We love the Beach and Uncle Robb!

We had a perfect beach day today!

It was a little cloudy when we arrived, but by the time we laid our things out on the beach, the clouds had already meandered inland leaving a bright blue sky and beautiful sunshine.
The kids have been begging to go to the beach for months (the beach in Gulfport, MS is only an hour away), so we decided Uncle Robb's visit was the perfect excuse to go. The kids love having Uncle Robb with us and are wearing him out by dragging him around everywhere.
Mark and I are enjoying visiting with him as well.
Grant affectionately calls him "Robby".

Robb was chosen as the one who got to walk all of the kids into the water as far as they dared venture. Grant won the most adventurous award (no surprise there)!

Grant swam around, splashed and stomped to his heart's content. He came to me after a particularly daring moment in the water and made a face to tell me that the water was "yucky". The poor Gulf of Mexico has to deal with a lot of dirt and garbage flowing in from the Mississippi River. Robb found a big piece of carpet floating in the shallow water. There are many such treasures to be found. The kids don't care, they love the sand, the wind and the waves.

Soon, Grant decided he didn't need an escort in and out of the water.
He fought the waves on his own.

Benjamin surprised us by insisting on spending a good portion of his time at the beach in the water. He kept having us walk him out as far as we could go without completely submerging him. He even had waves lick at his face and cover his head and he never cried.

In and Out, In and Out.......just like the waves.

Once a thorough investigation of the sand was complete, Benjamin began throwing handfuls into buckets and at beach toys and every which way. His favorite pastime is throwing, usually a ball, but he'll settle for food, toys, books, decorations, any sharp object he might come upon and basically anything he can reach! Luckily, he has quite an arm and good aim. He threw sand away from himself rather than up in the air or into his eyes.

Carston built a sandcastle complete with a very substantial moat. Carston, Jackson and Grant put a lot of effort into digging it out and filling it up with water. Unfortunately, the castle didn't last long, although the moat did happen to outlive its counterpart.

There is nothing like washing your hands in the surf at the beach. If you use Carston's method, you leave quite a bit sandier than you started out.

Peyton was in heaven filling up her bucket with her own section of beach. She was having a great time until she was stung on the right foot by a jellyfish. The whole top of her foot and her ankle swelled up with red welts. Mark rushed her off to the pharmacy. It seems like we always have at least one child who ends up getting stung by a jellyfish when we go to the beach, but still we forget to take anything with us to treat it. We have now taken appropriate measures and added such items to our beach bag.

Jackson was very concerned about Peyton after she was stung. He watched for Mark to pull back up to the beach in the van after going to the pharmacy. When he arrived, Jackson ran full speed to check on his sister. I'm so glad we have twins!

Peyton didn't want to venture back into the water after her experience with the jelly fish. So, she sat quietly on a towel until she decided she was brave enough to leave its confines and venture into the wide open world of playing in the sand.

Carston took full advantage of the sand and even braved being buried alive. Don't worry, emergency personnel were present at all times. When I bathed him later, we had quite a bit of sand to remove. I washed him three times with soap. Oh, the joys of sand making its way into every nook and cranny!

Jackson helped bury Carston in the sand. He also helped build the sand castle. He is quite the sand craftsman.

When we left the beach, we were tired, completely covered in sand and blissfully happy. We only started getting a little cranky when we found ourselves hopelessly stuck in traffic after an eighteen wheeler overturned, blocking both freeway entrances and our access to a ward party waiting for us back home. That's another story.