Beach!

This will likely be post #1 of who knows how many until I get all of the good pictures loaded onto the blog that I hope to share.  We are in official beach hangover mode--- where we adjust to moving at the pace of the real world again after a week of "No Hurries & No Worries" pace.  There's something about the Outer Banks that makes it pretty easy for even me to settle into the pace of a vacation week there.

As of Friday afternoon last week, I wasn't sure we were going to get packed up in time to leave for the beach at all.  I had lists upon lists of things that needed to be done, but the time to actually cross any of those things off was running waaaaay thin.  You can imagine my stress when, on Friday morning at Joshua's last day of school festivities, I had not yet packed a single item for the trip we were leaving on in less than 24 hours.  After dropping Josh off at home to enjoy the beginning of his summer break, I quickly packed my clothes and the kids' and then headed off to deliver Toby to his puppy vacation spot.  When we ended up with a new puppy who wasn't welcome at our beach house that we had contracted a year prior, we had to do some fancy stepping to find a spot for him during this period of time.  The breeder where we got him said that she would allow him to come back to her home for the week to play with his Mom while we were away.  Ginger also runs a kennel, but she said she would keep Toby with her the whole time.  I was a little sad to drop him off there-- I was pretty sure he would think that we were taking him back to her, never to return home again.  All reports during the week were that he did very well, got along with Ginger's other dogs, and loved playing there.  She said she would be sorry to see him go.

Somehow, we managed to get all of the bags packed and all of the lists crossed off in order to leave the house around 10 on Saturday morning.  It felt great to be on the road!

We drove as far as Short Pump, VA (about 6 hours away) on Saturday.  Jason had researched a hotel in that general vicinity that had a Red Robin closeby since it is a safe option for us to eat at with Joshua.  We were more than pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to the beautiful hotel, and the gorgeous Towne Center shopping/restaurant area just beside it.  After sitting in the car for so long we were all thrilled to be able to walk around and stretch our legs.  We took the kids out for supper, to their first Build A Bear experience and even managed to find a shoe store where I was able to get Joshua a new pair of sneakers.  I won't even get started on the headaches that sneakers for that child presented for me in the week leading up to our trip.  It is a blog post all on its own that I will hope to spare you from.  But let's just sum it up with a big "UGH!"

When we woke up on Sunday morning, we filled up our bellies and then hit the road for the Outer Banks.  Check in time at our house was 4:00, but it became quickly apparent that we were going to get there much sooner than 4:00.  Lucky for us (and by that I mean Jason and I...because the kids might have eaten us alive if we were THAT close to the beach but stuck waiting somewhere other than our house), the house was ready for us sooner than expected.  When we pulled up at the driveway, our friend Russell (from the Delivery Genie grocery service) was busy unloading our groceries and putting them away.  Best business idea EVER!

Once we got inside, Aunt Libby and Uncle Zig pulled into the driveway and we got busy unloading their goodies as well.  It wasn't long before all of the kids were suited up and in the pool!  The first day was pretty chilly- probably low 80's with a cool breeze off of the ocean, so the heated pool helped a lot.



Nana and Pap arrived a few hours later after a very long ride for them.  Poor Nana hadn't been feeling well the day before, but she was a  trooper to endure the long ride from home with a touchy stomach.  I think all of us were thrilled to be together, and to not have to get back into our vehicles for a while!  We had some pizza for supper and then took a walk down to the beach.

I think this picture is one of my favorites from the whole trip.  This was the first time that Hayden got to see the ocean.  As soon as we crested the top of the staircase that led down to the beach, her eyes got so wide and she said, "Ooooooooh!  That's a BIIIIIIIIG water!"  I just adore her.

The theme of our beach week was:  Beach.  Pool.  Beach.  Pool.  Repeat.  As far as exciting blog material goes, I'm not sure I have a lot.  But I do have some super sweet pictures of the kids as they had a blast together.  I'll post some more tomorrow when I can upload more from the camera files.