Outer Banks Trip in July

I am finally posting pictures from our trip to the beach in July.

Before we get into pictures I will have to list all the folks at the beach, so that things don't get too confusing (hopefully). Drew's family has gone to the beach with another family for the past 25 years.

Drew's Family - Bo and Pam (dad & step-mom), Carolyn & David (sister & her boyfriend), Kristin (sister), Chanon & Debbie & Emma & Jonathan & Julia (brother & his family), plus our family =14 people

Kowalski Family - Ken and Gail Kowalski, Scott and Amy Kowalski plus kids, Kate, Lilly, Eve and Graham, Mark and Kathy Place plus kids Mac, Abigail and Mary, and Amanda (the babysitter) = 14 people

28 people at dinner every night gets very exciting

The first pictures are ones from the pool. The morning schedule at the beach consists of crabbing or swimming at the pool while the grownups take turns playing tennis. Drew and I vow every summer that we will play during the year so that we will be marginally good when we play tennis at the beach. (maybe this will be our year to follow through on that goal)

Mary and Ben enjoy a poolside snack
Ben is wearing his crabbing outfit (close-toed shoes)

Noah is getting launched by Mark

Ben and Graham played with cars while the adults ate dinner

Picture of Ben after he has done his magic trick
(i.e. hiding the ball under his shirt, showing you his empty hands, then pulling the ball out and showing it to you)

Noah & Jonathan

We brought Rockband to the beach and played a few nights before dinner. I don't think we ever managed to finish a song while the kids were "helping".

Kate, Emma, Julia, Jonathan and Noah
(the boys were hard to tell apart at times)

See what I mean...

Kate, Emma, Julia and Naoh work against the ocean
and try to save their wall from the waves

There was a sea cayak at the house. It was entertaining to watch different adults take it out in the surf each day. Even the kids went out once the dad's got the hang of making it past the breakers. Jonathan, Eve, Ben and Emma helped pull it up the beach at the end of the day.

This might be our Christmas card picture. :)

cousins...Jonathan, Ben, Emma, Noah and Julia

Here are the real seafood lovers who are still sitting at the table eating during Crab Night. Many adults (myself included) had already left the table and the kids had returned to scrounge for leftovers. The kids ate dinner every night before the adults.

Nantucket trip

We spent the first week of August in Nantucket. It was an unexpected trip and we enjoyed our time together as a family. It was especially fun for me because I spent the first 20 years of my life celebrating my birthday in Nantucket while on family vacation. I turned 35 while on the island this summer. Sitting on the back porch enjoying the Nantucket weather helped soften the blow of getting older.

There are so many different beaches to go to in Nantucket. Here are some pictures of different places we went.

Children's Beach
Located in the harbor and within walking distance of our house. This beach is man made and has a shallow wading area for kids as well as a couple of play grounds. It also has a snack shack where you can get coffee and doughnuts, etc. (Drew's favorite feature).

Noah enjoyed climbing on this rope structure located on the beach.

At one point Drew and I looked over at Noah and noticed that he had attracted 1/2 dozen girls to come climb with him. It is funny now, but will not be so amusing in 10 years.

Later on Ben and Noah went swimming.

Noah helped Ben when the water got too high for him to touch easily.

The Jetties
This beach is at the mouth of the harbor and has a sand bar that is almost totally exposed during low tide. I grew up calling this the "little wave beach".

Ben stayed on shore but Noah waded out to the sandbar. Drew pulled him around on the boogie board for a while.

Surfside
This is one of the "big wave beaches". The little boys did not go in the water much, but the big boy did. Drew enjoyed many hours of boogie boarding with in Nantucket. Drew is in the background of this first picture.

We rode bikes everywhere and did not bring beach chairs. I taught the boys how to dig their own chairs. Here are pictures of Ben and Noah relaxing in their chairs.

Noah decided to curl up and take a nap instead.

Drew and Ben enjoyed some time in the surf together.

Then it was time to relax and enjoy a snack.

Another South Shore beach (don't know the name)

On our last day we went to the beach with my Aunt and her 2 youngest kids. It was a perfect beach day. Drew spent hours in the water with Chad riding waves and we finally got Marshall to go out as well. My boys enjoyed playing with their 2nd cousins (or cousins once removed...however that works) on the beach.

Marshall, Noah, Chad and Ben

On the Ferry
We left Nantucket on the 6:30 ferry. It is an interesting time of departure. Closing up a house and rushing to catch a ferry (all before the hour that anyone is usually awake). It gave me warm feelings though because it is an event that is linked to wonderful weeks spent in Nantucket as a child.

Eating breakfast while waiting for the boat to leave the dock.

Picture of Drew racing to the ferry after going to get some breakfast at a nearby restaurant. He was one of the last folks to get on the ferry before it pulled away.

It is a family tradition to throw a penny in the water as you go by the light house on the way out of the harbor. It is supposed to ensure that you come back again. I threw my penny after taking this picture of the guys throwing theirs.

Ben took a nap in my lap on the 2 hour boat ride to the mainland.

It took us 12 hours to get home. The boys watched 3 movies and Ben napped for a while. They also colored and made crafts. I told a story for almost an hour. We survived the drive home and look forward to making the trip again soon.

America's Got Talent...here we come

Wish I knew how to add music. :)

Beach Music

Apparently the bagpipes don't record very well on video, because this sounds rough in comparison to what we actually heard at the beach. This past week we went to the Outer Banks with Drew's dad and family. Since he was five, Drew has been doing to the beach with his family and the Kowalski family. This year, for the first time in quite a while, everyone was there (all 28 of us). This is a short video of Mark playing the bagpipes at sunset. Everyone in the houses around us came out to listen as well. It was a fun moment during a vacation full of great time together.

Noah and Ben clearly enjoyed listening to Mark play.

I will post more beach photos soon.

Bike Ridin' Boy

On Tuesday night Noah made his first solo trip around our yard without training wheels on his bike. He even managed to stop without falling most of the time.

On Wednesday morning he took off and truly started his life as a bike rider. He can now go up and down our road by turning around in the neighbors' driveways. He is even managing to start himself most of the time. ( I tried loading a second video, but it is taking too long to upload)

He is already discussing the tricks and jumps he will start doing in the near future.

Ben didn't want to be left out and spent the whole time practicing on his Big Wheel. He wanted to make sure he got a few pictures in as well. I predict another bike rider in the family before too long.

Independence Day

We celebrated Independence Day with Drew's family in NOVA. I don't have any pictures to prove it, but we had a great day with Grandma playing at the biggest playground I have ever seen and then going to Great Falls Park for a picnic and hike. Ben fell asleep in the car on the way home and then Noah took a long nap at Grandma's house. Naps were a blessing because we stayed up until 10:30 going to Opa and Grandmommy's country club to celebrate the 4th. It was a long but fun filled day which ended with a 30 minute fireworks show.

Here are pictures from the club.

Cupcakes were followed by cotton candy and snow cones. I did manage to get them to eat a hot dog before consuming large quantities of sugar.

The boys got their faces painted. Ben chose to get his arm painted instead. Noah is a Pirate and his cousin, Jonathan, is a Cheetah. Below are all three boys showing off their paint with Opa.

Bear in Bridgewater

This past week we were at the pool and happened to hear about a black bear in a tree near a neighbor's house here in Bridgewater. I decided to drive by and let the boys take a look. What was only supposed to take a few minutes ended up being an hour of excitement.

We got there just as the park ranger was putting away his tranquilizer rifle (Noah's favorite part). Then we watched him climb up a ladder to hold the bear in place so it wouldn't fall and get hurt. We were getting ready to leave when someone yelled to get out of the way for the fire trucks. Obviously we had to stay and watch what would happen next.



This is a picture of the bucket (almost fully extended from the truck to reach the tree) full of fire fighters and forest rangers. They attached a harness to the bear (which didn't fit and fell off) and ened up lowering it by its foot to the ground.


Here is a picture of the crowd that gathered to watch. You can just see Ben over the handlebars of the bike in the middle of the picture. Noah and I are right behind the kid in the black t-shirt. And yes that is a camera lady from the local news. It doesn't take much to get on the news around here.