Beach Trip

So in August we actually took a full week's vacation at the Beach with my family.  We have done a lot of things the past few weeks of which blogging is not one of them.

Carter of course had a blast playing in the sand.  Here he is getting buried.

 The eclipse happened while we were at the beach.  We all had funny looking glasses to watch the eclipse.  We only got 99.3% coverage, which you would think would have been good enough, but it was not.

 The kids has blast on the beach all week.  Avery mastered boogie boarding and I mastered pulling her out into the waves.  Carter mastered playing in the sand and getting himself buried again.

Gigi brought some random toys, so the kids formed a superhero group and fought crime after dinner.

It was so much fun to watch these two play together all week.  There were fights of course, but they really do love each other.

 Doing their beach yoga while keeping an eye on birds to chase.

Did I mention that Carter really really enjoyed the sand?

 The motley crew for the week.

Beach Trip

So while I went on a golf trip in early June, Laura took the kids to the beach with Mary and Julie.

The first day was rainy, so they took the kids to the aquarium.  Avery touching a starfish...You knew Carter was going to do it.  I am not sure how Laura kept him out of the tank...

 What I imagine the weekend was like...

They did get some beach time the first day, so Carter was loving all the dirt he could play with.

A double rainbow!

 Somone didn't take a nap, so he fell asleep during dinner.

 Avery is such a good big sister.  There are so many pictures of her helping her brother build sandcastles that I am sure he stomped down as soon as they were done.

 Mommy and Boogie.

 All 5 kids.  Carter, Avery, Reese, Easton, and Ellie

 Carter is not a fan of selfies...

 This is more of his style...

 I am sure snack time on the beach is very popular...

Carter and future girlfriend, Ellie Mae.

 Both kids being a boss in their own special way...

 Little kid tea parties.  I am not sure how much pretending to drink the pool water was done vs actually drinking the pool water, but they look cute doing it.

At the Beach

Robert has an annual golf trip in Myrtle Beach with some guy friends.  This year the kids and I hitched a ride with him and dropped us off at Ocean Isle Beach.  We had a short vaca with Mary and her kids (Jimmy went golfing with Rob) and stayed at Mary's parents' house on the second row.  We arrived late Wednesday night so we had 3 full days of just the moms and kids at the beach!  

It actually went very smooth all things considered.  Mary and I greased up the kids, packed the wagon up and got to the beach by around 10:30 am both Thursday and Friday.  The big kids could have splashed around all day, but the one year olds were done after and hour and we pushed it to 1.5 hours.  Then we would go in for lunch and a long nap and finish the day around the pool. 

It was a fun trip - hopefully daddy will let us do it again next year :)   

We made it!

Easton and Avery dancing in the water

 Carter's favorite thing to do on the beach - eat snacks!

 We got seashells!

Tea party at the pool with Ellie

Carter and Ellie looking for the garbage truck one morning

The shirt says it all - "Big trouble in a little shirt"

One morning Mary's parents set up a "treasure hunt" for the big kids

Mary's mom took Avery out for some boogie board practice

One evening, we bravely loaded all the kids in the minivan and went out for dinner!  Mary and I joked about how much going out to dinner at the beach has changed since our high school days.  We left the house at 4:45 pm with no shower or make up on and 4 kids in a van.  Change is good :)

All aboard!

Mary's mom bought the kids matching OIB shirts at the local souvenir store

 Group shot at the restaurant on the marina

Carter was having NO part of the kids only group shot

The kids were so well behaved at dinner so we stopped on the way home for Sunset Slush at the OIB pier.  It's good stuff.

Watching their nightly cartoons on the iPad.

Avery reading a story to Easton before nap time

Beach Trip Part 2

So I mentioned that there were 8 kids and 8 adults...  It was honestly better than just having one or two kids.  They seemed to take turns pairing off with each other and playing.  By the end of the few days, they were best of buddies.

At first there was just 2 toddlers.  Before this picture, they were pretending this chair was a rocketship and flying it to the moon or something.

Easton and his little sister Eleanor Mae.

 Carter and one of his girlfriends, Eleanor.

 A half smile from both of them.

 The problem with having 4 toddlers is that it is hard to get all 4 looking at the camera smiling at the same time, but they did have a great time playing in the pool together.

 Carter and 2 of his girls, Eleanor Mae and Elliot.

 Avery and Easton.

 This time it was Easton's turn to refuse to look at the camera.

 The toddlers and their daddies all painted up for chicken fight battles.

Mary and Laura with 3 of 4 little ones on the beach.

Charlie brought some of her dress up clothes so of course Avery enjoyed that.

And Easton brought his iPad and they all actually shared that quite well - Paw Patrol, bringing kids together so the parents can cook dinner... priceless.

Here's Juliet.  She's the oldest of younger foursome at 13 months.  She was actually just 6 weeks at last year's gathering.  Avery really enjoyed following her around and making her laugh.  She says she can't wait for Carter to get that big.

The Marshall and the Giorgi kids and the end of a fun vacation.

The whole crew!