The Rainbow Suit

I've been scrolling through all my favorite vacation photos so far.

And for some reason, it seems like Orelia is wearing her rainbow suit in all my favorite pictures.

 I don't seem to remember her wearing it more than her other bathing suits.

So perhaps Orelia just is her most exuberant when bouncing around the beach in all her striped glory.

 It must make her run faster.

Bounce higher.

 Squirt stronger.

 And brave the ocean better.

Her laugh must be all the more infectious when wearing rainbow, of course.

Who wouldn't love their little girl bounding toward them with her braid bobbing like this?

 Wearing rainbow or not, I love being on the beach with this fun girl.

Bennett's Baptism

Bennett was baptized Saturday night on the deck of our beach house by the wonderful pastor who married me and John almost nine years ago.

It was a beautiful moment standing with our children in front of this same pastor and surrounded by our family once again.

Orelia took her responsibilities very seriously in the ceremony.

It meant so much to us that she was able to be an active participant.

I started to cry when the water was placed on Bennett's head, as the moment was so meaningful.

Bennett remained his calm and serious self.

This was the first time our family of four has been with all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Words can't describe how much it meant to us to have everyone there for this day.

Bennett of course stripped out of his white clothes to enjoy some Oreo cake and strut around afterwards in all his baptized glory.

Orelia strutted with her cousin crew in her own way.

The kids actually climbed into the lifeguard tower on their own, and I had to sprint across the sand to try to capture the moment.

Needless to say, Orelia is loving her cousin time.

We love you sweet Bennett.

You mean the world to us.

B is for Beach

Greeting from Rehoboth Beach!

While we enjoy our two-week vacation here in Rehoboth, I am finding that all my photos are of the great Bs in life.

B is for Bennett.

B is for Bobby.

B is for best friends.

B is for beach.

B is for backhoe.

My entire camera is filled of photos of Bennett and Bobby.  Bennett isn't old enough to object to me taking photos of him yet (I literally brought Orelia to tears today trying to get her to pose for some photos) and Bobby, who is the biggest ham I know.

Bennett spends at least half his day playing with Bobby in the pool, being held by Bobby, and digging with Bobby in the sand.  The other half of his day is spent sleeping.  B must be for the beautiful bond they share.

E.V.E.

2016 is a great year.  I have three great weddings to go to, and all of them are with my best friend, Eve.  The first one was in San Francisco, so Eve flew out here and got to spend wandering Palo Alto with me and the kids.

 Orelia was completely obsessed with Eve, and asked for Eve to put her to bed at night.  We didn't want to put Eve through the endless requests of "just one more..." so we let Eve do the book reading part only.  Orelia was still thrilled with the arrangement.

Thanks for visiting Eve, and for letting Orelia pretend to spray you with her water "gunner" and compete with you in obstacle courses and for generally allowing her to be her silly self with you and loving her.

Summer Bucket List

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I have a secret summer bucket list hidden within the depths of the Notes app on my iPhone.

The list isn't long, and Orelia doesn't even know half of the fun things I am hoping to do (God forbid we can't make it to the one she wants to do most).

Somehow summer is essentially halfway over, and I'm glad I have my list.  Just like I'm glad I'm crossing things off that list.

We went with our friends up to San Francisco to eat tasty pastries and explore a giant park.

And this week we drove up to Sausalito to visit the Discovery Museum.

 This might have been Orelia's favorite secret bucket list item yet.

She loved exploring all there was to see at a place where kids are supposed to run and jump and collect from the exhibits.

 It didn't hurt to have a friend along for the trip either.

 But don't worry, we aren't beholden to the bucket list and running around California like crazy people.

 There are still plenty of afternoons for couch cushion jumping.

And learning to fly.

Bennett wants no part of the bucket list, and is instead spending the summer learning how to walk in high heels.

Easter Fun

Do you remember what you did for Easter this year?

Well I sure do, because I took roughly 1,000 photos that weekend to capture every moment of the blessed holiday.

 And the more photos I take, the less likely it is that I will be able to timely blog about a subject.

 Whoopsies.

 The day before Easter we went to an Easter Egg hunt at the local botanic garden.

Orelia very eagerly sought out the hidden eggs that were filled with stickers, erasers, and other things that parents are disappointed they can't snack on.

Bennett missed the egg hunt photo op with our friends.

 But he soon came running once he spent a full hour in the petting zoo.

 It was nice for Orelia to have a refresher course on egg hunting before the main event.

This guy, however, missed out on practicing since he was too busy petting bunnies and chickens to bother finding any eggs.

 The Easter Bunny hid some Star Wars eggs this year, which delighted Daddy.

Orelia's practice paid off, and she was a pro at egg hunting.

 It was a bit damp and chilly that morning, so Orelia donned her rain boots and white gloves for the occasion.

 Seeing her cheerful face after every spotted egg made for a wonderful morning.

 Bennett was quite sweet about finding his half of the eggs, as well, and his big sister did a great job helping him.

 Bennett was quite keen on the whole concept once he tasted the goodies inside.

 Orelia decided she didn't like Reese's peanut butter cups, so she mostly ignored the chocolate part of the morning.  Her loss.

 Before nap, Orelia and I dyed almost two dozen eggs.  I say almost, as we lost quite a few to cracking in the pot.  Apparently hard boiling eggs once a year does not keep a person well trained for the task.

 Orelia was beyond enthusiastic to play the egg cracking game with the family.

When it comes to bopping eggs together, Orelia is your girl.

 Due to a miracle, she ended up winning the game with the last egg she chose.  That's the face of a happy winner.  (I don't want to imagine what her face would have looked like otherwise.)

We ended the evening with Easter-shaped lollipops that the Easter Bunny was unable to fit into the eggs this year.  Hopefully we will have just as nice of a holiday next year, except perhaps the Easter Bunny will improve her hard boiling technique and lollipop purchasing skills.