We've been waiting and waiting for MARK RONALD MCCALLUM to make his big debut! And he's finally here! Mark was born at 11:27pm on July 17th. 
He is beyond cute and we are so happy for Ron and Sarah! You can follow all of his adventures at www.tonybagels.blogspot.com.
While we were at the beach Rock prayed "Thank you for my best buddy Clip and my best buddy Addy."
She is an awfully cute pick for a best buddy.
And this is an awfully cute bathing suit -- given to her by the Hathaways -- just one of her many Polkadotsie gifts from her first birthday party.
Bethany and Kelly's cornhole game provided lots of beach-time entertainment for the fellas...
While the ladies preferred to lounge...
And nap (for the record I know that Clip is a fella, not a lady)...
And smile pretty for the camera.
Zuni got her haircut one morning so she could look particularly lovely at the beach. Good thing you can see the cut so well in this picture.
On our final afternoon at the beach, there was a rousing FIGHT THE TIDE competition. When the tide was out, each of the houses worked together to build a 'sand castle' (although I must say they all looked like mounds of sand to me!). Each team then places a straw upright in their 'castle' wherever they chose. Then the tide comes in and whichever team's straw stays upright longest wins.
Here's our house's team and 'castle.' Notice I am not there -- I was back at the house with a napping Lou. Our straw went down first, but the mound of sand lasted the longest so when Rock came back to the house he told me that our team won.
I think he may have been out in the sun a little too long.
Whoever came up with the idea for kids carts at the grocery store is a total genius. When we arrived at the beach, the first place we stopped was Piggly Wiggly. And our kids (still in their pjs) were quite happy to get out and run around.
This picture reminds me of....
This one. Sheer delight everytime.
When I took this picture, I thought of...
This picture. From our beach trip in 2009. Where you can see Rock's ridiculously long lashes.
While Lou's lashes are beautiful and impressive in length...
I think Rock still has her beat.
Look at those good looking grandparents and their cute grandkids!
Can you guess the impromptu color theme? And did you spot more matching outfits on the girls? We have Bethany to thank for those. If only Sarah and Ron could have been with us, but she's about to have her baby boy!
There's a reason Louisa is positively giddy in this picture. It was SUMMER FELLOWSHIP WEEK! And Zuni was here from London and staying in our house!!!
In fact we shared a house with the Rabenhorsts, Brockmans, Barnetts and Hathaways. It was a kid-filled house of fun for sure.
There was young love....
And lots of screaming from the two kiddies pictured here.
And there were matching outfits provided by Juju for all the young ladies.
Juju even hosted a Bingo night at our house.
And she gave away killer prizes.
At the other houses, we celebrated Copeland's birthday.
And her Uncle Greg's birthday.
And took an adorable picture or two of the Barnetts. No no no, we didn't take a picture of our family. That would be silly.
But we did take a picture of the matching outfits again.
At the close of each day, we'd go back to the house of chaos. Our Litchfield, SC home away from home.
