Archery

Today the boys got to try out archery for the first time at a local homsechool family's house.

Trying archery

Figuring it out

Retrieving arrows

Their instructor

Ocean City: The boardwalk on Cinco de Mayo

The boys had been begging to use the "fancy glasses" 

So we finally let them.  Wonder if their juice tasted any different than normal. ..

We went back to the sand sculptures today.  Amazing!

Jesus calming the storm

Info on the artist

The boys in the big tire outside Ripley's

The end of the boardwalk, with Assateague Island in the background

Ocean City: Springfest at the Boardwalk

We spent the morning geocaching, and the afternoon at the beach and pool.  We saw what we assumed was a dolphin swimming by!!!!!!  It was amazing.  I had just closed my eyes for a little snooze on the beach, when I happened to look right at it.  I thought it must have just been a wave.  Looking again, we saw it blow its blowhole!!!!!!! It was so amazing and so close to the shore.

After lots of more beach and pool time, we headed to the boardwalk for dinner and a walk.

Sam outside the Ripley's museum
How does it do that??

The boys loved this giant shark that actually moved

The four of us on the boardwalk

Playing on a giant sand castle... not made of sand, but in the sand.  

Walking up to enjoy their funnel cake.  :)

They were laughing so hard at a magician/entertainer.

Sam got to go up and help with a magic trick.  He had one red ball in his hand, but when the trick was done, he had two.  He was just amazed!

Two!!

The moon rising over the water tonight looked absolutely amazing.  There were also these sand sculptures, one of Jesus, and one of Jesus calming the storm, with scriptures around them.  Amazing! But it was too dark for my camera to capture them.  Bummer.

Ocean City: Rehoboth and Bethany Beaches

Sam by the dolphin at Rehoboth Beach, DE
Very nice Main Street area!  Lots of really nice shops and not crowded at all.  In general, it was much less commercialized than Ocean City.  

Lunch on the beach
What a face!

Keeping an eye out for hungry seagulls

Rehoboth Beach

Seagulls lurking...

Isaiah chasing them away :)

Eating their candy necklaces from Candy Kitchen.  I should have gotten a shot of the chocolate chip and peanut butter chip covered chocolate covered pretzels Dan and I ate.  Yes you read that right. :)

Bethany Beach was also very nice.  I can see how some people would prefer them to the relative craziness of Ocean City.  But Ocean City is nice, too, because anything you could want is within a few blocks.

All the boys really wanted to do, of course, it swim in the indoor pool.  So they swam until dinner, after which Dan (aka the energizer bunny) got in a 5 mile run while the boys and I watched a movie.

Only two more days of vacation! :O

Ocean City: Assateague Island

Assateague Island (North end, in MD)
Dan's family vacationed in this area when he was younger, and I 've heard so many stories of the "poopin ponies" that I was so excited to see them for myself.  It really is amazing, how they roam free all over the island.  

When we paid to enter the wildlife refuge, we were handed brochures warning to stay a bus length away from the ponies and that they can be aggressive and even bite.  We had actually just gotten in the car after about a 1/4 mile trail walk, when we jumped back out to see these ponies approaching.  As soon as I took this picture, the dark brown one starting coming right at the boys!  So I shooed them into the car.  The ponies are fascinating and slightly frightening at the same time.  

On the beach

I'm going to squeeze you!

I'm going to squeeze you harder!

Ponies on the beach
It's one thing to see them wandering near the road, but to see them on the beach, right near the water, was so amazing.  

The brown and white one near the water was a foal.  

We found a heart on the beach and had to get our picture by it :)

We stopped for lunch on the hour-long drive from the north end of the island to the south end.  We realized while waiting for our food that this little diner in Berlin, MD was apparently used in the movie Runaway Bride.  Now I'm going to have to watch the movie again!  

View of the Assateague Lighthouse (south end of the island in VA)  from the bottom

Boys by the Lighthouse

Lots of wetlands everywhere you look