Finally!

After waiting alllll summer for our beach trip, it's here!  After the long car ride to Rhode Island a few weeks ago, we decided it'd be best for us to break up the long drive to the beach.  Don and Maria were kind enough to put us up for the night (all 6 of us!) and we had a great evening chatting with them and stretching our legs.

Saturday we got back in the van and drove 4 more hours to the beach.  We are in a different house this year and went to Emerald Isle instead of Nags Head.  It's beautiful - but we haven't gotten to explore much of the area yet.  Our house is right on the beach and it's wonderful to sit on the covered deck in the rocking chairs.  There is also a 2nd story deck which will be perfect for our happy hours!

 Mason on the 2nd story deck...I think he looks a lot like his Grandpa J in this picture.

We have a walkway and stairs from the house to the beach. This is the view, and my toes...

I'm a bit disturbed about the sunrise - we aren't facing East so it's going to be difficult to figure out the best place for sunrise photos, but with the ocean in front of us and seeing the Sound behind us (that is how skinny this stretch of land is!) should make it a good spot for sunset pictures.  I'm anxious to get out and get tons of pictures!

The kids tried to go crabbing last night but there weren't nearly as many as we usually see in Nags Head. I am hopping it was just an off night and they will come out this week!

I spent quite a bit of time in my beach chair this morning, reading.  I've got a good tan started, wine (and Yuengling) waiting in the fridge for later.  All is well!

HH 2010

We had our 3rd annual couples' weekend in Hocking Hills this past weekend.  As usual, we had a ton of fun!

From the looks of it, you'd think the weekend is all about booze...

And some of it is...we dance, laugh hysterically, make fun of each other...and ourselves, tell jokes and just hang out. Oh, and cook wonderful meals!

But it's really just a fabulous time to get away for a weekend and spend time as couples. The girls get time to chat, read, hot tub and snooze.  The boys get time to fish, build fires and chop wood with sharp axes and be manly.

We all got to go on a pontoon  this year - after the rain on Saturday, it was a perfect evening on the water. There was a festival on shore and we got to hear some bands playing.

I got some time to escape into the woods and take some pictures - and Greg is the perfect spotter for a good subject.

I feel very, very blessed to have not only a great husband and friends to get away with, but great support from family to watch my {wonderful} kids while we are off in never-never land. 

Fun In Rhode Island!

This past weekend we took a long road trip up to Rhode Island to visit the RI Youngers and to celebrate Grandpa J's 60th, Hudson's 3rd and Roxanne's birthdays.  It was a LONG drive (13.5 hours there & 12 hours home) but we had SOOO much fun and are very happy that we made the trip out there!

The kids love traveling in the new minivan.  There are 2 DVD screens and each can play a separate movie.  This greatly lessens the fighting over movies!  Silas traveled in his PJ's all day. 

We drove through NY City on the way there - it wasn't bad going through NYC but once we got closer to Connecticut, it was very backed up and really slowed us down!

This was our view of NYC as we zoomed past! 

Our first full day in RI, we went to the beach.  The weather didn't exactly cooperate, but we still had  fun.  The kids all went for a long walk on the beach with Justin and Shawn, while Abby and I sat on the beach talking  (bundled in long sleeves and towels).  This was Silas after getting back from the walk and deciding he was done with the great outdoors.

Ella found some seaweed on the walk and decided she wanted to see how it tasted...yum!

A mix of some OH and RI Youngers - minus Abby, the picture taker

The OH Youngers

The RI Youngers

Justin and I with the lovely moon and ocean behind us!

The kids did SO well together!  Silas and Myles played a lot and Hudson mixed in with them some.  Ella and Molly had a total ball together and it was amazing how quickly they picked right up with each other and played like they see each other every day.

Hudson is a complete and total cutie and it's funny how much he reminds me of a mix between Silas and cousin Trent. Yikes! :)

On Saturday, we got to celebrate the birthdays and it was great!  Grandpa J and Roxanne wore their birthday hats and Hudson blew out all the candles. Happy Happy Birthday!!

During the birthday party we started to get lots of thunderstorms.  It cooled the temp off but the electricity also went out for several hours. We hung out on the deck for quite awhile and then decided to go to the beach again after the storms had passed.
We didn't get there until after 7pm or so, and the lightening was great.  Ella and Molly stopped for a picture. As you can tell, Ella watches too much TV...

Shawn, Uncle Bill, Ann and Grandpa Jim - watching the kids play in the ocean.

Ella, Hailey and Molly were digging holes and making castles.  They were surprised by a big wave!

Ella ended up with a face full of ocean water!

The adults hung pretty close because the waves were quite big!!
Mason, Huddy, Abby, Ella, Molly, Hailey, Roxanne, and Myles on the beach

As the sun set, the skies were beautiful.

Just a quick video of the kids running around on the beach.

 Ella and Molly...snoozing hard.

{I sometimes wake in the early morning 
& listen to the soft breathing of my children

& I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret 

& I carry that quiet with me all day long.}

~StoryPeople...

There are many times in our over-scheduled, overwhelmed lives that we think we cannot fit another thing in.

 Too far, too busy, too this and too that.

But this was too much fun and too important to miss and we're looking forward to many more visits!

The Shoe Fits

I recently discovered StoryPeople and this one definitely sounds like one of my kids!

I told him if he kept being mean to his brother he might come back as a rodent in his next life & he shrugged & said that's the chance he'd have to take.

Questions of the Week

Ella asks (in all sincerity):  Mama, were you alive when dinosaurs were here?
Me: No, I missed them by a couple of years.
Ella: So mam-ma and pap-pa were here?

"Mom, mom, mommy, ma, mom, mom, ma, ma, mommy, mommy..."
Si asks:  Mama, what was your name before it was Mommy?   

Mason asks: What's for dinner? When's dinner gonna be ready?  Is dinner ready yet?  Can I have a snack?

The 4th Festivities

Our 4th of July weekend was packed full of fun stuff.  We welcomed Grandpa J and Aunt Amanda on Friday night.  And Saturday was Mason's 15th Birthday!!
We ran out Saturday morning and got a birthday cake. He picked the purple cake with pink balloons...because it was a marble cake (he's secure in his manliness).  He really wanted a Batman cake though.  Maybe next year!

We had beautiful weather the whole weekend but it was HOT HOT HOT.  The parade on Sunday was at 2pm - Ella and Silas decided they wanted to be in the parade on a truck with friends.  So Justin, Mason and I watched for almost 2 hours before seeing them near the end, by which point we were about to melt.

Grandpa, Mas, Margie and Si hanging out on the porch.

Grandpa J and Ella - with her new haircut.

Si, Mas, Zoe, Amanda and Ella-

Impossible to get everyone to look at the camera AND smile!

Four days after her surgery, Beth was crazy enough to have the annual 4th of July cookout! Glad she did though, the kids had a blast swimming and we all had a great time.

Like we always do, we loaded the kids into the back of the pickup truck and drove back to the park in the neighborhood to watch the fireworks.  There were tons of people out this year setting off their own fireworks - some way too close for comfort!

Allysa, Sarah, Ashlee, Ella and Silas

The fireworks were pretty darn good and then the kids spent time after doing pop-its, sparklers, smoke bombs and burning a finger or two...

It was a GREAT (but exhausting!) holiday weekend and we're VERY grateful that Grandpa J was feeling good enough to make the drive here to see us!!

Happy Birthday Mason!

Happy Happy Birthday Mason,

a whopping 15 years old!

It's hard to imagine loving a child more than the minute they are born

but with each passing day, we love you more and more.

You tower over me now, and are quickly catching up to dad -

But you will always be our baby boy!

We love you Mason!