Still having fun in the sun, or under the overcast sky ... one or the other

Today started out as the previous two days did, with all of us out on the beach at the crack of dawn. Yes, 9:30 is the crack of dawn.

The beach encampment was out in full force by that time, set up for full UV protection. The patch of blue sky you see on the right side of this photo is misleading ... it was overcast-to-drizzly most of the day.



Once again we took over the immediate beach area with our Many Loud Children. We had several exciting moments when a neighboring beachgoer shouted "SHARK!" And there really WAS a shark out there.




We all piled out of the water for several hours, as three or four of us saw the fin for ourselves. It looked DISTINCTLY different from the dolphin fins we've been seeing this week, which was more than a little unsettling. We were irritated that neighbors on both sides of us were fishing with what looked like deep-sea fishing poles and big, live bait. It seemed like they were inviting the sharks over to join us.

One nice thing about being in from the ocean was that the kids did a lot of fun things in the sand. Charlie, Mikey, Grant and Nathaniel dug a big hole.

Jake scouted for shells, thousands of which were brought in by the storm waves last night.

He was NOT all that impressed with all of the shells that he found.

But he kept digging for them anyway, in his classic legs-crossed pose. (He sits this way all the time ... in his car seat, in his high chair, on the floor, and -- apparently -- on the beach.)

For a brief while, Nick rode his body board on the waves.

He's fearless, but ultimately there were a couple of more sightings of the shark fin, so we got back out of the water for good. No sense in ruining a perfectly good vacation with a fatality or limb loss.

"Wow, that's terrible. I guess you never saw it coming."

"Well, actually we knew it was out there, but we were pretty sure it wouldn't get us."

"IDIOTS."

I didn't want THAT conversation to happen EVER -- especially not on The Today Show or something -- so we played it safe.

We had a little more excitement when an eel washed up right in front of us. All of the kids were FASCINATED. I thought it was kind of gross, but it beats a shark bite any day.

The unavailability of the ocean inspired me to start building a fort with Nathaniel and Nick.

My plan is to now subject you to multiple remarkably similar pictures of it, in order to properly demonstrate my immense pride in my handiwork.

I garnered many Awesome Mommy Points for that creation. DUG BY HAND, if I didn't mention it. Not that I'm looking for credit or anything.

They were especially excited when I retired to my chair to let them play in it "all alone."

After lunch, we hit the pool, which is under the house. Well, half of it is under the house and half of it sticks out in the sun.

The kids all love the pool, and we've always loved it, too. But now that the kids are getting older, the pool seems to be shrinking. When half of them get in it with a couple of adults to supervise, it seems like it's only about the size of a hot tub.

But it remains a "main attraction" of the house. The kids flock to it. And speaking of main attractions that the kids flock to, check out Jonah's Pack-n-Play before supper tonight:

He was charming them all, and they were loving every minute of it. They were doing everything they could to try to make him smile and laugh.

And he was having a really happy evening! He was cooing and smiling at them like a champ.

We wrapped up our day with a delicious meal and a very patriotic dessert ... cheesecake.

More pictures and stories to come as the week continues ...