A week at the beach

I've been terrible about posting recently, and the reason is "Photos." I know people really only come for the photos, so I hate posting when I don't have good photos to put up- and unfortunately my computer was the casualty of a fast little tortoise Kitty and a big glass of red wine and the unfortunate result of such a combination! So....there have not been photos. My computer is a PC, my fiance's is a Mac. I am a PC girl through and through and my picture editing and storage/etc are all in photoshop elements. This is my first attempt at using his Mac for photos, and I just want to say, I cannot wait to get back to my PC!!! Macs just don't make a whole lot of sense to me, and the picture manager software here is not very convenient....! Unfortunately with the wedding nearly upon us (2 weeks!), the computer repair may not happen until after the wedding!

Now, onto much more exciting things than Kitties & red computers that give funky messages...I rent a house at the beach every year for a week in the summertime. (Okay, technically this is the 2nd year of a week, and only our 3rd year going as a Village, but it is not a tradition, so I think I can say "every year"!) This year it looked like we were going to have a pretty slim crowd- Maddie and I of course, and Marie and her girls Zoe and Eva and one of her older daughters, Aly for part of the week, then they day they were leaving, Elisabeth and Skye were coming for a few days. Pretty slim- relaxing, but I was sadly missing the single Mamas week at the beach! Timing just did not work out for everyone else!

Fortunately in the end, we ended up with a few more people! Marie and the girls came but stayed through Thursday instead of Wednesday. Cindy and Dumpling and Skype were able to come out and be there from Tuesday through Thursday, and Elisabeth and Skye came out from Wednesday through Friday. All in all it was the perfect combination of relaxing and loud for a week at the beach with kids!

Cindy and Skype Baby- skype baby was so not into the cold water...that little one has got abs of steel because everytime Cindy tried to set her feet in the cold water, those little legs popped up!

Eva & Zoe got mermaids that came in little backpacks- Maddie was LOVING the backpacks, she has decided she loves bags and putting things in bags and carrying them around...very cute!

Marie with Skype Baby*- Marie is an adoption Lawyer and was the one who helped Cindy when she adopted Skype Baby.

The first day that we went down to see the water up close, Maddie was not at all into it, she clung to me, got anxious, and generally was not happy. So I thought, well, this will be the "play in the sand" trip to the beach- so the next day we just played in the sand. The next day, after Elisabeth and Skye and Cindy and girls had arrived, we all went downt to the beach together and I thought I'd just try one more time. All I can say is Maddie's biological parents must have been fisherman becuase this girl is DRAWN to the ocean! She was absolutely fearless! She wanted to run straight into the water and LOVED playing in the water!! We went down to the water twice that day (the house is right on the beach) and both times she absolutely WAILED when we had to leave the water!

She really loved playing in the sand too!

At Maddie's orphanage they used towels as comfort items, so we are never ever without "towlie". Fortunately we have about 20 "towlie's" since she just requires a white washcloth, but not a specific white washcloth. It is our savior for booboos, for bottle time, general cuddling, and very fun to wear as a hat!

Skye and Eva playing in the sand...

Marie, Eva, Elisabeth & Skye playing in the water!

Saturday is my Shower....my BRIDAL shower! Holy cow....I really truly never believed I'd ever be saying that...BRIDAL shower! It was such a nice surprise that my friends asked to do this for me! I'm really just blown away, and can't wait! I know it will be fun!