Beach Party!

Papa Chuck brought the kayaks to Thomas' birthday party. T and cousins loved them. The little ones just sat in the boat on the beach (like this) and Papa rocked them back and forth. What fun! Big kids got to go out on the water. We complemented Chuck on his safari hat and wondered that we had not seen him wear it before: "I got it out of the dress-up box". My sister-in-law mused, "How many grandpas do you know who pull their wardrobe out of the dress-up box?" Not too many. And they are lacking because of it, that's what I say. You might not be able to tell, but T still suffers from gravel depletion in his diet. He can't get enough sand in that little mouth of his when we go to the beach. And we go a lot.

So we barbeque'd and played and bonfired and ate and it was so much fun. The next picture has Charlie and the kids singing T's birthday song. Of course, you can only keep that many kids in the same place for so long. Our only regret is that this is a mere sampling of the cousins that are at the Halsell get-togethers. Three were on vacation, two had a previous engagement, and the babies were reluctant to lie on the sand in front of all these kids.