Highlights from the beach

I was a little unsure of how the weekend would go with 8 adults and 12 children, but I am pleased to report that the weekend was GREAT! Every time we get together with any of these friends, our kids all just pick up right where they left off and have so much fun together. I know this is a group that truly I will always call family. I love to see how big the kids are getting, especially the three boys. This time K is just about as tall as the other two, and with their faces thinning out and their arms and legs getting longer, they look like such big guys to me! Those 3 kept disappearing downstairs together to play with the pool table, and several times I found bunches of them sitting on K's bed watching bowling, Nascar, and American Idol reruns on the TV in his room. It was a glimpse of how easy vacationing with kids will be as they get older, and why it might be a good idea to invite playmates along when we go to the beach!
Here are some pictures. If you want to see more, let me know and I'll send you a link to my Shutterfly album.

EB's first visit to the beach - took her a little while to warm up to the sand, and she was nervous about the noisy (and freezing!) waves, but as soon as she discovered she could crawl around in the sand and that sand by the fistful is quite tasty, she was a happy girl. Look at all those kids on the beach behind EB - and there were still 4 more not pictured!


Buddies since babes - my little people were supposed to have hair like that!

Getting ready to test out the water - she proved to be quite the beach babe. She could not get enough of the water. She ran in and out of the ice cold waves constantly and was never phased by waves that pulled her down and soaked her from head to toe. Seemed like the wetter and sandier, the better!

True to form, K was a little nervous about the water at first, but on our second visit to the beach he got brave, first waiting for the water to come up and wash over his toes, then letting water wash into his bucket, and finally running through the waves with all his friends.

Geof was the designated bedtime story reader each night.

Fun with beachballs in the car port under the house

On Saturday morning we had perfect weather to take the big kids for a visit to Jockey's Ridge - giant sand dunes perfect for climbing up and sliding down, ensuring a good night's sleep that night! It was quite a workout!

The kids brought kites to take advantage of all the wind on the ridge. At the base of the ridge there was a giant "puddle" filled with tadpoles. A started digging through the sand trying to catch one, and before too long all the kids were into it. I don't think anyone got as wet and sandy as our little girl, who was totally in her element belly-crawling through the muck. She was a mess from head to toe and in absolute heaven!

We did a couple things with just our little group of 5 - we took the kids to Kitty Hawk Kites, a fun kite store I remember going to every time I went to Nags Head as a kid, and we let K climb the rock wall. On our way home Monday, we went to the NC Aquarium at Roanoke Island - a great little aquarium that made the perfect pit stop.

I think we are going to plan to do something like this every year, so here's looking forward to another great trip!