Summertime with Eggs, Ketchup and Stormy Showers...

We kicked off the Summer with style.
Out of the house by 8:30am...
...umbrellas ready.
...raincoats and boots on.
...bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, topped with ketchup (of course) in hands.

We were on our way to do one of our family's most beloved things.

STORM WATCH.

Yup, we were packed into our faithful Caravan and driving to Asharoken Beach to eat breakfast and check out the thunder and lightning!

Who was happier about this?
Me, Julia or the girls?!
I'm not sure...
POSSIBLE THREE WAY TIE.

Julia and I both had our cameras with us... A SURE SIGN OF GOOD THINGS TO COME!

This was a great storm.

We ate.
The kids played games in the car.
They were all getting along beautifully...
...for the most part.
After a half 1/2 hour they wore on each others nerves.
Addi called her sisters some bad names.
STUPID and FAT PIG have been her faves lately.
One more thing to blame on school. Elementary school is swell. So are pre-pre tweens...Ooh, look, I created a new category.
We'll call them P-P's for short. (hahaha...made myself giggle)
My P-P has been getting a lot of time outs and lectures and making tons of apologies lately.
When will she learn?

Do parents still do the old soap in mouth trick?
Is that considered corporal punishment?
Hmmmmm...
...It's sooooo tempting!

So, minus the insults and injuries this was fabuloso!

To backtrack...YES, WE HAD AN INJURY.

Addi slammed her fingers in the "hook thing" inside the car door.
-To clarify, it was not the car door. It was the silly half handle that hangs from the ceiling above the car door. Leave it my kiddo to somehow pull on it and jam a finger into a weird crevice!
She howled like a banshee and scared all of us half to death!
"OoooooOOoWWwwww!!! WhawhaAAAHHHH! MumumAAA! OoooWWwww! Help help..."
...Really. This is what came out of her mouth.
It took me about five minutes to figure out what happened between sobs.
Then the rain eased up.
PAIN BE DAMNED!
SHE WAS MIRACULOUSLY HEALED!
ABRA-CADABRA...SHA-ZAAM!!
My girls,including Addi's BFF hopped out of the car, careful not to get too close to the beach comber and they played some totally awesome games in the parking lot.

No one was left out.
It was a morning of celebrating girlhood, friendship, family, Summer and sisterhood.
--All of those things that Hallmark preaches about danced before me on the shoreline.

I happily documented, as did Addison.

This is how our morning went...

Voila!