Songs of Joy: Ocean Queen 2013

These photos are from our recent mini-vacation to a nearby beach with a family that we work with at the English Center. They have four kids, too, so that was a lot of kids in one cabin, but it was a lot of fun. Their family was sick, and we caught what they had and brought it home. That wasn't fun. But still, it was a good time, and so nice of them to invite us to join their vacation.

We played Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights during the many, many rainy times. And when it was hot. And when it was dark. Anytime we weren't in the water, basically, we were playing Settlers. Nerd Alert!!

Trying to get a family picture with the sandcastle masterpiece. I think the attempts are usually better than the final photo. Every single attempt of every family photo we have taken in the last two years has Matt's face looking exactly like it is above. Matt hates picture time.

But, he rallies for the camera and takes a decent photo to make his mother happy. Good kid.

Starting our hike to the trench of death. Kelly overdid it on the sunscreen but it's still cute.

7 of the 8 kids in our cabin. One was too sick to come play.

Fireworks on the beach!

These pics are from home, but how can I not post how much enjoyment we ALL get out of my Coke Zero habit?

I mean, how impressive is it that Nate can stack seven cans without knocking it over? He could probably do more but I was afraid they would drop and explode and waste the Coke :) And Caleb made a costume out of the box and wore it around for an hour. How could I quit something that brings so much joy???

We bought an inflatable kayak about 3 years ago, before we moved to Lombok. It has a see through bottom and we thought it would be fun to use there, so we could see all the tropical fish. We didn't account for all the work it would take to get it *to* the tropical fish, blow it up, use it for five minutes, wash it, deflate it, roll it up, pack it up, bring it home, unroll it, wash again, dry, roll it up, and pack away until next time. So...we only used it once. But on this trip we rectified that issue and used it a lot to go play in the waves. It was pretty fun, though probably pretty dangerous, too. Matt liked it a lot, which made me happy, because Matt doesn't like a lot of stuff a lot.

Six months from the last time we were at a beach, Nate still likes to throw sand. But now it's at people instead of into piles. That's kind of a bummer, but his little giggle when he throws it is pretty cute. He was afraid of the ocean at first. He watched Caleb get tumbled by a wave (and came up laughing) and after that every time the waves came close to his feet he'd run away, screaming over his shoulder, "Not Dat! Not Dat!" That's his general cry of disapproval. A couple days later he let the wave touch his toes a little, and by the end of our stay there he would sit and let it run over his legs. But if he was standing and the wave came and moved the sand underneath him, he's scream and then sit down. Kind of a weirdo, but cute, still. I need to say for a zillionth time how thankful we are for our little floaty suits. Caleb has a dragon that fastens around his arms, and Nate has this turtle shell you see above. Both of them keep me from being a freak about the kids being around water, which makes for a much easier vacation.