Beaches and Birds

 After Kidz Love Soccer on Saturday, we escaped the week's heat by heading to the beach with our friends JT, Jim, Callie and Jonah.

We met up at Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's house, after arranging this weekend playdate back in early March. We found the beach sunny but very windy, so it was pretty cold.

Stace, Cora and Callie stayed warm (enough) by running races and doing the long jump. Jonah played in the sand, and Violet mainly stayed huddled under towels on my lap, after splashing enough to get cold.

In the evening, after getting the kids bathed and warm, we enjoyed dinner and hanging out together.

Rather amazingly, the children all went to bed very well - the younger three in one room, with Callie and Violet having a "sleepover" in sleeping bags.

Cora slept on the floor in a room with Stace and me, so she could read after bedtime. She's reading through the Little House books, and has moved on to "The Long Winter."

 In the morning, Uncle Bill made a feast of pancakes and all the trimmings.

 Thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty for hosting all of us!

 Violet loved her birthday gift from Callie and Jonah - this bird sings when you whistle to it. She has named it "Chirp Sweet Tweet."

 We came home Sunday to find real bird eggs in the bush outside our house. We've seen mockingbirds flying to and from this bush, and the cats have been watching closely.

Though I love birds, I wasn't thrilled about this - mockingbirds can be annoyingly noisy and protective. I remember mockingbirds dive-bombing my parents' elderly cat when he slept on the front step.

So far, we haven't had any trouble from this family.

Here is the bush that is home to the next, which is about halfway up and in the middle. Not very smart, being that the cats are in the yard frequently enough, and are capable of climbing.

I'll keep the blog updated, if there is anything to report.