First day of school, 2022

It feels like every year Dad has to take another step back to fit us both in this picture. I blame Jonathan's new shoes. 

Summer was a blast, but we're ready to get back to homework and good old book learning. 

Here's what seventh grade looks like up close. 

And here's third grade even closer. Bring it on!
 

Underwater fun

Only a few more days left at our pool, so we're spending as much time as we can underwater!
 

Nature meditation

I am the leaves, and the leaves are me. I am the leaves, and the leaves are me. 
 

Make your own playground

Anybody can go down the slide. We're trying our next-level fun here. 
 

More scenes from the shore

Did you even go to the beach if you didn't bury someone in the sand? 

There's pizza, and then there's D'Auria pizza. They are not the same thing. 

Our mini-golf foursome may not have the lowest score, but we have the quickest time. 

The view from the ferris wheel is both breathtaking and ... well, breathtaking. 

It's funny how the more relatives we have to stuff into a room, the more space we seem to find. 

 

Great trip, folks. Let's do it again soon. 

I've got the magic in me

We got to see a magic show just off the boardwalk and you are not going to believe what this guy did: 

 

Boardwalk dessert

No trip to the beach is complete without one night (OK, maybe five) of ice cream with grandmom on the boardwalk. She's in that picutre somewhere, I'm sure of it. 
 

Aqua park stunts

We added a trip to the local aqua park to our beach vacation this year. It was slippery, and bouncy, and awesome. 

They had a whole host of obstacles to scramble around, but mostly we just used them to plop into the water. Here's Emma's death defying drop from the high dive (about four feet). 

And here's me. I mean, I couldn't let her take all the daredevil glory. 
 

Back to the beach

It has been two years since we got to feel the sand at Ocean City, but we're finally back. And it's still great. 

So let's get in the water already! 
 

The bloomers song

Our week at 4H camp was a blast, with lots of forest exploring, arts and crafts, and bonding with nature. And we even learned some new ... interesting songs. 

Fossil hunter

I found a fossilized shark tooth at 4H camp this week! Jonathan already has a pile of them, but I got to pull this one from a river that used to be part of the ocean tens of thousands of years ago. That's almost as old as Dad! 
 

Donut time

Do you mind? This is kind of personal time between me and my pastry.