We picked these three squash this afternoon. I couldn't find my camera to take a picture. Ben was ready to boil them immediately. I plan to fry them on Thursday evening.
Our garden flourished while we were gone. Our neighbor Mr. Gerald is envious of our huge squash plants. Since he helped us plant and supplied the fertilizer, he deserves the credit for them. He also confirmed that the plants on front are cucumbers.
I only took this one pic at the beach this morning. Everyone was kind of tired and grouchy and the waves were very rough. We had lots of fun on our trip. Three nights away from home is plenty for small children. We picked up lunch on our way back to Jim and Fran's from the beach, ate, bathed, dressed, and then headed out in the early afternoon. Ben and Mollie napped in the car and then watched Bob the Builder for the last part of the trip. Ben came home ready to build. He immediately got out his wooden blocks, chain saw, and tool box and got to work.
On Sunday we went to church, ate a quick lunch, took early naps, and then headed to the beach in the late afternoon. That was a really relaxing, mellow trip to the beach.
Someone had built an awesome sandcastle on the beach near us (I didn't take a picture) and we were all inspired to dig in the sand and try to build our own sand castles. This is Jim with MV and Janey.
The big fun on Sunday afternoon was flying kites. MV and Ben each had one. Jim and MV got hers in the air first.
Ben's crashed a few times until they figured out that they hadn't unbound the tail.
Ben was very excited about flying a kite. He had never flown one before, but on Thursday while he was sick he watched Sid the Science Kid who was investigating wind. After the program went off, we went outside and pretended that we had kites by throwing pieces of a torn up cereal box in the air and letting the wind blow it around (Totally Ben's idea). 
Ben tried to climb up John's arm so that he could fly with the kite like George in "Curious George Flies a Kite" (which we had listened to in the car on the way to Florida).
People sometimes think these two look a lot alike.
MV lost her first tooth Saturday night. It's been loose for a while but got really loose after supper Saturday. Fran decided to pull it. They were in the kitchen. We were in the living room. MV was crying, Janey was crying, Ben ambles into the kitchen completely oblivious and asks, "Has anyone seen Cat?" They had not. After MV got over the shock of losing a tooth, she was all smiles about it.
All three jumping on the trampoline together singing, "Ring around the rosie . . ."
After a nap Saturday afternoon, the kids were re-energized and had lots of fun together on the swingset. Ben is 18 months younger than Mary Varner and one year older than Janey and plays well with both of them. 
While the older three climbed up and down the slide like wild things, Mollie swang calmly in the swing, one of her favorite activities.
We spent the long weekend with Jim and Fran. We went to the beach Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon, and Monday morning. 
Mollie is a beach baby. She loved the sand and the water. Even without a morning nap, the only time she cried was because she couldn't figure out how to eat yoguart out of a plastic tube like the big kids.
Ben and John had lots of fun together in the water. Ben told John and Jim that the water "made his Cocoas cold." When questioned he was vague about where his Cocoas were located. He said, "They are a part of my body." John and Jim laughed hard so he talked a lot about his Cocoas the whole weekend. I don't have any pictures of them in the water. It was hard to carry both my camera and Mollie down to the water and keep my camera clean and dry. 
I carried Mollie down to sit on the sand near the water. She threw herself down on the sand and started dragging herself (she doesn't crawl on her knees) towards the water.
Janie and Mollie spent a lot of time playing in the sand while Ben and MV loved the water. I don't have any pictures of MV from the first day except having lunch.
Picnic lunch at the beach.
Ben and I often eat popcicles in the afternoon and Mollie has been wanting one really bad. Today I decided that she could have one. I stripped her down to her bloomers so that she wouldn't ruin her dress. I probably should have taken the bloomers off, too.
Ben wanted to eat his popcicle with a "naked tummy" too.
Mollie was determined to chew on the wrong end of the popcicle and it all slid onto the ground.
"Where is my popcicle?"
The first popcicle ended in heartache.
Can you tell that Ben is winking? Ben started off the day yesterday throwing up, so I was happy that he was outside swinging and acting silly by lunch time. He had a stomach virus that lasted about 12 hours beginning around bedtime Wednesday night. So far the rest of us have not gotten it.
Mollie loves to slide. I couldn't take a picture of her sliding, though, because as soon as I sit her at the top of the slide, she immediately starts trying to throw herself down it. It takes two hands to hold on to her.
I am NOT a master gardener. Unless cucumbers begin life looking remarkably like squash, the plants that I've been calling cucumbers are really squash.
So the question is, are these cucumbers or did I plant two varieties of squash? Someone who knows please leave me a message.
Here is another view of what I now hope is cucumbers.
These are the first two tiny tomatoes on our smaller tomato plant.
Our garden has grown a lot recently. The cucumbers in the middle are enormous.
These are our first little tomatoes.
The squash wasn't doing well at first, but has really taken off in the last few days. It seems to have doubled in size each night this week.
Cucumber blooms.
Our few baby carrots. John asked why they weren't in a row. The answer is obvious: Ben planted the seeds.
Friday night was Zac's graduation. Cara took much better pictures (that I'm still waiting to see. hint, hint). Thankfully, Susie volunteered to keep Ben and Mollie during graduation. They had a great time playing with Hadlie Jo, Susie, and Aunt Linda.
Zac's graduation was like a blast from the past. In recent years, graduation has been held in the football stadium, but I graduated in the same gym 15 years ago. This could be one of my graduation pictures if there was a huge Giant painted on the wall below the American flag.
On Thursday evening, we went to the fair with Rylee, Emalee, Danielle, and Zac's girlfriend, McKenzie. Ben was so excited about riding the Ferris wheel. I thought he would be scared, but he was not. We rode it twice. First just the two of us before Danielle and her girls arrived and then a second time with Emalee and her friend.
Ben rode the carousel twice.
And the tilt-a-wheel with McKenzie, Emalee, Emalee's friend, and her mom. Ben told McKenzie, "Wow, this is awesome!" He's still talking about it, but he can never remember what it's called. He says, "What was that ride where I got smushed?"
