The Coxs: Return from Beach Week

I did it again...totally ignored the blog. No one told me that summers at home with kids were so busy and could take every ounce of energy out of you. We have been non-stop lately and when I do have time to sit down I can never face the backlog of pics and updates that are due. So, once again, I will attempt to cram the last month in to a few update posts!

The biggest event of the last month was our fun Beach Week in Hilton Head with the Pavloffs. I took 560 pictures so this could be a long one...

It was HOT. So we decided to spend many of the days at the pool and keep most of our beach time to the late afternoon/evenings before dinner to avoid the heat of the day (i.e. miserable kids who want to leave 5 mins after you arrive). The boys LOVED the ocean - both of them. Matthew was fearless...he would get knocked over by a wave and get right back up and keep going.

This was the first evening at the beach...we didn't even put Matthew in a swim diaper/suit because we didn't think he would get in. We completely underestimated our wild boy...we couldn't stop him.

Nate and Amanda were perfect together...they had their own loft to sleep in - which we thought would be a bad idea - but they must have been exhausted every night because they would fall asleep as soon as we tucked them in together. They were like a little old married couple...every morning Amanda would come down first and ask me what Nate was going to wear that day, which I had not planned yet, so she would ask if she could pick out his clothes. A few times Nate got to wear some interesting outfit combos, but nothing he wouldn't put together himself so he didn't mind...and of course she had to match their shoes...she decided if it was a croc or flip flop day for the both of them. They even invented a game called "Noggin Knocker"...the rules are simple, Dad tosses a beach ball up in to the air and you take turns catching it...if you catch it successfully then everyone shouts "Noggin Knocker!" and Dad throws the beach ball at your head and you laugh hysterically. Might sound cruel but, trust me, they would BEG us to play constantly and the game still lives on in our house. 4 year olds are strange. :)

This is the best we could get out of them during "rest time"...watching a cartoon on the little dvd player.

Dads responsibly teaching them to Chicken Fight

Croc Day

Nate was a little pouty before dinner one night...Amanda did her best to console him

Matthew and his date - Baby Reagan

We spent a lot of time checking out the wildlife in our backyard...there were a couple of gators that lurked 15 yards from our patio and sometimes would crawl up on the bank in the evening to sun. It is normal to see gators on the island but having them in my space made my skin crawl....yeeshk.