Outer Banks, North Carolina September 2008

We experienced the blessing of a week in the Outer Banks with my family a few weeks ago. Despite too many windy days that kept us off the beach and out of the water, it was wonderful to be at the beach and to spend (too rare) time with family. We're spread out in Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky and Massachusetts, so we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we would all like. And a week of vacation at the beach is always a great thing. Here are a few of the many pictures I would have liked to post (it's no mistake that there aren't any beach pictures of the 20 week pregnant lady):

Jack may be 35, but he still likes to play! He thoroughly enjoyed a week away from work. He plowed through all of David's McCullough's biography of Teddy Roosevelt this week.... no small undertaking...


I love this picture of Corban being like his dad.


On the days he could be in the water, Jakin spent every minute on the boogie board. He didn't stop. No breaks. As soon as he rode one wave in, he was up and on his way out to catch another.


Every kid loves the beach and Annie is no exception.


The family at the dunes.

It's a ......

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My recent ultrasound revealed that we are expecting a very healthy, very active little girl. I'm just thrilled. I'm so glad that Annie will have a sister. Someone to be her room buddy and hopefully her very good friend. I just posted an entry about what the boys do together. I'm anticipating Annie and her sister doing "girl things" together - playing with babies is one of Annie's favorite things to do. Two boys and two girls. YAY! The picture below was taken yesterday. I'm 19 weeks, still running (slowly) and still feeling really good overall. We have so much for which to be thankful.

What the boys do

Almost every day, this is what Jakin and Corban do. They build a fortress using the blocks Grampa Miller made for Jakin for his first Christmas and a bin full of "guys" - pirates, dinosaurs, lizards, farm animals and Star Wars galatic heroes. I think the fun is in the building. There never seems to be an actual battle. I'm glad they have each other to do "boy things" with all the time. And I'm glad they understand that they are in charge of cleaning the fortress up at the end of the day. Then, since everything is cleaned up, they have an excuse to build another fortress the following day!