Life on the beach continues

Ben and nick always managed to find something athletic to do.



Shane just tried to keep up


Mini golf is a popular nightlife activity;)


And drew arrives.... Boogie boy pull toy and all.


Caz brought a kid sized pool in hopes of getting a little manual labor and bringing the ocean to drew....


Dinner was almost always alfresco in the awesome screened in porch


On the 4 th we went driving to the beach with no water.... The nags head sand dunes! Sand as far as drews (and my) eyes could see;)


Great wind for a little paragliding


And kite flying!











Time to head back and find the beach with water;)





That's more like it;)


It's a happy 4th of July all over. Folks are all in such a friendly mood.


This is considered the introduction to boogie boarding;)


Shane was there first and had no idea he was later joined by these 3 pretty ladies... Nor did he care. Deep concentration!


Drew was VERY sandy...


The boys spent most of their days digging in this hole.


The 2 paddle ball beach babes


Of course someone must get buried in the sand.


Chris offered up a great engineering game... Build a canal to the 'beach pool'. The kids LOVED it! Check out this 'fun work'



Water in the beach pool via canal!! Success!


Another engineering marvel--drew in both mom and dads flip flops


Funny 2 photos. Drew enjoying the beach pool and watching the ocean


Photo 2 -- sandy drew running in fear of approaching wave.


Earlier Chris dunked him in the ocean in an attempt to clean him off.. Guess he didn't like it...

Lets try that again

Monday morning, the beginning of a new day;). Caz and nick (who unknowingly shared a room together) woke up at 7 for some simple early morning book reading


Time to load up and head to the beach.


Even Shane is excited by the idea of a new day;)


My boys were happy to stick close along the beach



While caz and Ben were ready to experiment with the waves


Nick warmed up to the idea a bit


So did Shane.


I guarantee you that is one sandy PB and J;)


Happy tails to a successful jaunt to the beach-let's beat the rain home.


Next up, craft time while the rain pours out of the sky.


After a little exploring we actually headed back to the beach for a local phenomena called ghost crabbing. I was happy to 'baby' Shane with a simple ride to the beach.


Do we need to dig?


Actually no, at night the ghost crabs dig out of their little homes and scurry across the beach. If your quick you can grab them.

Making the beach a safer place to be;)


Of course they had to jump... Again, and again, and again.....


Thanks to all the fast fingers


We managed to nab about 8 little crabs.. Can u see them?


We released them before heading home in hopes of finding them all again tomorrow;)

Let the vacation begin

Lets begin with a little pre vacation excitement. Our neighborhood's rather fantastic 'Red White and Bram' 4th of July celebration, beer, bands, and fireworks at the end, Shane says 'yes Please!'


This is also the celebration of our one year anniversary with the yasutis's. last year they came over after the celebration and left at 3 am. this year we all took our kids home and woke up at 5:35 to depart on a group family vacation. So lucky they are in our lives and thankful for the passed year!

Drew made sure we all had snacks....


Chris and I had to set alarms.... But not this guy. He was dressed and ready and in our room at 5:45. He even told me how excited he was to be able to wake up early. Shane came stumbling in 5 minutes later without his clothes on (a little slower to wake up and only received partial help from Nick)


10 minutes later and hear we all are in the mini van!! The boys packed it all for us on Saturday, Teresa and I drove down with the big boys while chris took Drew to grandma and grandpas for a few days,


We made fabulous time with already any traffic, the kids were fabulous in the car-- so here's their treat;). A little stop to see gravedigger.


The trip is going great, we popped in to grab our house (salty dog) keys checked it and headed for the beach---no phone, no camera, no pictures..... Beautiful beach, lots of sand. Kids loved it. Mother Nature sent us home via a rain shower. As we were showering the kids off in the outdoor shower, Shane was sweetly bundled but slipped off the board walk landing nose first against he concrete slab. Lots of blood, lots of tears. Once he started to settle he told me he wanted to go to sleep which scared me immensely...

We headed (an hour away) to the emergency clinic. Trying to keep his eyes open. The rest of the kids weren't thrilled to be in the car but they were troopers.


Thankfully shane turned out just fine. The adrenaline of the accident caused him to be suddenly sleepy. His appetite was fine as he polished off the pretzels and renewed his chatty demeanor.


Once finally home it was just time to curl up and relax with mom. Night night shane with the duck lip.

Beer and buddies

On Saturday sherry pulled us out of our suburbia rut and took us to volunteer at the Norther Virginia Brewfest. Tons of beer sampling to be had!! We volunteered at the morning shift and sampled after it our shift was over. It was a fabulous kid less day for Chris and I as well as wonderful to catch up with sherry





This guy was one of the reps we poured for (Old Dominion was the beer-they actually were once in ashburn Virginia but moved a few years ago to Dover Delaware--lost rhino took their place). He was VERY chatty so we were all thrilled when he went to grab this to eat.