End of summer fresh fruit

We keep pretty close track of which month it is because the you-pick fruit seasons are pretty short.  It starts with strawberries, then when they are almost done, raspberries are ready.  Blackberries, marionberries, blueberries, boisenberries, and other varieties of raspberries join in and are available for a month or more.  When those wind down, the peaches, pears,  and apples start up.

Summer must be getting closer to an end, because Dani and kiddos escaped quarantine and went and picked some delicious apples, pears, and peaches.

One thing that's nice about this variety is that the peaches are ready pretty quickly after picking, but the apples and pears can be eaten for the coming weeks.  That way, we can enjoy our fresh picked fruit for longer!

Quarantine

Kate and Liam must have picked up hand foot and mouth on vacation sometime, because Liam broke out in rashes all over his body, from his ankles to his wrists shortly after getting back to Portland.  It's a big reality check when you go from vacation to being stuck at home!

Traveling home

After a fun-filled week, the house cleared out and we took the scenic way down to Jacksonville on a route that included a trip on a ferry and a drive through some small beach towns.  We ended up at Jacksonville Beach where we took a walk along the beachfront and onto a long pier.  There were lots of fishermen set up, but we didn't see anyone catch anything while we were there.

The planks on the pier gave the stroller a bit of a bumpy ride and we were sure one was going to give way at any point!  The view was beautiful, and it was cool to be above the ocean watching the waves.

We made our way back to Joe's Crab Shack, where we had a crab feast.  Jacob and Claire discovered that they love crab.  It was a little bit of a race against the clock as Jared and Dani cracked king crab legs because (1) the babies were tired and would melt down at any point and (2) there were flies EVERYWHERE!  We had a table outside, and as soon as our food came out, we were swarmed by hungry flies.  They would land on our hands and food - it made the experience a little disappointing overall, but memorable nonetheless.

The kids did a much better job going to sleep in our room than they did the first night, and they were again very good on the airplane.  We must have worn them out on vacation!

In trouble and she knows it

Kate threw a big fit one morning, so instead of getting to go on a bike ride with the family, she got to sit in the chair.  Once she was there, she sat still, not saying anything for quite a while.  She knew she was in trouble by the expressions on her face!

When in Hilton Head, do as the we have done before!

There are some traditions that we have been doing since our first family trip to Hilton Head.  It wouldn't feel like a Hilton Head trip without them!  So, as we've done previously, we:

• Rented bikes.  It was a little bit of a confusion for us and the rental people with the number of bikes in our family, but we ended up getting the right number!

• Rode to Harbour Town to gawk at the yachts and Sea Pines to shop for t-shirts.

• Watched Gregg Russell sing basically the same songs and tell the same jokes under the old oak tree... and still laugh at all of them!  Kate and Liam, meanwhile, played with head lamps.

• Took a picture sitting on the low branch of the tree in Harbour Town

• Played at the Gregg Russell playground.  The kids had fun on the teeter totter.  And Kate was pretty enamored with a frog!

The best way to spend the day when it is hot

We have lived in Portland for close to 4 years, so we have gotten used to the nice low humidity summers.  So, given we were in South Carolina in August, we spent a lot of time in the water at the beach and at the pool.

One day, Nana gave all the grandkids giant tubes of bubbles.  They were fun to play with around the pool - the ones floating in the air became targets for water guns!

Kate became pretty comfortable with her floaties and was able to move around the pool a little bit.  Liam was a little less comfortable once he was in the water - he LOVED to jump off the pool deck into someone's (typically Jared's) arms.

We were glad to have the help of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and Lydia to help watch and entertain the kids.  Though we don't have as many pictures of the pool, we spent quite a bit of time there, especially in the later afternoon when the pool would become shaded.

The kids all spent a lot of time in the water.  Jacob, Clayton, and Wyatt loved splashing in the waves and body surfing.  Sometimes they would use the boogie board, sometimes they wouldn't.  Uncle Andrew was the top surfer, nearly always going multiple body lengths past where everyone else landed.

Claire and Lydia also spent hours upon hours floating around the waves.  One day, they both brought their tubes out and sang songs and splashed around the waves.

The ocean water felt great.  We were glad to avoid the jellyfish that seemed to have their sights set on Christensens - both Matt and Clayton got stung.

The boys brought their baseball gloves and showed off the arms a little.  There were a few errant throws that sent someone scampering off to get the ball before it went into the water.  After a couple of those, the boys would all gather within a few feet of one another as punishment. Jared and Taylor eventually started airing it out a little ways, trying to one up one another.  

T and Clayton got to be pretty good on the skim board.

There were lots of very active little ones on the beach.  Liam and Kate spent lots of time digging in the sand

and moving buckets of sand to different parts of the beach.

Kate was in charge of snack time - most of the time she was at the beach was deemed, at least in her mind, to be snack time, and she made sure to take advantage.  Kate did go in the water one time for a long while with Amber, but for the most part, she was more interested in the activities happening around the beach chairs and sand castles - and snack bags.

Kate also was very interested in accessorizing and traded sunglasses with Hayley.

Liam was pretty content at the beach - he spent lots of time sitting in the shallow water watching the waves roll in around him.  He was fine going into the water, but he definitely preferred sitting in the shallower water and splashing around.

 

Like her older siblings, Adele LOVED the ocean!  She would crawl straight out towards oncoming waves, would dig around in the sand, and would splash in the water.  The Christensen cousins 

And Taylor and Hayley were on the beach too.

The sandcastles early in the week were fun.  They weren't huge, but they were fun.  Matt built a sea monster one day.

 

Later in the week, the boys decided they were going to build a huge castle - one as tall as they are.

As it continued to climb, it became a little more tricky to keep it together.  At one point, it was taller than Jared (provided he was standing at the deepest part of the moat), but a part of it crumbled before the final decorating happened.

One thing that was needed was water - we built the sand castle where it ended up being a little ways out from the water, as the tide continued to go out - so there were water runners providing buckets of water.  Liam definitely got into that and would run up and down the beach carrying a huge bucket and returning with some water for the castle, which he would dump straight into the moat instead of onto the castle!  He was loving being a part of the production.

With the expert sand castle finishers of Andrew and Matt putting the final touches, the castle ended up looking like one of the castles from Lord of the Rings.  It was visible from a long ways down the beach.  

We took family pictures on Monday night - since we weren't allowed to use cameras while the pictures were being taken, we only got one picture as we walked off.  Khaki and white - classic Hilton Head!