Mini Golf

Jon, Karen & I took Liam, Hannah & Peyton mini-golfing for the first time.  Liam was a pro -- but his dad loves to golf and got him started early : )  Hannah required a little bit of assistance to get the hang of things, but we actually made it through a shady course....and we got there right when they opened in the morning before it got crowded -- otherwise people would definitely have complained about the amount of time we spent per hole!

Clearly Uncle Brian didn't teach this girl how to hold her clubs.....

Daddy tires to work with Hannah on her stance...

Peyton was not a fan of the kiddie club that they offered her....so she didn't make it very far into the course.  Her dad has some more work to do to make her a golfer!

Pool Time

Having a private pool AND a baby pool at the house was super. It was so nice to be able to head down for a short amount of time and play.  Hannah and Liam were like fish and LOVED to be in the water with their puddle jumpers.  Lauren also loved to be in the water, but didn't want to wear puddle jumpers, floaties or be in a raft (the girl does not like to be restrained). She wanted to be held....which was not acceptable with 4 kids in the pool area.  She was less than thrilled, but eventually got over it.  

Peyton also loved the water....maybe a little too much at times.  She was the source of two "saves": (1) by Jon when she decided to go swimming in the big pool without her puddle jumper while Karen and Mom were both putting shoes on other kids to go down to the beach and they turned their backs on her for about 10 seconds while I took Hannah to the bathroom (she just jumped in! and about 2 seconds after she went in the water Jon was in after her)....and (2) by me when she ignored her mom and got in the baby pool during a timeout, slipping in front of the jet and went under....(and I was the closest to grab her). Talk about quickening your heart rate!  Fortunately, we had enough eyes on the water that we caught her quickly both times, but certainly a reminder of being super close at all times when kids are in the water!  Despite our heart attacks, we did have a lot of fun in the pools : )

Baby pool

Hannah & Daddy

Lauren & Daddy

Mommy & her girls

Liam the fish

(he was great at going under the water)

Lauren learning to kick

Hannah learned to jump in, but wasn't keen on going under.

Liam is quite the swimmer.

Get. Me. Out.

This is the life....if only this was my real backyard!

4th of July @ the Beach

We let the big kids stay up to watch fireworks.  Our house was right between two piers, so we didn't have a great view of either of the close public fireworks, but we were close enough; especially considering that Hannah didn't like the loud noises....so it worked out well.  And, our "neighbors" actually put on a FANTASTIC show right next door, with fireworks that we thought rivaled the public ones!  We also had glow necklaces for the kids to play with -- probably their favorite part of the evening!

Hannah & Liam assembling their glow necklaces

Liam dancing!

Loving the glow!

 

Jon, with the sun setting in the background...

More Beach

We certainly had quite the set-up on the beach -- shade, kiddie pool (filled with ocean water, one bucket at a time...) and plenty of toys and snacks!

Love these kiddos!

 

Lauren can go from 0 (above) to 180 (below) in minutes!

The dunes

Making sandcastles .... I'm not sure who had more fun - Aunt Karen or the kids!

Peyton

Liam

Hannah

Karen

At the Beach

This year we took a family vacation to Southern Shores, NC, in the Outer Banks.  Mom and Dad rented a house with just enough room for all of us kids and our kids, and the house was right on the beach.  A splurge for sure, but it was SO NICE to have the beach right there.  With all of the kids and the gear, it was nice to not have to drive anywhere or to walk a long distance to get to the beach.  We were able to set up for the day in the morning and come and go as we pleased.  Then, we had a little lookout deck at the top of the dune, so we could leave our stuff there at night and not haul the chairs and umbrellas all the way back to the house.  It was absolutely wonderful.  I can't thank my mom and dad enough for making this vacation wonderful for all of us.

However, our vacation did get off to an interesting start.  The night before we left, a huge storm swept through Columbus (and WV and VA).  The power was out in a lot of neighborhoods, but not ours, fortunately.  On Saturday morning, shortly before we left, my mom called with a bit of sage advice: "the power is out all over WV, so if you get to a 1/2 talk of gas, start to look for a place to fill up, because a lot of places are closed."  Then, Danila called to let me know that her parents didn't have power in Staunton, VA.  You see, we planned to stay with them on the way down to break the trip up into two days.  We decided that places would be booked no matter what and decided to risk it and head to the Kennedy's on the way down.  We got on the road and just north of Beckley, WV started to look for a place to get gas.  Sure enough, service stations were closed all over the place.  We tried to get off at the Tamarack exit, but the exit was closed (even though we could see the Tamarack and the service center on the turnpike were open).  We went another exit south and found out from a trooper that we could exit northbound, but not southbound, as they were trying to control traffic.  When we finally pulled off there was a long line for gas.  I opted to get the girls out of the car and take them in for a potty break while Jon got gas.  There was a $30 fill-up limit and the entire service center was running on a generator!  We made it to Staunton around 7pm and had to go out for dinner because the Kennedy's still didn't have power.  But, they did do a decent job of keeping their house relatively cool during the day, so while it was hot, it wasn't super-uncomfortable (thank goodness for shade trees!).  We got to bed at a reasonable hour (for us, but the girls were up pretty late) and in the morning woke up to A/C and power!  Danila's mom, Chantal, took us to a nearby park on Sunday morning so the girls could play and get some energy out of their systems before we loaded up for the rest of the drive down to North Carolina. 

Jon decided on the drive that he would much rather drive the whole way than be the one entertaining the girls.  I was either passing them things (we had a goodie bag with a special treat for each girl every 2 hours or so) or sitting in the back between them reading stories, blowing bubbles (yes, in the car), coloring, doleing out snacks, or holding hands and blankies for nap time.  Car trips with little kids are not for the faint of heart (or for the unprepared!).  We also didn't realize how much pit stops for the bathroom and meals would add to the length of the trip.  Every stop was an hour (at least it seemed that way), especially meals - even at McDonald's.  But, we have to admit, the girls were very well-behaved and definitely excited to see their cousins and grandparents when we made it to Southern Shores.

Karen & Peyton

Lauren

Liam

Hannah was not so sure about the ocean - it was loud, the waves were big (to her), and she wasn't crazy about going in.

Lauren goes for her first swim with Daddy!

(Lauren, however, was another story. She went running for the ocean and we had to keep an eye on her to keep her from going in without an adult.)

Hannah's swim with Daddy was short-lived an accompanied by tears.  Maybe after a few days she'll warm up to the idea....