Happy 4th of July...in August...sorry :)

okay, okay, i'm a little behind i know but i'm about to catch you up to date.

this is the Perry, Cook, Cox, Sears, Merrit and Allen 4th of July weekend.

St. George Island, Fla. the absolute most beautiful beach in the world...to us anyway! and this is why...this is a look to the east...

     and this my friend, is to the west :)

my kids can run and play and swim and run and play and swim some more! no people, no crowds, no scantily clad girls/women/hoochies and no alcohol. and did i mention that this is 4th of July weekend!!?? yeah baby! it seriously makes you think and has the feel that you are on your own private island. I LOVE IT!     

here's map and the babes. it looks a little yuck in the background, but hey, this is florida! rain in one area and five minutes or 100 steps in the other direction and it's sunny! this picture was taken on the beach down at the state park where we camped.....for a puny $25 a night! oh yeah!

this is on the beach down the way in front of my aunt and uncle's house (no they don't rent, they actually live on this island that i personally classify as a tiny piece of heaven on earth)

here's map with the birds. i was actually throwin food behind him as he walked and they kept tryin to peck at him. he didn't see me do it so he didn't know why they were after him!

here's the middle man and my aunt. he came outta the water just long enough to get a snack. gotta have snacks at the beach!

 not sure what jake had going on here.....contemplatin his next move i guess. i think they were tryin to catch tiny fish in a net. they had to scope them out first.

 back down at the state park on our nightly beach walk, the kids decided they'd pose for some pictures. i told them they needed to sit up and smile....i got them when they all said "cheese" at the same time. not much luck so we tried again!

 i got 'em to sit up straight and smile but not quiet what i was hopin for!

oh well :) makes me laugh anyway!

much easier with one kid. too bad i didn't have one of her pillowcase dresses on her!

 okay, this is actually July 4th. these next few pictures will need a little expalining.

at st. george island, on the 4th of july, they always have a parade. this is by far no ordinary parade. it's a golf cart WATER parade!!!! the participants and the bystanders/watchers can wet each other with water hoses, water guns, water balloons or anything else you can come up with (well, anything that won't cause bodily harm to anyone)

this is just the beginning and the boys are ready. i was lucky enough to find them all matchin outfits. aren't they the cutest!? the boys have their supersoakers in hand and these things are awesome!

this boy was ON IT!  he was chasin them down the street!

this next picture may seem kinda weird like "why would she take a blurry picture of an ICE cooler?" ya wanna know why? cause when those poor unsuspecting paraders closed their eyes that night, that's what they saw! think about it: what fun would a water parade be with lukewarm water? and what goes in an ICE cooler? THAT'S RIGHT! we filled our cooler with two bags of ice and THEN finished it off with water!

these kids were oblivious to what was waiting for them!

 even the older people with the american flags and nowhere to run

jake and ben had pity for NOONE!!

 and little did they know that by the time the parade was over they'd have NO friends!!

this guy was my favorite! he was like "yeah! i'm big and bad! squirt me with water!!"  he squealed like a girl when jake got him square with that ICE water. HILARIOUS!

after the parade, we went down to the beach and stayed the rest of the day and into the nite.

the dark clouds finally went away and it turned out to be a warm and beautiful day! i was so sad that we would be leaving the next day. why does time have to go by sooooo fast? it seems like all we did was sit on the beach! isn't time supposed to stand still when you aren't moving?

baby girls eyes seemed to turn this crystal blue color when we were there. i guess that's what happens when you turn in to a mermaid!

no matter where we are, ben has to have some dirt to dig in! he was in heaven! and so was i cause this dirt didn't turn the bottom of his feet black!

see? i told ya it was a beautiful day! the birds even came out to tell us bye!

 and by the looks of this picture, map may or may not have just lost his swim trunks  :)

time for fireworks!!!

i think between 3 families, we had around 500 glow sticks/necklaces/braclets

in these two picture, i think there are like only 1/4th of the whole crew here. the others were shooting fireworks, catchin ghost crabs, or walkin down the beach.....who knows....i do know one thing, they all glowed in the dark! and the whole weekend was SO much fun!  :)