July 4th on Long Island

What a fabulous July 4th holiday we had! We spent an entire week frolicking in the humid, lush East end of Long Island, where Grandma and Grandpa Soo spoiled us with good food, good company and plenty of toys for the kiddies. It was so nice to be able to set aside the ways of Corporate America and sleep anytime we wanted to. We watched a lot of Wimbledon (awesome Men's Final!), kayaked around the Southold bay, and went for long relaxing walks along the pebbly beaches. CA beaches are better for sunbathing but Joshua loved the change of scenery. We enjoyed some new activities too, as you will see in the pictures below.

Thanks go to Auntie Andrea for helping caption these pictures, most of which she took.


Cuddling with the kids!


Hue with Sophia in camo (see two cute bottom teeth when she smiles).


Uncle Kieran making a funny face.


Auntie Andrea getting Sophia ready for morning grub!


Ready for clamming!


Mom and Dad rake it in.


Here we are depleting the clam population at Oyster Bay Beach!


Uncle Kieran catches 3 clams in one stroke (not staged)!


Joshua building his empire.


Sophia is nearly walking by herself, but not quite there yet. She has a lot of fun trying.


Sophia, joining her brother in building a large moat to protect his empire. Note the sea foam in background; presumably this is naturally occurring and is caused by churned, decaying organic sea matter (on the other hand, it may be the purest form of living cancer).


Auntie Andrea was pleased with how many we got!


Clam dump in the backyard.


Upon arrival, all clams were carefully inspected by our schnauzer Cinder Soo!


Mom made a wonderful clam chowder after our laborious harvesting efforts!


Our grand finale… LOBSTER!


Joshua getting ready for bed.