I Would Never Tire of This

More beach pictures! Our first full day was a gorgeous one and we had a great time playing in the ocean and swimming in the pool!
Todd is having some pretty bad back problems right now so we were really happy that he was able to join us some yesterday :) He's teaching Brandon how to dive into the waves. I think they may have practiced some body surfing.
Beach Baby #1
Beach Baby #4
Our spot ;)
We ended our day with a nice walk on the beach and some ice cream :)

Sisters
Todd was showing the kids the little clams that dig down in the sand to keep from getting washed out to sea:
They had a great time finding those!
It's raining this morning which is fine because even though I took lots of precautions; umbrella, spf 50, some of us ended up getting way too much sun. Today we'll spend the hottest part of the day out of the sun! Sounds like a nice day for shopping ;)

Our Place

We have a different place this year. Our family has grown and our needs have changed and so it was time for a bigger place!

The condo we used to stay in had one bedroom but there was a "bunk nook" tucked into the hall and the couch pulled out into a bed, so it still slept six. However, now that Megan is not sleeping in Mom and Dad's room anymore and she goes to bed too early to sleep in the sleeper sofa with Kristen, it was time for a two bedroom.

We love these condos and where they are located so I started there to see what they had that was a little bigger and guess what? They have two bedroom units! Very exciting! Here's a few pictures of our place this year:

Down the hall is the bunk nook, bathroom (yes just one!) and the master bedroom which has a jacuzzi tub that the kids LOVE to play in! The stairs on the left lead up to the second bedroom which is a cute loft. And let me tell you, Kristen is ecstatic to have a bedroom!

The view from our front door:
And this is why we chose a condo instead of a house:
As seen from our deck!

And here's the deck which is private:
I'm usually the first one up at home and on vacation. I've always loved getting up, getting my coffee and sitting down with a good book or the computer then quietly greeting each of my children as they sleepily climb out of bed one at a time. Megan is almost always up shortly after me, Nicholas right after her, then Brandon and Kristen. Its a wonderfully relaxing way to start our mornings and it is even better here :)

How my morning started:

I missed the coffee in that picture but it was on a small table right beside me!

Megan's hair is so incredibly curly here I wanted to share with you :)
Here's my little curly-headed morning buddy :)

We're missing our old condo just a bit just because it was decorated much nicer (not tacky!) and a bit better maintained (and it actually had a dresser in the master bedroom! ugh!) but we definitely need the second bedroom so I may do a bit more searching before our next trip here. There are others in this complex to consider.

Off to enjoy the beautiful sunshine!

Hello From Ocean Isle!

Yesterday, finally, we left for our family vacation! I can't tell you how excited we all are! It's been two years since we've been here and really, that's just too long. We love it here! Todd usually takes the kids crabbing in the canal and cooks them up for some yummy crab dip ;) But this year, they're going to give clamming a try. Maybe we'll be having a clam bake!

We arrived around noon today, but our condo wasn't ready yet so we had lunch at our favorite restaurant on the island, the Giggling Mackerel. Yippee! We were able to get in around 1:30 and we were in the ocean an hour later! Doesn't this look like a great place??
It isn't very busy down here right now. I guess most people are back to school ;) We are a very spoiled, homeschooling family!

The dock:

Down the beach:
It was a beautiful day! I was happy to spend an hour on the beach before we hit our favorite, little grocery store down here!

I didn't get many pictures of the condo yet, just this one of the boys in their bunks:
There was a tropical storm a ways out in the ocean this week and so the waves are a little choppy and the water isn't as clear as we're used to but I'm sure that it will all settle down soon.

I'm sure we'll be heading down bright and early tomorrow!

My Little Dancer

Yesterday was Megan's very first dance class! It's a combo class so she gets ballet, tap, and tumbling. She was so very excited and so cute! Thank you, Margot, for the recommendation! Sandy is wonderful!
There's one of those one-way windows for the parents to watch through so the picture isn't very good. She the second from the right:

What Was I Thinking?

For the last few weeks, every time I saw an interesting book anywhere...blogs, magazine, wherever, I would get it at the library so I could take it on vacation. Last night, I pulled them all out and this is what I have:
There are 13 books there! 13!!! I won't have all those read between now and Christmas let alone one little week! Now comes the tough part...figuring out which ones to take :) One more day!

Squeezing Out the Last Bit of Summer

We are ending this summer with a bang! A much anticipated (and needed!) beach trip! We've gone to Ocean Isle Beach several years now and we just love it! It's a quiet place where families can go and enjoy some time together. There are plenty of houses to rent oceanfront, but we love the condo where we stay ...and the pool! Sometimes it's just nice to play in the pool while you can still see and hear the ocean :)

In the meantime, we've been enjoying the last little bit of summer here at home too. We've always waited until after Labor Day to begin our school year and although I've been tempted in the past to start earlier but the kids are very comfortable with their schedule and so I'm reluctant to change it. Labor Day has been a nice marker for them and for me.

Anyway! Here's our last few weeks in pictures ;)

Yes, they got out the costume box!
An early morning snuggle...
We had so much rain and clouds last week, but we managed to sneak in some outside time.
This girl LOVES watermelon! I think she could eat one all by herself! (Yes this was costume day. Can you tell she's Cinderella now?)
I forgot to post this with the Lego post but it's so cute I wanted to share it! Nicholas took this picture of Megan's Lego store purchase :) Of course it's a tiger! hehehe
Tea party time! She made us bowls of pasta and tea, of course :)

Snuggling Daddy.
As usual, we've really enjoyed our summer! We all need a break at the end of our school year and we look forward to random, unscheduled days and fun!

This is going to be a very exciting year for us. Kristen will be starting college and Megan, our baby, will begin some more structured work. Nicholas is in the second grade and Brandon is in the sixth! Wow! Very exciting indeed!

Building Again

Last week, we headed up to Easton for some dinner and to browse the new Lego store. Yes, there is an actual store with nothing but Legos ;) We are a Lego-loving family! My kids would spend their whole day building if I let them ;)

So while we were there, I happen to pick up a monthly schedule of events for September. I had forgotten all about it but a couple of days later, Brandon ran across it and WOW was he ever excited! Every month at the Lego store you can do a Mini Build. It's a very small Lego creation made from 25-40 Legos. There's a different model each month. Also on the calendar is a contest to create your OWN mini-build! There are prizes and everything! My boys are very excited! So this is what was going on in our house last week:
Check this out! Yeah, my house is NEVER clean ;)
Here's Nicky's creation:
It's a gorilla! Didn't he do a good job??

Brandon is still working on his. The theme is September so we've been tossing around ideas like crazy! I'll post again when he is ready :)

So much fun!

A Good Way to Spend a Gorgeous Summer Day

Today, we met up with Todd's parents, Russ and Judy, for some delicious homemade icecream and fun on the farm. If you've never been to Young's Dairy it is a very fun afternoon :)
Megan decided the cow looked like a good place to sit while we were in line ;)

You can buy a little goat feed and feed the goats. They could get a little pushy!

Inside the barn were a few babies and mommas.
Momma to be?
There's a bouncy-castle thing that you know the kids loved!
Some other fun things outside:

Notice there aren't any pictures of me feeding the animals? Yeah...no thanks ;)

It was a beautiful day and so wonderful to spend it outside. Thank you Russ and Judy for the invite and the yummy icecream! It was so nice to see you both and catch up for a bit :)