Beach Vacation

We spent the second week of August with Tina's family in a vacation area south of Virginia Beach called Sandbridge. Nine years ago we took a similar vacation to the same area. This year was different 'cause over the last nine years we've added 3 kids to the mix. The first 4 days were VERY warm and we quickly settled into a nice little rhythm:

7-ish - wake up

8-ish - breakfast

9-10 - head to beach

12-ish - back to house (maybe equivalent of a 2 block walk) for lunch

1-ish - 3 boys out cold for naps

1-4ish - adults hang out in pool while kids sleep (anti-social Derek goes on a bike ride :)

5-ish - kids awake and join adults in pool

6-ish - dinner

7-ish - back to beach for a few hours

9-ish - kids back to house for baths, snack and bed

9-10 - adults play some games, chat and then realize how tire they are and go to bed

-repeat-

It was very nice. So far, the only lasting drawback from the vacation has been that Henry doesn't seem as excited with his sandbox as he used to be. I guess the 4ft x 4ft seems limiting.

Anyway, on with the show. One of the things I (Derek) learned from this vacation is that photographing multiple children ages 2-5 is challenging. At least if you expect them to all be looking at you at the same time. Below you will see Henry w/ his cousins posing in a sandcastle 'we' built.

Cute? Yes but wouldn't it be grand if they were all looking at me at the same time?

The next two pictures were taken in the pool behind our house. This is the only evidence we have that the three cousins sat on the airplane because soon after this picture was taken they quickly overturned (next picture). The result was that neither of the younger two were willing to go near the plane for the rest of the week. Notice the two being held aren't having a very good time. Oops.

Here Henry is enjoying the pool a little more. He was really getting into 'swimming' especially with goggles on. He really liked riding the 'boogey board'

One of the great things about the beach in Sandbridge was that it was not overly crowded. This meant that even our sand sculptures remained at the beach from one day to the next. As a result, we decided to take our 'castle' pictured above and convert it to what you see below. Notice that they are almost all looking at the camera.

Henry did like to frolic/dig in the sand. Here he is striking a pose with shovel in hand.

Now here he is after he decided to give up on the shovel and just use his forehead to dig in the sand.

Here Henry is learning from his cousins what it means to line up and 'race.' He sort of got the concept by the end of the trip but definitely needs to work on his leg speed before they race again in December.

Maybe you noticed (maybe you didn't) earlier that I said it was sunny/hot the first 4 days we were there. Well it was pretty rainy for the last 2.5-3.

Q: So what do you do with three little boys that are used to running around the beach when it's pouring down rain outside?

Answer 1: Arts & Crafts

Answer 2: Play Games

Answer 3: Go to the local Aquarium

Answer 4: Go out to eat and get the boys light-up plastic 'ice cubes.'

Answer 5: Put gel in their hair

Answer 6: Take all the cushions off of the couch and chairs and make a bus. According to Henry this is Route 68.

It was a great vacation. I'll finish with some shots that include more adults. We'll start with the whole group.

Then theirs our little family

And finally, a rare picture of just the two of us. Probably one of the better shots of the two of us in quite a while.

Crazy Summer - Part 2

Approximately 24 hours after my (Derek) parents left, some college friends (and families) arrived at our home for the weekend. We had incredible weather and were able to scare up enough bikes and trailers (thanks local friends!!) so we could get around town without driving.

A shot of the conglomeration of bikes/trailers.

Here's a picture of Henry and Emerson 'sharing' in the trailer. Do you see how well they are sharing each other's toys too? (each is holding the other's toys)

Our first day had us at a spot where we could eat ice cream and watch boats. It was a hit.

And of course, hold hands. (the friendship began to suffer as the weekend wore on these two)

Other random shots.

Crazy Summer - Part 1

Over the last few weeks we've been quite busy. It all started with my (Derek) parents visiting for a few days at the end of July. We had a great time with them. Henry really loves his grandparents. Here are a few pics from their visit.

It started with shucking corn brought fresh from Kansas.

And passing the corn to the next available person with 'vigor.'

Of course, there's the eating of the corn (notice that this occurred outside).

The visit included a good portion of hiking around town including trips to the zoo and local botanical gardens.

And of course, no trip would be complete without the customary front porch picture.

Just pictures

Tower building

Lunch at home with Dad

"Hiking"


Making bread.

The other camera

Typically we post pictures from Derek's camera since he actually is taking pictures all the time. I however, always forget to download my pictures so here are some things that missed getting documented by Derek's (mainly due to a fear of the nice camera getting damaged--like covered in strawberry juice, flour, etc).

Strawberry picking a few weeks ago.

Henry sampled a few.

Derek and the boys making bread.


Yesterday at the farmers market--we finally bought some apple fritters which went great with our coffee on the cool morning.

This morning--watching TV. Not something we ever do but it was an exception because they were watching.....
....the Tour de France. It was an exciting stage today. Thankfully we can watch it online so we don't have to have cable. Ah, technology. Also, Henry really didn't watch that much and was more excited about the car commercials than the actual race. Then our neighbor started mowing and all interest in the TV was lost. Derek was not as interested in the mower.

Cars, cars and more cars.

No pictures just things that make me laugh and show his car obsession.

While driving somewhere, following an Audi convertible.
Henry: what's that?
Derek: An Audi
Henry: No, that's an inny.
Derek: Why?
Henry: Because it doesn't have a top on it.


Later in the car, following a BMW.
Henry: What's that?
Derek: What is that, Henry?
Henry: That's a BM double X.
(we left it at that)
A few seconds later he says No, that was a BMW, not a BM double X.

Summer activities

It's been nice to be home after our big camping trip and finally we have the house back to normal after moving stuff for the floor refinishing. We came back to a tree full of cherries and dealt with all those. Now we're back to a bit of relaxing. So here's what we've been up to lately.

Practicing our swings so we can play with Doug and Greg at the beach.


We went on a bike ride Sunday with friends and took a break at this wonderful playground. It's a big wooden castle-type structure with tons of nooks for little ones to hide out in.

At the top of the "castle."

We went walking on the pier at the lake which is a short bike ride (or a long walk) from our house. We decided to go watch boats one evening since the weather was so nice.

Watching for more boats. Henry like the fact that there were boats all over the lake and some were going really fast!