Beach part 2 & home again

At the beach, mornings were as quiet as mornings can be when they involve a 3.5 year old and a 1 year old.

As the day went on, the noise level increased.

The Saturday afternoon forecast called for rain, so we squeezed in a walk while the weather allowed us to do so dryly.

Sometimes at the beach, Madeline seems elemental.  She is an Ocean State girl, after all.

Regarding the following picture, it seems important to note that Uncle Alex suffered his black eye not in a bar brawl or family fistfight, but in a wacky work-related game involving an eight-foot-tall ball and three goals -- or at least that's what he told us.  Oliver was unfazed by his uncle's rough-and-tumble appearance.

Meanwhile, Madeline kept looking for a shark tooth (and other treasures).

And Oliver worked on perfecting his beach squat.

Back at the house, as the rain came down outside, there was plenty of coloring to be done.

The next morning, Grandma gave the kiddos blueberries to tide them over ...

... until it was sticky bun time -- yum!

We squeezed in one last, short walk on the beach.

Then we took some family photos before it was time for us to take off.

Sadly, Great Aunt Kate and Uncle Jim left before family photo time and somehow were not represented in any of our shots -- hopefully Grandma Susy or Grandpa John got some good ones with them.

But we did get a nice photo featuring Summer, after Uncle Alex was banished to camera duty.

After that, it was time to go.

Back at home, Oliver turned 13 months old!

Just before his 13-month birthday, he finally had his one-year appointment.  He was deemed healthy, he weighed in at 24 pounds, 15 ounces, and he measured 31 inches tall -- all well above average, but not quite as huge as we'd expected.

He remains jolly.

Both kids also kept their colds going all through the weekend.  Though they were happy ...

... they both fell asleep on our way to the Central Falls Bright Future Festival on Saturday afternoon, and they both spent hours sleeping off their colds.

Sunday was a little better, with a trip to the Natural History Museum in Roger Williams Park ...

... and a visit afterward to the Fall Out of Summer Fest in our neighborhood.

We managed to watch girls from the local dance studio do routines, to eat some treats, and to play with clay ...

... before rain started falling and we fled home.

Where, once again, Oliver was jolly.

I have one last note to add from tonight.  This evening, as we were preparing to go for an after-dinner walk, Madeline exclaimed the following, word for word: "Oh my goodness, family -- I can't find my other shoe! There's no shoe to be found!"

Cute!