Great times with Family in the Outer Banks!

Dear Friends and Family,

WOW! What a fun week at the beach.  Thanks to our wonderful Grandparents, we got to stay in an AMAZING beach house!  We were literally right on the beach.  This was actually the silver lining in Chris and my early mornings with Claire. I think she was so excited about being with family that she got up with the sun every morning. As a result we spent most mornings with a cup of milk on the deck watching the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean followed by a walk down to the water to check the water temperature.  I don't think that view could ever get old. It was so amazing...even at 6am. The water was also great!  It was so clear, warm, and a beautiful blue green.

Day one began at 4:30am when Chris, Claire and I loaded into a packed car to beat the beach traffic.  We hoped that Claire would still be drowsy enough to fall back to sleep in the car, but she was so stimulated by being whisked out of bed that she "Ooooed" the whole way down the stairs and immediately started talking nonstop in her points and babbles for the first 30 minutes of the drive.  She would eventually sleep for about 30 minutes of the 6 hour drive. (Boo)

We arrived at the beach at 10:30am on the dot and promptly lotioned up and set up camp on the beach. It would be a few more hours before we could get into the house, but luckily the rest of the family also arrived and Claire had lots of fun with her cousins!  By 1:30pm, Claire had all she could take of the excitement and with very little encouragement, took a nice long nap on my lap!

My little beach babe is all tuckered out!

 The next morning Claire was up at 6am. [Sidebar: At home and thanks to my mother-in-law's urging, I finally gave in to letting Claire cry it out in the morning until she goes back to sleep or until 7am.  Earplugs have greatly assisted me in this new method of getting Claire to sleep later. Remember my posts about her early waking? Those days ended immediately after applying this method.]   However, while at the beach, Claire was sleeping in the pack & play right next to our bed and playing possum wasn't working.  As a result, Claire added another nap to her days and I gladly joined her in at least one of them! 

Sunrise at the beach house!  Ahhh...what a view!

This was our usual spot in the mornings...but as you can tell by the missing sun and my choice of beverage, we liked to perch here in the evenings too!

Another cool sunrise worth sharing!

My little early bird!

Sometimes we would get lucky and there would be company in the early morning hours!

Reading Claire's favorite book, "Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumb," by Al Perkins. Violet even helped turn the pages!

And then the rest of the house would begin to stir!  PopBob and Grammie Blossom pose with our sea puppets (A gift from my great friend Sally!)  Jackie helped name them.  Seymour the Turtle, Fred the Starfish, Ernie the Clown Fish, and Ethel the blue and yellow fish.  

 Uncle Jon and Aunt Sandy prepared an amazing first day breakfast. The bacon, eggs and home fries were delicious!

So much of the entertainment was just in seeing the kids play together!
It looks like Claire is heading for Noah to get in on the puppet action!

One morning, a thunderstorm brought lots of the kids out early!

The best part of the beach is how laid back the days are.  There are so many great places to gather and the groups of people are constantly changing so at some point during the week you get to visit with everyone.  And this is what makes the family vacation so worth it. There is no way that I would know Chris' family so well if it wasn't for this amazing vacation once a year. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for this fabulous treat!

Cooling off in our pool!

Claire had fun floating around in her ladybug!

A hoppin' hot tub!

Watching some old home movies in the family room brought on lots of laughs!

Lingering at the big table after meals was a fun way to catch up too! 
In the evenings this is where we would play our card games!

The best spot in the house was on the upper deck looking out at the ocean! 
You could watch the waves and look for family down at the beach. 

A view of who is on the upper deck from the steps coming in from the beach.
Kelli, Aunt Sue, Grandpa, Uncle Scott, and Aunt Sandy

Looks like it is time for happy hour!  Each day around 4:30pm the appetizers would come out and so would the beers and cocktails while dinner was prepared. 

The Bakers brought domino's for family fun at the big table!

In a house full of 23 people, you would think mealtimes would be overwhelming (heck, I have a hard time feeding 3 on most days!)  However, the Supples have been doing beach vacations for the past 20 years or so and they know what they are doing. Each sub-family gets a night to plan a dinner that will feed the house. Our family decided to do a pulled pork this year with cornbread and salad. It turned out amazing thanks to Mom and Dad's great prep work! I was able to contribute by preheating the oven first thing in the morning, Katie & Matt brought my favorite BBQ sauce from Cincinnati (Montgomery Inn) and tons of great produce from their home veggie garden for the salad, Mom found some good recipes for roasting the pork, and Kelli brought the cornbread.  YUM!

We also had fun at the beach, playing in the sand or taking an evening walk!

First we would gather our beach toys...

Then we would put on our beach hats!

And finally, we hit the beach!

The evening was also a great time to relax on the beach!

And to take a walk!

Just watch out for those sneaky waves!  Dad got this picture right after one got me and Chris!
 It didn't just get my ankles either...that wave went all the way up to my shorts!
If you don't believe me, just look at those swells behind us.

 On Tuesday, Dad treated us to a GREAT lunch treat - CRABS!  And boy were they big and delicious!  We even got our cousins Kate and Cara to go from scared, to curious, to picking and eating with us!

Jackie's expression captures all of our enthusiasm for this meal!

From queasy to crab pickin' and eatin' pros, Cara and Kate helped me dig in!

Enjoying some delicious crab in the OBX!

Mom showed Matt how to pick a crab and then gifted us with her crab mallet set.
Now we will be ready to host our own crab feasts! Thanks, Mom!

Later, since it was an overcast day, we decided to visit the sand dunes while the sand was cool.  It was so much fun to play in the sand and to run down the big hills!

The kids weren't the only ones excited to play on the dunes!

Sand angels!

My little sand angel!

Claire decides that now would be a good time to give her cousin a kiss!
Note Noah's toenails... Noah wanted in on the toenail painting action this week and Katie told me to paint his nails clear.  So I did...then he grabbed the blue and said, "Now blue Aunt Beth."  So I gave in and painted his nails! Sorry Katie...if I ever have a son, I'll let you paint his nails for payback!

These two took off down the hill together!

Good thing Daddy is around for a piggyback ride up the hill!

Playing Claire's favorite game "Peek-a-boo" over Chris' shoulder!

Chris joined Mom for a run down a HUGE dune hill!  SO fast and fun!

Good times continued to roll the rest of the week!

Claire and I pose on the sea turtle at the pier!

Noah has fun with Cara!

Claire: "Noah, I think everyone went outside!"

Violet: "Hey Everyone! Don't forget about me!"

Claire wasn't the only babe napping at the beach!  Aunt Sandy takes a turn cuddling with Violet.

Grandma and Aunt Beth relax in the pool!

Aunt Kelli and Violet both think Matt is a funny guy!

Little Violet happily plays in the sand and Claire heads over to join her!

I'm not sure that Violet is ever unhappy.  What a cutie!

I told Chris that I wanted to do a "Corona Moment" picture in the chairs...Never mind having the wrong drinks, there was definitely someone in this picture who was making it anything but a Corona moment!

What a great vacation! Thanks again to our Grandparents and Parents for making this trip so fun and memorable.  And we already miss our Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  We can't wait for the next time we get to see you all again!

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful summer! 
Love,
Bethie