill-fated battle to fend off the ocean...

...ready for battle...looks like the front turrets have already succumbed to the power of the sea...

"Sacrifice your bodies!!!"  "Defend the fort"

"Repair it, repair it"..."Bring in more sand"..."Defend the fort"

..."Defend the fort, er, what's left of it!!"

Our faithful warriors were undeterred by the relentless bashing of the sea against their fort...they decided to try defending it with boogy boards...the sea just went around the boogy boards...but, wait...maybe we can just surround what's left of the fort with our boogy boards...that's gotta work!!!

...OR NOT...  'til the very end they fought valiantly...I even heard one warrior unwilling to accept the inevitable defeat, saying defiantly..."There's still a mound there!!"

That's about it...I hope you enjoyed the pictures...we sure enjoyed taking them !!  I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset picture taken on the porch of the beach house where we stayed...breathtaking!!