Papa teaching the kids to carve

Papa got out all his carving tools and they each went and found a piece of drift wood to carve.Papa helping Matthew learn to carve

He tried to carve out his name...didn't get too far before he went back to making his knife

Vanessa working away

Papa giving Sess some tips on what to do

And she only walked away with 2 band aides on her hands. One she was using a saw and tried to take her finger off and the other she smashed with a rock!!!

She did pretty good :)

Papa's such a show off with his many talents!!!

Random moments of CUTENESS!!!!

Vanessa was quite excited because she FINALLY got to go to the beach with us. She usually ends up at her dads and doesn't get to go camping with us.

She was being creative with the new building stuff they got

Matthew and Vanessa were outside playing in the dirt before we left for the beach. Her thumb nail attacked his eye!!!

Vanessa and Mommy cuddling watching the waves

So we got to the beach late Wednesday night. I put my eye cover on and went to sleep. Crazy people like to get up EARLY!!! So mom thought it would be cute to take a picture of me since everyone else was up and there's Sarah sleeping away :)

She loves it when I have the camera to catch all her cute faces she pulls

We had for dinner one night steak and potatoes. Matthew was bored waiting for us to cook the meat over the fire he went and found his own roasting stick and loaded it up with meat....It was so good :)

Knives

Papa thought the kids needed to have pocket knives of their own. So they all decided to make knives out of wood with there real knives!!! Yes that would be my 6 YEAR OLD with his own knife.....
He takes this very seriously
Vanessa wanted to make sure hers was nice and sharp
Then she thought the handle was too long and asked Papa to help her cut it off....
She just wasn't expecting him to tell her to hold on to the tiny end piece while he used the saw on it!!!
She even named her knife the Sess knife

Then Papa decided to make a BIG knife. Now this is a man who is used to power tools and saws to make the job easier. So needless to say he was about to die after hand sawing this lil knife out of wood....it was quite fun to watch though :)

The choppy version, prior to the final shaping of the knife

And finally the end product. It was actually a pretty cool knife :) Until of course Vanessa tried to saw my arm in half with it....IT HURT!!!!

Their fort they made

The kids worked all afternoon making this fort all by themselves. They were so proud of it and played it all day
Matthew showing off his skills
The inside of their fort
Matthew did the roof all by himself and needed a picture showing it

Our last day at the beach

The last 2 days all mom and I heard was "why are old ladies lazy Papa?" Apparently since mom and I didn't live down on the beach like Papa did that made us lazy. So the morning we left we said we'd go walk on the beach with them. I must say Matthew is so dang cute!!!And my baby girl Vanessa isn't so much a baby anymore, she is growing up to be a beautiful young lady....I'M SO OLD!!!!
She started running in the sand and fell on her bootie....maybe she isn't as grown up as I thought ;)
This is the beach my sister and I grew up playing, exploring and having fun on. Its so fun to see my kids enjoying it as much as we always have.
Matthew my poser!!!

So Matthew always likes to tease Nana bout having "saggy boobies" so since we were at the beach we decided to show him the real definition of a saggy boobie!!!

Oh yeah poser all the way

Mom, Dad, Matthew and Vanessa looking at the tide pools

Nana and Papa looking so wise standing on the beach just waiting to impart there wisdom to us

My cute lil family :)

Matthew fell and hurt his leg so he thought I should have to carry him!!!!

Vanessa being the graceful young lady she hopes to be

The kids climbed to the top of one of the highest rocks on the beach and looked over the edge for mom to take a picture

Explorer man Matthew on top of a rock

Vanessa just chillin on the sand

Matthew got a bit hungry while we were down at the beach and this old crap claw was all we could find for him to eat

This is a HOLY rock

Vanessa's last ditch effort to keep us from leaving the beach....pretending she died!!!!

We think Matthew is part cat.

Playing in the creek after the beach

We stopped at a camp ground next to this lil creek on our way home from the beach. Apparently the water was COLD!!
Matthew decided he was going to go under water. He was preparing himself
Yep the water is COLD!!! As Vanessa stands there laughing at him
And of course Vanessa couldn't let her lil brother out do her by going under water and not her so here so goes!!!

Her knees hit the bottom so her head never went under but she confirmed the water really was COLD!!!

Vanessa was showing Matthew how to swim