The Best Time Spent...

Is vacations spent with family. And here we all are at our best. Err, well maybe not our very best, but here we all are together just the same (well, minus my cousin Michael who was missed!)

Every year for as long as I can remember our family all goes to the beach to spend a week together. At first (when we were all much smaller) we would rent a condo. The grown ups would get a room and the kids would be scattered through out. Some of us even would sleep in closets! As you can see we have grown and I don't think many of us would fit into closets anymore so now we all share a big house on the beach. I look forward to it every year!

This is me helping my grandmother cook( I know, really bad pic of me!). Actually all I did was stir. She along with my mother and my aunt did most of the cooking, but it was fun to pretend I was helping ;) Cooking for all of us was a really big job! But it is so fun to have everyone gather in the kitchen at dinner time. Nothing brings people together like food!

This was our entertainment for a couple of nights. My cousins and my brother singing and playing guitar while we all listened and sang a long. Good times!



My cousin Lindsay has two small boys. Edward is about 16 months and Luke who is about to turn 3 in August. Now I know I may be bias but these are two of the cutest boys you will ever meet. Lindsay and her husband Brian are so good with them. They definitely keep them buys.

This is a picture of Edward playing in the sand. He is the happiest baby and he just loves everyone. He is so adorable!This was taken 4th of July. We were outside on the beach watching fireworks. Luke and Edward don't look too thrilled about the having a picture taken, but they had a really good time.

I was hoping to hear about more referral news when we got back but no such luck. Oh, but I did see the new baby added to the waiting child list. He is so precious. I know someone will scoop him up really quick!!

Yesterday Rich and I finished our Because they Waited series. The last test were essay questions. I have to say that the questions on Richard's test were much harder than mine. I found the last module to be the most interesting. They mentioned a technique called "holding" when a child is in the middle of a sever tantrum. I have never even heard of "holding" before. Well, there is a lot I have never heard of before. I have a lot more reading and research to do, but I have plenty of time to do it. One month down, possibly 14 more to go!