The Beach 2015

We went to the beach this year with three other families.

It was the second to last week of summer and perfect timing.  

Here are the favorite pics:

 This child makes my heart leap out of my chest.  Oh, the sweetness.

 He so loved all aspects of the beach: the sand, the water, the extra time with Dada.

 We were the last family to leave and I ran down to the beach to give it a 3 minute try for a pic of the kids together.  This was the best I got.  Its still precious.

Can you even believe how blonde Peter's hair got this summer?!  I loved it.

But then buzzed it off before school started. :(

More Community

The day after Lily's birthday, my mom and neice, Audrey, came to visit for a couple days.

We lived it up in good summertime fun, with time at the pool & ice cream shop.

I kid you not, the day after our friends left, Peter was asking for a sleepover and telling me it had been forever since he'd seen friends. (I guess he meant local friends.)  But I thought to myself, WHAT THE HECK?!  When on earth is this kid's social quota ever filled?!  So he was thrilled to have a birthday dinner that week with his BFF, Luke.

 The following weekend we headed to the beach with Mike's family.  His grandparents had a beach cottage that he grew up going to so while his sister was in town, we all went to a nearby hotel so they could reminisce, and I could enjoy the fringe benefits of it.

 There was a big rain storm on the day we arrived, but it didn't slow anyone down.  

I huddled out of the rain with this little man.  

The next day was great weather and we enjoyed time on the beach.

Mike's brother built skim board for a high school business.  They still bring them along to the beach and the kids enjoyed some lessons.

 Sissy finally lost her wiggly front tooth while we were there!

The tooth fairy was able to find her way in through one of the air vents in the hotel room.

Mike and I both grew up going to visit grandparents in this area.  We like to compare notes and imagine that our paths came near to each other at young ages.  We both would visit the same places with grandparents.  One of our first dates was to a wedding (my side of the family) at the church that Mike's family attended when at his grandparent's beach cottage.

Being so close, we couldn't not drive by my grandparents places.

~My paternal granddad's farm~

~my maternal grandmother's road sign & house~

(Can you tell the first half of our summer was quite full?!  It was great. I am thankful to have such friends and family.  The introvert in me also welcomed the slowness and relative quiet that followed.)

Beach Week 2014

We spent the second to last week of the summer at the beach, just our family.  The introvert in me loves it.  We so enjoyed our get away two summers ago and decided we could no longer live without an annual beach trip.  Most of these pics are the first half of the week (and the best half).  Mid way through, we left our camera somewhere & it wasn't there when we went back the next day (no surprise).  We assumed it was gone and were so sad to lose ALL of these great pics, let alone our camera. But thankfully, we got a call on Saturday with the name of the person who picked it up for us. After a trip through the mail, we are SO happy to have it back.

We spent the first morning on the beach.  Benny was a great sleeper for us on the beach. Most of the week, I took him down in the wrap and that was perfect.

 Girlie loved playing in the sand.

 We made several trips throughout the week to Currituck Heritage Park.   

(The pier in the background is where we left the camera.)

A storm came in.  So pretty to watch.  And it got crazy windy!

We are so glad to have Holly with us again this year.  She spent a month in Africa earlier this summer and brought the kids these gifts. :)

a bow & arrow for Peter

mama & baby dolls for Lily (that P is picking up by the head)

We enjoyed hearing about Holly's trip and seeing her pics.

Tuesday, the 19th, was MIKE'S BIRTHDAY!

We enjoyed celebrating him all day!

Lily is our little family party planner (gladly!).  She insisted we take things to decorate for his birthday.  So the tablecloth from Peter's pirate party.  When we went school supply shopping, we also had to get "party hats" and various other decorations.  Love this girl and her joy.

The birthday boy enjoyed a surf on his birthday and several other mornings.

His activity of choice was a trip to the NC Center for Wildlife Education.  Also in Currituck Heritage Park.  It was such a cool center.  I highly recommend it.  There was a fish feeding that we went to see.

Then Holly met us for lunch and she showed us around the area.  It is such a great area and was such a gorgeous day!

I love the way a vacation encourages their "friendship" with a sense of adventure together. They were just so excited about everything new.  They played and pretended so well together.  Here, they are sitting at the base of the bridge above and pretending their sticks are the levers to open and close the bridge.  I love their imaginations!

Oh, Benny Boy, you are such a little doll.

The party planner was back to work that eve on Daddy's brownie cupcakes.

She piped them with icing, then added sprinkles.

Aren't they pretty!

And we couldn't miss the prettiest time of the day at the beach. We all headed down after Holly was home from work and got to do a little surfing.  Holly was the photographer of the eve and we are so glad to actually have these pics after they were almost lost!!

 Peter's turn!

 Fun with glow sticks!!

 I love this pic!  It just epitomizes childhood summer- tan bodies, up past dark, glow sticks, and a surfboard at the beach!

We spent Wed on the beach.

I mean, this little man and the swirl of hair on the top of his head.

(He also had a back to school trim when the big kids got theirs.)

 The kids had the BEST time in the waves.  I think they were even too comfortable b/c of their life vests and had no healthy fear of the waves.  They had a blast together.  Therapy mom point of view: the beach is like a week long therapy session.

 Wed eve we went back to CHP.  The kids got dinner off of a food truck and then we let them get an ice cream from the ice cream truck. They thought it was great.  I am a sucker for some beach babes with their sun kisses faces and bleached out hair for the boy.

Hello Kitty doesn't have a face!  WHAT?!

 So these are our final pics before we left the camera.  The sunset was so gorgeous and all that our brains got a little foggy.

On Thursday, we scrambled around the find our camera- to no avail.  We were all a little grumpy but we tried to pull it together. We headed out to see the North Carolina Marionette Theatre as a distraction.  It was really cute... and impressive!  Thanks to Holly for cluing us in to all of these fun events!

 At the end of the show, they brought the characters out to meet the kids.  They were so little and cute and really did seem animated after watching them in the show. :)

 Black Beard had a seat in Peter and Lily's laps. :)

That eve we were spoiled by some time on the beach by ourselves thanks to Holly watching the kids!

 We had two more great days of time on the beach.

and an evening out for ice cream!
And for my own memory for future years....

We took all fresh prepared foods to just heat up each eve.  I loved the minimal amount of work- or just popping it in the oven.  Another favorite part for me is all of the JUNK FOOD we ate.  The kids want a candy bar on the beach?  Yes, of course, you can have a candy bar!  There something about baking in the sun and splashing in the waves (and feeding a baby) that makes you feel like you can eat whatever.  

I also loved the timing.  We were coming to the end of our rope with unscheduled time until school started.  It was so nice to have the extra time with Mike and as a family as a last hurrah to summer and to gather before school started.  We are thankful for the luxury of a week at the beach!

Until next year!  

(I don't even want to think about how big this little guy will be. Oh, Benny, we love you!)