Happy Birthday Elaina!

It's Elaina's 9th birthday today! We built our traditional "donut cake" and had a delicious breakfast with our beautiful daughter. If you read this blog post today (Friday, July 21st), give us a call and wish her a happy birthday! And no, I am not going to post my phone number on the internet... silly.

Sometimes you just need a better beat...

Drummer Buddy Rich vs. Animal on the Muppet Show in 1978

Beach day with Oma and Opa

Andrew really came into his own as the tide came up around him. He was a wild man in the waves. Elaina found the coolest tiny little clams which she collected. Noah wrapped himself in a towel, but came out to dump buckets of water into the hole. Molly did just about everything but drown (thankfully). More pics. here...

POOP!

Baby Molly arrives in the room carrying a diaper and a box of baby wipes. She drops them at mom's feet and exclaims, "Poop!" Turns out she was correct in the observation. Dad, who taught her the word the day before, wasn't home for the clean-up. lol.

Rainy Day Fun at Church

Rain before church: stay dry, keep clean, struggle to get to worship.

Rain during church: loud on the roof, plans for the day ruined, dark.



Rain after church: TIME TO GET WET!

Don't go to the beach on 4th of July weekend!

Hilton Head Island had a wee bit of traffic yesterday (read: 3 hours drive to the beach instead of 25 minutes). So we scrapped our island plans and went crabbing. Some friends of ours have a wonderful dock where we spent the entire afternoon lounging on the huge porch swing, catching blue crabs and small black tip sharks and generally being out in the breeze. The dock has full child proofing (since it's owned by the grandparents of the triplets) and even a sand box so Molly could be left to roam and play with the swimming noodles as she pleased. We ended the day with 7 large crabs and about the same number of sharks. The sharks and smaller crabs got thrown back.

So, this morning I have a sun burned neck and a dead crab sitting next to the computer keyboard while Andrew sings songs about it. Apparently he wasn't very clear on the whole "going home to eat them" thing and so, after cooking, he has been given a crab for a bit to play with. Watching the crab go Night Night in the fridge was an experience.

Here's what the traffic looks like right now (updated every 5 secs)
(view is looking across the bridge to the island)

More Photo Resources

Just a quick link list for those of you wanting more ideas/better skillz for you photography. ('cause girls only like guys with skills)
Very well done photography blog: www.digital-photography-school.com
Photoshop podcasts: PhotoshopTV.com
More in-depth, check links at top of page: The Luminous Landscape
Lots of info: Digital Photography For What It's Worth
Buying a camera? Start here: www.dpreview.com
Also 1 tip: good pics depend on not leaving the camera at the office... (see above post)