Newport

  Every year or so, my sister-in-law Jes' family spends a week in Newport. And to my delight, she and James were kind enough to invite us over to the awesome beach house (that was literally about twenty feet from the beach) they were staying in last week!  It was very well-timed, as I was about to go insane after a week and a half of being home (my life is hard, I know), and James and Jes make everything ten times more fun. So McKay took a weekday off (WOO!) and we drove over to "NEWPORT, the friendliest". It says so on their sign.

  As a disclaimer, I just want to say, McKay picked out Lincoln's outfit. It used to be McKay's as a baby, or maybe one of his brother's, and I had been meaning to have another ironic photo shoot with it for some time. Though I suppose . . . what better place to have a photo shoot with a sailor suit than the beach? For the record, I said he looked like Sailor Moon.

   But he's a freaking adorable Sailor Moon.

Lincoln is pulling McKay's hair. That's why the face. On both of them.

I look SO BAD, that I kind of like it. It has crossed the realm from "ugh" to "hahaha! I look like an idiot!"

Mr. Sand Man!

  Yes, my son is eating sand here. I did not notice until after the photo was taken. McKay has no excuse. Sand must taste better than I remember, because he really seemed to enjoy it.

This is a meme waiting to happen. Submit your ideas.

   It was a lovely day, although the water was incredibly cold. That did not stop James, however, who emerged looking like he had been slapped everywhere repeatedly. He didn't even notice he had a  jellyfish sting on his foot until we got in the hot tub, he was that numb.

  We also checked out Pirate's Plunder (an awesome antique-type store that also sells random stuff like masquerade masks and throwing stars. Fun for the whole family!), and Ripley's Believe it Or Not!, which charges about double what it should. Halfway through it seemed like they ran out of material and it essentially became a fun house, complete with mirrors. But still, it's one of those things it's fun to do once, just so you never have to wonder what it would be like. And I did it for you guys, so here's the down-low so you don't have to wonder: it's mostly full of wax figures of people with deformities, and a couple of sections where you can watch clips of the old Ripley's show and print outs from the book on the wall. There, I just saved you twelve bucks.You're welcome!

  Newport is pretty rad. You should go there sometime. Especially if James and Jes invite you, because they're pretty cool.

  What things do you guys with little kids do to stay sane? Because I could use some ideas.