Before and After the Rainstorm

On Friday night when my parents, Kenda, and Dade were here, we had one heckuva night! All of the gang (minus Dallas because he was working) went to the Rooftop Rendezvous down at the clubhouse. Every Friday night the Cosmopolitan management provides a BBQ dinner for the residents. So we went down and had our fill of hot dogs, potato salad, chips, and lemonade.

We picked up these cute little containers of what we thought was grape Jell-O and put them on all of the kids plates, hoping to share a few bites with them, too. Before we left to go outside and eat on the deck, a nice lady came up to my mom and said, "Are you sure you want to give those to the kids? Those are Jell-O shooters!" Oops.

Watch Dade. He's a good sharer:

We were just a few minutes into our meal when it started sprinkling and then pouring. We huddled close under the umbrella at our table and watched the kids play and dance in the rain.

After the storm came and went, we went downstairs to the ground level to walk around the Towne Center shopping area, restaraunts, and check out the concert on the plaza. Grandpa Bear (my dad) bought us all some GOOD treats at the Royal Chocolate. Treats like peanut butter, toffee, pecan turtles, and oreos covered in dark, white, or milk chocolate. And we found a little nest of baby birds in the awning of the coffee shop next door:

After the chocolates our first stop was the fountain.

I gave each of the kids a penny to make a wish. After throwing in her nickel (I ran out of pennies), Madeline realized that she could go digging for money in the fountain and pull out everyone else's wishes. (Remind you of Goonies, anyone? Don't worry, my dad quoted it, so you don't have to.)

Just stealing a few wishes until she had to throw them back.

Raleigh was so mad. "Look at what Madeline is DOING!!" (And looking eerily like Miley Cyrus in this picture.)

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Monkey see, monkey do.

If you're a Purdy, you love the water:

We got to enjoy seeing these two faces we just don't get enough of:

And we listened to this man and his saxaphone:

While watching my parents be grandparents and my kids be grandkids:

And my parents be a cute married couple:

Since she was in town, I had no one to call!

Dallas surprisingly showed up around 8:30-ish, and we attempted a family picture:

That's as good as it gets for us. Until next time . . .

Today

Thanks to my fabulous new couponing skills, we enjoyed mini-Drumsticks at Chic Beach today.  I guess that's the "local" name for East Beach.  It was named after a girl named Chic Something-or-Other who ran a little food stand down by the beach.  I know this because I read it in the newspaper today.  I love the newspaper.

How can you get a face like this within the first few licks of your ice cream cone?  Well, I guess it was a little melty.  Nothing like cleaning your face with saltwater from the ocean . . . or should I say the Chesapeake Bay.

MMMMmmmm.  We went with a fun group of girls/moms and their kids.  Madeline was having a little trouble with people stepping on her towel.  She said later, "I was angry in my heart, but I didn't let the angry come out of my heart."  I asked her, "How did you not let the angry come out of your heart?"  And she said, "Cuz I new that I shouldn't let the madness come out.  It's really bad manners."  I was like, "Yeah, you're right, Madeline.  That's called patience."

And here's the bearded woman herself.

It's been a great day to kick off our 4th of July weekend, one of my all-time favorite holidays.  This is where we'll be on the 4th.  Now is that something to get excited about, or what???

Tonight the girls lay wide-eyed in bed while I captivated them with my profoundly inaccurate, but well-intended telling of the American Revolution.  Their bedroom became a holy place as we talked of pride for our forbears and gratitude for our freedoms.  We put our hands to our hearts as I taught them how to show respect for our flag.  Madeline was bursting with questions: 

In reference to the War: "Did they get to go to church on Sunday?"  "Where did the kids go when [Martha] went to go visit her husband in the war?"  "Did they see the flag when all of the dust came falling to the ground?"

In reference to festivities: "Do fireworks burn your hands?"

Then I sang all of the patriotic songs in our hymnbook to them, and I hope all of our neighbors heard us.  I want to make sure EVERYONE around here is ready for the 4th.  

East Beach - The Hidden Gem of Norfolk

That title is not as cheesy as it is TRUE.  Dallas and I want to live here permanently now, but only if we can live in this subdivision right on the waterfront of the Chesapeake Bay.  For lack of better verbiage, it is RAD!

This is where we park.  

This is the entrance to the beach.  

This would make a cool postcard.  Notice the perfect sand.  (Not white sand like Destin, FL, but who's comparing??)

We walked to the end of the beach where these rocks line an inlet housing a marina and seafood restaurant.  I told Dallas, "I wish I liked seafood!"

We couldn't get Choobs to hop down and walk onto the sand until this cute little guy came up and wanted to play with her.  Isn't it a cute dog?  Side note- I want a bulldog someday.  Cute dogs are cute, but UUUGLY dogs are even cuter!

Once she ventured down onto the ground, she had a blast sifting through (and burying) all of the rocks and seashells Raleigh and Madeline collected.

Ah, sailboats.

I'm so glad to see that Choobs squints her eyes in true Purdy fashion (where the sides kind of point downward).

Dallas and Kensington watch the planes take off from the Little Creek Naval Base.

As Dallas would say, "Yeah, baby!"

We're walking back to our car.

Cool little fence.

Anybody want to come visit?  It's more fun with company!

Madeline and Choobers after their baths - we had to wash all of the sand off.

Our Day at the Beach

Dallas picked up some work today building a deck for some people with oceanfront property, so the girls and I were invited to come over and play on the beach in front of the house.  It was SO close to our house - maybe 10 minutes away.  I'm not sure of the official name of the beach, but it was on the North shore of Virginia Beach.  

This one had a lot of seaweed, and the girls were deathly afraid of it at first until I told them it was "just grass - every ocean has grass, didn't'cha know that?"  And I showed them how it looks much prettier floating in the water than it does washed up and dead-looking on the sand.  They were mostly satisfied with that.  

It was only about 70 degrees today (much cooler than normal), and we were a little chilly with the wind blowing.  The water was a little cold without being icy, so we spent most of our time playing in the sand.  

The greatest part about being so close to the beach is that if it IS a little cold, and your third-born decides to get a little tired and grouchy, you can just pack up and go home without feeling like you missed out on your day at the beach.  It's like going to the park or something - you can come back anytime!  

We just keep our sand toys in the trunk of the car now, and I always have our pool/beach bag packed with the basics so we can just go whenever we want!  Funny how we never just "up and went" to the mountains back in Utah when we were just minutes away from American Fork canyon.  Oh yeah, it's because I get carsick. 

I love how all three girls are in on this sand creation.  And they all have important business.

Look at the succession of these next three pictures.  Notice Kensington.

Let's just say she had a body and face full of sand, and she was NOT happy about it!  (And WHERE was her MOTHER during this episode???)

That ladder was the coolest.  

I want to go on it again.