tHe bEaCh...

i am grinding back to a start this morning...i must still think i am on vacation...go figure...3 weeks of not getting up early to exercise, no wonder i stayed in bed this morning. :)

my family beach vacation is always a highlight to my year. we grew up not having vacations longer than a weekend here and there due to living on a diary farm...and each year after moving off the farm, my parents have gifted us with a week's vacation at the beach.

granted...it's a little more chaotic these days...let's see there are 10 adults (minus matt this year) and 15 grandchildren...quick math here...that's 25 people in ONE house. it's so.much.fun.  even when your kids get woken from nap, or your neice across the hallway wakes up screaming at 5 am, for no apparent reason, other than to say, "i'm up now...let's get this day started", { you are lucky you're so cute hopey...}  :) or you  have to yank your screaming kid off the bike that's not really there's... it's all forgotton, and we start over thinking about the next year...wondering, "who will have a new baby by then."  ha. :)

there are lots of highlights to this years trip...

first one being, we set off at 3am on sunday the 4th...to arrive in corolla, nc, at 10:30 am...the rest of my pa family had left on the day before, and sat in TONS of traffic...it took them between 9-12 hours to arrive, and it only took us 6.5 hrs. yippee for us! only one potty stop/gas fill up, and we were rockin' and rollin' again. [since matt n naomi have moved to nc, we have been doing a beach vacation to nc every other year...this year matt was unable to join us due to our 2 wk motorcycle trip the weeks previous, and having to catch up with farm duties and issues] i missed him greatly, and hope he can join us again next year...

secondly...we loved our house. it was huge...and had a pool, kiddie pool, and hot tub. sooo...when i brought the kids back for naps, i could just hang out at the pool, instead of my beach day being over and done with.  it was great...

thirdly...we got to meet and greet our new little foster nephew/cousin, gage. he is a sweet, sweet boy...and we are blessed to be able to be part of making his life a little brighter.

fourthly...we went out "crabbing" at night on the beach. we took flashlights, and the kids went crazy. we caught so many crabs...they were running everywhere. it was very much fun, even if we did just dump them out...

we also had a huge driveway...suitable for basketball, bike riding, playing "house and baby", playing in the stones, sidewalk chalk, etc.

boogie boarding, building sand castles, eating fun snacks on the beach...aunt meg had a girls night...where she did the girls make-up and aunt heather did their nails...while the boys went to see if they could find some wild horses on the beach. they ended up getting the truck stuck on the beach...and saw...no horses. all had a great night regardless...cousins just make life plain better. :)

thanks mom and dad. we are so glad to be home, but we are sure glad we came.