Our Beach Trip

Our Mission: To have as much fun in the sun as humanly possible.

Our Destination to accomplish said mission: Holden Beach, North Carolina (thankfully one and half weeks before Hurricane Irene hit the coast!)

We joined Barry's parents, sister and her two girls at Holden Beach this year for a vacation. It wasn't till we got there that I realized how long it has been that we've been on a long (more than one or two nights) vacation. We all had a WONDERFUL time!

Ryan did have a hard time aborting his regular routine, but once we actually got him out in the sun and surf, he did have fun. I don't think he'd claim that he did, but he did smile, laugh and tackle the waves on a boogie board.

Brianne loved to eat the sand. We would try to keep her from it, but found the best way to do that was just to hold her. She loved the waves coming to crash up on her as we sat in reach of the tide coming in. Once, Delaney got between her and her view of the ocean. She scolded Delaney and waved her arms furiously trying to get her to move. I think she thought Delaney was keeping the waves from brushing upon her (because coincidentally, no waves reached us during that time.)

She ate so much sand the first day, that she had a bm full of grainy texture....she often deals with constipation and it sure did cleaned her out! Barry says "Ditch the cookies, just feed her sand."

The second day we picked up some boogie boards and the older ones had a fabulous time riding the waves. However, a storm was brewing and by the last day of our visit there, the waves were so strong that it decreased our fun factor--I lost my glasses because of a strong wave crashing into me, (thank goodness I brought my second pair, something I don't normally do)--that we left the beach and went to the beach house to play in the pool instead.

This was Brianne, Delaney and Liam's favorite place to play, just at the edge, as the waves come crashing in. Barry and I took turns going out deeper with the older kids verses spending time with the younger ones.

Having some fun with the sand. Liam and Connor started digging and digging...just for the fun of it!

Yet, Cailin had very definite goals for her sand playing fun....to be entirely covered, buried in sand.

Connor gladly helped his little sister out!

Mission accomplished!

Roarrrrr, I'm back!

Delaney and Hayleigh

Ryan, Jakki, Cailin

All good things must end, and we head back to the beach house. After some lunch and a nap for Bri, we play in the pool.

At the beginning of the trip Delaney would cling desperately to the side of the pool. She wanted to join the fun in the middle of the pool, but just couldn't branch out and do it. By the end of the week she did garner the courage to come away from the wall and go in the deep end with any sort of help, parents or floatation device. But, overcame she did and had a wonderful time.

Following the example of his sister, Liam too, had a difficult time with the deeper end. But, he too conquered his fear and let us hold him in the deep end and had a marvelous time being with the others.

Let the water noodle blowing games begin!

Spending some down time....playing peek-a-boo in a large bucket.

Glued to the TV after a day of summer sun .

In the evening we'd take a walk on the beach.

Ryan didn't enjoy this to much, he even brought along a book to read, however, he pilfered the camera from me and began having a bit of fun taking pictures....see below for his photos.

Brianne must be part reptilian. She loved to experience the salty sea air with her tongue out tasting it.

Liam loved to dig in the sand, we'd often turn around and find him digging away on another hole. Getting him to put the sand down was nearly impossible.

But, it wasn't impossible to have a super time this year....mission complete! We did have a fantastic time. We're now planning a trip with Barry's entire family for next year. I can't wait!