At the beach.

That's where we've been. This time, we decided to try Carolina Beach, and were pleasantly surprised. We've tried Myrtle Beach. Meh. We've tried Atlantic Beach. Loved it, but a little too far to drive with gas prices such as they are. So, Carolina Beach. Yep. I think we'll be going back there again. Next time, we'll make sure to save up enough money to spend the weekend, and rent a condo on the beach.

But, the day trip was good for now. Hazel just loves the beach. Loves it.

As for Luka, this was the first time he actually enjoyed himself. The only time I took him last year, he screamed bloody murder every time I took him near the water. THIS TIME, it was all we could do to keep him from running full-force into the ocean. It was an exhausting game of chase all day long.

And, yes, my son is sporting a mohawk. It's no secret...Luka needed a haircut. I spent the last 2 weeks telling Bryan that I absolutely REFUSED to let my 18 month old son have a mohawk. (That's probably shocking to any of you that have known me for any amount of time in real life.) Anyway, there I sat. Luka in my lap at Fantastic Sam's. Both Bryan and the hairdresser spent the better part of 15 minutes convincing me to give it a try. Apparently, it's all the rage with the little boys this summer...lots of requests at good old FS's for that hairstyle. Whatever. I could see this was an argument I was not going to win. Thus, the mohawk. Not that the mohawk was enough, though. Oh, no! The lovely stylist mentions to my husband that they have temporary hair color for kids. Oi. So, not only does my son have a mohawk, but it is blue. Fortunately, after 1 shampoo and a dip in the ocean, it is almost completely back to blonde. For a kid with nearly white hair, the color sure didn't take very well. Probably all for the better. Although, Bryan mentioned that Luka was quite the chick magnet at the beach. Too bad he's not a single dad, I guess. LOL!

Anyway, right before we left, I was playing in the water with Hazel. We were trying to catch some little minnows in her sand pail to no avail. But while I was sitting there, digging my fingers into the sand and watching Hazel with the pail, I felt something wriggle into my fingers. Ewww! I immediately dropped it. Not one of those cute little clams that burrows into the sand. Nope. I caught a glimpse of it as it dropped back into the water. Determined to find out what the weird little thing was, I grabbed Hazel's pail, and dug up the sand around where I saw the little creature burrow back in. And, this is what I discovered...

That weird looking little thing is called a Mole Crab. It took me nearly an hour on Google to figure that out. Pretty cute, though. Well, cute at least for some albino crustacean. Tee hee!

So that was our little trip to the beach. I love the water. If I won the lottery, first thing's first...we would be buying a house somewhere near the ocean. There has been lots of "if we won the lottery" talk around that Hanks' house lately. We just started playing Powerball last week. I've bought a few scratch tickets over the years, but this was the first time we've ever actually bought "real" lotto tickets. I've had a streak of luck over the last few months so we figured, what the hay. It's only $4 a week (we play one same set of numbers PLUS a quick pick for each of the 2 drawings a week). And, I can think of a lot worse things to blow $4 a week on. Hey, I don't need that drive-thru meal from Mickey D's anyway. You can't win if you don't play, right? Hopefully my luck will extend beyond winning scrapbooking supplies and INSANE amounts of tickets at Chuck E Cheese. Ha!

In the meantime, I have a box full of July goodness from Label Tulip on its way to my hot little hands. So, be on the look-out for some scrappy goodies in the next few days. And, I have some EXCITING news to share. But, that will have to wait until Saturday. :wink: