Dietrich

Most of us devoured a book on vacation. We read on the beach and in the evenings. When you think about beach reads, you probably think about romance books or easy breezy books that you can enjoy while being distracted by the hot sun, jellyfish stings and seagulls. Here is Dr. Charles H. Parker's beach book. You can just tell from the cover that it's a care free and happy book...Last year he studied his medical books on the beach to prepare for his exam, this year he read about Dietrich (some pronounce it Deed-rick Bon-Hoffer) Next year we will just bring out a coupe of encyclopedia volumes and a dictionary for him.

Flashback Friday

19962010

Workin' 9-5

Dad says we treat our vacation like a job. That means 8-5 on the beach. Mom and Dad usually went for an early walk (say, 7 or 7:30 AM) the rest of the crew arrived between 9-10 AM. Most of us can last from about 10AM-5PM on the beach with some water and a snack or two. The key question is really... are you able to tinkle in the ocean? and Do you have an ethical/moral/hygiene issue about tinkling in the ocean? If your answer is yes to the first question, you can make it all day. If it's no, you'll probably have to make a pit stop back at the house once during the day.

This year is take 2 on the tent idea. Last year our tent snapped in half. This year was a little better but if any wind came, it would crumble. Any ideas or suggestions? We haven't quite nailed down the tent idea...AND WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE CAMPING PEOPLE. Geez.
Ali LOVES to get his picture taken. Jokes, of course. For a while he went along with is, but he's to the point in his visit where he just won't take it anymore!
Benji only came for part of the week. He left early to go to a concert. Concert? Pshh.
Here are the seagulls waiting patiently in line for some dropped Doritos.
Dear Ma and Pa, thanks very much for the beach week. We think you're the best and it's not just because of the beach week. We love you in months like October and April too. Ma looks like a southern belle in this picture. Go ahead, girl.
The tent helped us escape some of the heat.
A real candid of Ali. Wes got this picture and we love it! He loved the beach. At the end of the week he wanted to know why we only stay for a week. One word, Ali: money. Maybe two more words: Cabin. Fever.
Hey, who invited Brad Pitt to our vacation??
Chillin' like a villain
Here we have Dad and a mouth full of peanuts.
The view that greeted us every morning. God created good things.
These kids are catching up on their summer reading! We'd also like to take note of Shelly's inexpensive, but effective sunblock method.

Sleepers

Please enjoy our Sleeper Showcase!

Confession

Confession: the Beach House has lovely internet connection so the lack of blog posts can only be blamed on the fact that it is vacation and we've been soaking up every second of it. We packed up last Friday and headed out. Dad was quite proud of his packing job on the truck- you can kind of see it in this picture. You would be impressed if you saw his job. Hire him to pack your vehicle! Mom on the island...ready for fun in the sun. She's also wearing the hat that she got at the Goodwill 45 minutes off of the island. We're always lookin' for deals!
Anna helped unpack the kitchen items
Here are two handsome men in the living area.
An awkward photo to make you laugh. The couple who owns this house must be precious because they have a ton of little decorations everywhere. Some think it's the best house we've stayed in. Dad said it's in his top 3...he seems like a tough critic though.
Wes and Sara rolled in Friday evening and Ben came in even later on Friday...but the whole gang was ready to relax!!

Flashback Friday

We're headed out of town for the PARKER BEACH WEEK 2010.


A couple of observations for this Flashback...

1) Dad and Ben have the same hair style
2) Dad used to have a lot more hair

3) We've been hosting the PARKER BEACH WEEK since any of us kids can remember

4) How cute is Ben with his two bottom teeth?
5) How saggy is that diaper? Saggin' and baggin'.

**We seem to have rented a house with internet access for the first time so check back in for some beach updates...if it all works out. You know how technology can be. If it's ify, we'll see you in a week!

Rewind

Rewind to the PARKER BEACH WEEK '09... Ben was a no-go (he was off selling insurance), Anna wasn't an official college student just yet, Wes and Kait weren't official teachers, Kent and Kait were newlyweds, Dad was studying for his medical exam (which he passed with flying colors. He then went on to become the head of the geek squad) Wes and Sara were training for their Disney Marathon, We hadn't talked to Ali in about 10 years, Neither Mom nor Dad had ever traveled to Africa and Mom (still) couldn't hit a wiffle ball. Mom, this is your year.


* When you look at this photo, you need to have the Chariots of Fire song in your head. If you need a refresher, click here.

The Blind Side

We don't want to pull a Blind Side but our northern visitor has pretty much zero swimming skills, so we at least wanted him to gain some confidence in the pool. First step was to unpluck his fingers from the pool wall (that he was holding onto for dear life). Second step was to buy him awesome goggles from Walmart.

Success!!

Pool buddies.

Cha-Ching

After a couple trips to Walmart and Bi-Lo (Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching) we are officially stocked up for the Beach Week.

Solid-Milk-Chocolate

Ma just found an Easter Bunny....any takers?

Sunday Snoozer

We haven't caught a lot of Sunday Snoozers lately because of the fun summer months, but here's a new one. Mr. Suits Snoozing on a Sunday evening. and a close up JUST FOR FUN!

Chubs Club

To become a member of the Chubs Club, you must make mint brownies and topple it with mint ice cream (or the brownie/ice cream combo of your choosing). Then you must thoroughly enjoy your treat
While watching Wipe Out and laughing loudly (Mom caught in the act of LOL-ing)
Chuck is obviously not a part of the Chubs Club.

Nice Bath Robe

This past week was Vacation Bible School at LPC. Mom, Anna and Ali went all 4 days and Kait just went 2 days. Here we are at the closing ceremony on Friday night. Mom's showing off her hand made tambourine. Mom and Ali. The church is big on dressing the part. Mom didn't dress up the first day and well, she should have. So the rest of the days she threw on all kinds of things. This morning she was wearing her bath robe. Like, the bath robe she wears during non-VBS weeks.
Anna ran the Music Shop in the Market Place with ease.
Here's where we sang praises. We can sing "Jesus said I am the Light of the World" AND do sign language to go along. Impressed?
This was the Kingdom of Life Room to go along with our bible verse for the week.

Colossians 1:13-14 "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,in whom we have redemption,the forgiveness of sins." PTL.

Flashback Friday

Once upon a time we had 2 foster brothers (at different times 1994-ish until 2000). One little guy was "Bub". We had him from 2 months until almost 4 years old. Here's Wes and Bub at the NC beach..the year we got caught by a hurricane. We came back tan-less from that week! If you've read posts in the last months, you know that Facebook (and the Lord. Hallelujer!) brought us together with his Mom. In March, we met up with Bub after 10 years. See the post here.

Well dontcha wanna know who's sitting with us (watching Jeopardy) as this is being typing?? BUB! Wes and Sara were kind enough to drive a few more hours during their road trip to pick him up. He's been here since Monday & it's been fun so far! We've already enjoyed time in the pool and watched his reaction to seeing himself in home videos. In a week, we'll take him back to the beach with us (Hoping for hurricane-and-jellyfish-sting-free week).

SERVE Week

2 weeks ago Kent headed up SERVE Week for the youth group. A couple from our church let us stay at their lake house about 45 minutes away. Here's the group! The leaders were...Kent, Kaitlin and Anna! All in the family. Everybody and their Mom brought sodas. The scary thing was that most of these were empty by Day 2.
Looks like someone is a fan of Mountain Dew.
The mornings were spent volunteering at different places in town. The afternoons were spent swimming and relaxing.
Our fearless leader, Kenneth!
Ahhh the view
Taking out the trash and EXCITED about it
This was the morning at Harvest Hope Food Bank.
Silly boys... and life jackets that we'll never wear again. Ew.
Here we have our very own August Rush! If you haven't seen the movie, click here.
Wednesday was a free day spent on the boat, riding around and tubing. Good times, good times.