We finally went to the beach one beautiful Friday morning. The kids had been nagging me since school got out to take them to the beach at Holland State Park. They were thrilled.
We've found these "surfer suits" to be perfect swimwear for the kids. They keep the sun off their most sensitive skin (everyone hates burned shoulders) and they're cool and breathable so they're great for swimming.
Aidan's busily building a sand castle with plenty of lakewater.
We forgot the life jackets, so I just stayed close by the kids while they were in the water. The marked swimming area is never higher than Esme's shoulders, but she would still panic when it got up to her armpits.
We had a great time - the beach was not too crowded, the sand was warm and the water felt nice after a few minutes of numbing!
We don't get many pictures of Aidan wearing his glasses, but one evening at the airport he happened to still have them on. He's one handsome dude, with or without.
Yesterday we went to Meijer Gardens again (we're really getting our money's worth on that membership this year!) to scout out some birthday-picture sites. Jim is taking our kids' birthday portraits this year! We like this spot for Aidan - he just needs to sit up straighter.
Anywhere with flowers turned out to be a good spot for Esme - it's just hard to get her to have a natural expression on her face. This one turned out well! Any suggestions for what color clothes she should wear, on August 31?
Aidan doesn't like showing his teeth - or lack thereof - so we don't have any pictures where he's really smiling but we'll be sure to get some next week on his birthday.
This is my favorite picture of Esme. I think it's perfectly beautiful. I hope we can get one just like it on her birthday.
Here she looks like she's growing right out of the pot of petunias.
Fake smile!
Now there's a real smile! We had to tell her to laugh before we could get a natural smile out of her.
...and then we had to have a silly moment, too.
Tiger Esme in the jungle!
This is one of Aidan's great expressions. He's really good with the eyebrows. We're going to go for a white t-shirt with this location but the expression on his face is perfect.
The kids are actually standing in the topiary maze in the children's garden here.
Esme looks great among the daisies. We're not sure, of course, what kind of flowers will be blooming at the end of August, but I'm sure we'll find some more great ones.
