Vacationing Fools

It is no secret, we absolutely love a beach trip.  The kids are beach babies and can't get enough sand between their toes (and in their hair, and up their bathing suits, and in their mouths).  Add in some crashing waves, a boogie board or two,  a bucket and a couple shovels and we are good to go for days and days of fun. 

We kicked off the summer with a Memorial Day Weekend trip to Ocean Isle Beach with our awesome friends the Fitches.  There is nothing that screams "summertime!!!" more than sitting in the warm sun watching the kids splash in the water and tidal pools.

The kids on the beach in PJs...everyone else actually sleeps at 6:30am

The crew reading books

 Three weeks later we packed up for an entire week and headed out early on a Sunday morning.  Guess where we were going?  Yup, the beach.  We had an great week on the Outer Banks with my family.  I would say 85% of every single day was spent outside either at the beach or in the pool.   The other 15% was spent sleeping due to the sheer exhaustion that the beach induces.  Grampy Dave and the troops would get up early each morning and head out on a walk/bike ride. 

Then we slathered on sunscreen and hit the waves each day - I think we made it out on the beach every day we were there.  The weather was fantastic and the waves were big!  We also had a pool and hot tub back at the house which was a huge hit with kids and adults alike.

Happiness is playing on the beach with your cousins

 The kids enjoyed a couple fun things...we brought them to play miniature golf one night.  Let's just say most folks got a hole-in-one (except for me).  On the last day we were there we went on the Manteo Pirate Adventure - SO MUCH FUN!  We dressed the kids up as pirates and headed out into the bay to fight bad pirates, find pirate treasure, and sleep off the pirate grog. 

Intense concentration

Atlantic Anna, Cannons Connor & Battlescar Brianna ready for some pirate action!

 Each night was complete with a yummy dinner and good family times.  We had a couple master-grillers on hand each night to fire up the charcoal grill and cook steaks/chicken/hotdogs to perfection!

Is there anything better than steak on a charcoal grill?  Me thinks not...

We tried unsuccessfully to get a good group picture of the kids...this is the best I got...we had a great week and can't wait to do it again!

 On our way home we stopped at Jockey's Ridge State Park.  This is the largest sand dune on the East Coast.  It was a pretty cool place - we went early in the morning so the sand was still cool and there was a really good breeze at the top.  We felt almost like we were in the desert!

 Four weeks elapsed and once again we packed up for an entire week and headed out on a Saturday morning.  Destination: the beach.  Back to Ocean Isle for the 38th annual Hudson beach trip.  We spent even more time on the beach this trip for two reasons; the water was much warmer than at the OBX, but moreso because we didn't have a pool that the kids wanted to play in.

When Scott's entire family gets together (like we will next weekend for his brother's wedding) there are 34 of us.  It used to be, even when I started dating Scott, that the family was mostly boys.  Luckily since marriages and kids have come into the picture, the ratio has nearly evened out.  Here are some generational pictures:

The "Aunts & Uncles"

 

The "cousins" - missing 6 from this generation

The "Kids" - missing 5 from this generation

Away from the fun on the beach we enjoyed some other fun.  The kids piled into the hammock one night at dinner for some swinging, and Connor enjoyed a big ride in the Intercoastal Waterway with Jimmy on his Wave Runner.  Connor promptly informed me that they went way too fast for my taste.

2nd cousins

My son the motorhead

The only "beach" we are missing this summer is the waterfront of Lake Singletary.  Because of all of our ocean fun we just couldn't fit a trip home to MA in this summer.  Connor and Anna are both talking about skiing at the lake next summer and roasting s'mores in Grampy Dave's firepit. 

Not that we are all beached-out quite yet mind you - there is talk of a Labor Day beach trip floating around.  We'll see what happens, but I do know this - it isn't summer without the beach.