Tee Ball

Tonight was Ben's last tee ball game for the season.  It started raining as we were getting dressed for the game.  It was raining when we got the ballpark, but we waited out the rain and started about a half hour late. It turned out to be a good thing for one boy on Ben's team.  Nathan's daddy came home Afghanistan this evening.  He had just gotten home when it was time for Nathan to leave for the game.  Nathan's grandmother brought him to the game, but since we started late his daddy was able to make it for the last half of the game and watch Nathan play.  

 Ben got a great hit on the first pitch his first time at bat.

 Running to first.

 Sliding home.

 Ben had never slid before and wasn't quite sure how to do it.

 It took a couple of tries but he got a hit from the coach's pitch his second time at bat, too.

 He was considering sliding in at first until I yelled, "You only slide home."

 On first.

 Another slide.

 Good game.

 His coach's wife planned an end of season party at McDonald's.

 Getting his medallion.

Princess

Mollie is a little confused about princesses.  Once she gets her gown on, she says she's ready to go to the "ballgame."

Last Morning Camping

Saturday morning we made one last trip to the beach before we had to pack up and leave the camp ground.

 Mollie shared the net with John for just a few minutes, but he didn't catch a fish either.

 Jim helping MV and Ben build a sandcastle.

 Janey taking a turn with the net.  Still no fish.

 MV and Ben had fun flying kites although they crashed and tangled them together more than once.

Ben took this picture of the sand castle they built before we left.

Friday

 John raced ahead and took this picture of all of us on our bikes.  I definitely didn't take it.  With Mollie and the bags on my bike, I am never in the lead.  Since Nascar obsessed Ben wanted every ride to be a race, I can tell you that I usually came in around fifth.  I can usually beat Janey (who rides a 14" bike with training wheels) and Fran because she's hanging back with Janey.

 Someone that was leaving gave us this net.  Mollie loved it and tried to catch a fish for two days.  All she caught was algae.

Roasting hot dogs for supper.

More Camping

MV is still in school through the first week of June so they joined us Thursday afternoon and MV got to miss school on Friday.

 This year we all rode bikes to the beach and didn't have to worry about catching the shuttle.

 John has our beach umbrella bungeed to the the handle bars of his bike and is carrying sand toys in the backpack.

 Fran and I had the pack bikes with our beach bags and soft-sided coolers strapped to the racks on the back.

 Ben painted the shells he collected.

 Janey and Mollie making silly faces at me.  They were painting rocks.

 Thursday night we cooked hamburgers on the portable gas grill, but had a fire for roasting marshmallows.

 Sticky faces.

Mollie even had a sticky foot since she somehow managed to step on part of her marshmallow.

Camping

 Wednesday morning we loaded our camping supplies between thunderstorms and drizzling rain and headed for Topsail Hill Reserve State Park in Santa Rosa, Fl.  This is the only picture I took the first day as we unpacked and set up our tent.  Mollie and I went to Wal-Mart for groceries while Ben and John rode their bikes down to the beach.

 Thursday morning we went to the beach.

 The kids had fun playing in the sand.  John took them each out into the water (and I ventured in for a minute but thought it was too cold) but I don't seem to have any pictures of that.

 The highlight of Thursday morning was kite flying.  Mollie picked out a Barbie kite at Wal-Mart weeks ago and has been so excited about getting to fly her Barbie kite.  I had to call John and Ben out of the water to get Mollie's kite in the air.  Turns out I had the string hooked to the wrong side of the kite.

 Ben enjoyed collecting shells.

 Mollie resting.

 We just reeled out a short amount of string and Mollie stood there with her kite for half an hour or more.

 Ben liked to run with his McQueen kite.