Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Us Away

We thought the beach couldn't get any more fun, but we were wrong!! As we headed into our second and third day at the beach we were enjoying ourselves more and more. Who wouldn't in this awesome house! Unfortunately this was the best photo I got of our home away from home.


We enjoyed taking some walks along the beach in the evenings after dinner. We didn't have a stroller that would do well along the beach, so poor Bennett got stuffed into the Bjorn. He looked so huge, but he loved it for a little while. Eventually, I had to rescue the little dear. He's a momma's boy for sure!

On one of our evening jaunts along the beach, the aunts and uncles thought it would be hilarious to bury Tristan in the sand. I'm still amazed that this wiggly kid was able to stay still enough to be covered in sand! He did, though, and thought he was so hilarious. He especially loved breaking free of the sand like a monster.

Poor Tristan...he learned the hard way that being buried in sand means a LOT of sand in the pants. Lets just say that Daddy's shirt was the ONLY thing he wore as we left the beach!
Below: We were loving the sand and sun. Maura started running the moment she hit the sand and didn't stop till we left the beach. It's no wonder she slept so well at night!
Bennett loved exploring the waves as well. Daddy took him out for an up close look and he just watched the frigid water break into waves. He's my budding adrenaline junkie!
Below: We spent a lot of time prior to the vacation trying to think up fun activities for the children to do while we weren't actually on the beach. I LOVED this one and couldn't wait to make it! The kids were thrilled with their crabby little lunches!


The kids ate it all up...maybe that's why they were so crabby by the time nap time rolled around. We put them to bed every afternoon and then it was adult playtime!!! We enjoyed our afternoons at the pool and had some very competitive games of volleyball.

The most fun craft that we did on our beach week was to make these sandboxes. Before we left for the beach I allowed the kids to pick out a tube of plastic animals or vehicles and then we simply filled their containers with sand and they had their own personal sandboxes. They played with them all week.


Alex loved her farm themed sandbox.
These too are too cool for words. This photo makes me flash forward ten years to when they're teenagers. I feel like they'll be the best of friends. We were preparing to take a Wild Horse Tour. The Outer Banks is home to a herd of wild horses left over from Spanish shipwrecks in the 15th century. Amazing that these little herds are alive and thriving. We all piled into a tricked out truck and headed out to find the herd. Bennett wasn't sure what to think about being strapped into the cab of the truck with Alex while we all sat in the truck bed.

We finally found a group of wild horses complete with foals. They were so cute! The kids loved seeing them. What we all loved even more was the off roading we did on the way to find them. the tour guide was a crazy driver and she had us bouncing all around. Thank goodness we had seat belts! Micah and Lorie were having a great time!

The marshes on the sound side of the Outer Banks were beautiful. Brent and I had such a great time on this tour and were so glad we chose to go.
We drove on the beach on an actual highway. It's called Highway 12 and it's on the map of the Outer Banks. The speed limit is 35, but you'd better not even try to drive on it if you don't have a 4X4. We came upon some people who were stranded in a Toyota Camry just inside the entrance to the highway. There are many beachfront homes along this stretch of the Outer Banks that are accessible only by this sandy highway. It was an interesting experience to watch lines of traffic just driving along the beach.
As we left, we came upon these three horses just plodding along beside the water. One even took the opportunity to get down and have a nice roll on the sand. I have to leave you with these photos of my big boy. He loved, loved, loved this trip, especially the off roding portion that bounced him around the back of the truck. As we completed the trip, though, the past few days of swimming, spending time on the beach and staying up late began to tell on him and he looked like...
This. Sweet dreams Little Man.

Beach Discoveries

June 2011--It was finally here!! Our family has been looking forward to a beach vacation for MONTHS! I made the mistake of mentioning our upcoming beach vacationk WAY back in March and the kids have been asking about it ever since. I finally circled June 11th on the calender and allowed the kids to make a huge X through each day we passed leading up to the big day. The kids couldn't have been more excited when it was time to leave. I attempted to stress upon them what a long trip it would be to reach the Outer Banks. We talked about how we would leave in the dark and it would be dark before we finally got to the vacation house. They listened, said they understood, then proceeded to ask again and again if we were there yet. Oh well! It only drove us a LITTLE crazy! We did walk down to the beach once we arrived, but the event wasn't photo worthy in the semi darkness. The next day was the first true beach experience and the kids couldn't get down there quickly enough. We stayed at a beautiful beach access home just across from the beach and a short walk to the beach access. LOVED being so close we could walk! I don't know if we can ever go back now to non-beachfront property.
We had to take a photo--we weren't sure if Dad would make it back down to the beach again. He's not much of a beach guy, but he spent the first morning at the beach watching his grandchildren enjoy their beach discoveries. Mom and Dad paid for this whole trip and we certainly couldn't have done it without them. Thanks so much Mom and Dad!! Brent and I truly enjoyed the experience of enjoying the beach with our little ones so very much.

It was Alexandra's first trip to the beach and we weren't sure what to expect of her. Micah took her down to the water's edge and she pretty much hated it. Well, at least we didn't have to worry about her running out into the water! Can you guess which child DIDN'T hate it?? That would be Bennett. He pretty much loved everything about the sand and surf, even eating the sand. YUCK! We figured that maybe it didn't taste as bad to him as it does to us because he dosen't have any teeth!
Sweet little man--so happy to be there. We had some nice tidal pools around us on the first day that were perfect for Bennett. He loved crawling through them, splashing and shoveling the water. I thought maybe he'd take a few steps too, but he was content to just stand up where he was.

Maura, my little scientist, was in her element. There's just so much to see and discover at the beach! She was enthralled by all the seashells, but she was most excited about the sand crabs. She kept trying desperately to catch these elusive little buggers and she'd get so close, but they'd evade her. Eventually, I stepped in and shoveled up a few of the little critters for her. She couldn't have been happier with her bucketful of little crabs.

Tristan man just wanted to RUN! He took off along the beach, running through sand and waves. I loved watching him reexperience the beach. He couldn't wait to dig in the sand, run his digging machine and build a sandcastle. It was such a fun experience to play with my precious ones on the beach. It's not a relaxing beach experience, no books beach side reading was occurring and no naps were being taken by us, but I wouldn't change it at all because my children are growing up TOO quickly! I build sandcastles with them today so that I can build relationships with them tomorrow.

Uncle Micah took the time to help them build some sandcastles too. All their aunts and uncles were so great with them on this vacation. We were so blessed to have such a perfect family vacation. More to come...

Goodnight Bennett

I'm officially turning in my crazy card. I earned it last month when I held Bennett's birthday party...the night before we left VERY early in the morning on a week long vacation. You see, I have this terrible habit of packing a bit like a tornado does. I have a pathological fear of leaving anything we might need, so I tend to take everything and make a gigantic mess doing so. To try and avoid this scenario(and because Brent was going to be leaving for two weeks the day after we got home), I came up with the bright idea to host Bennett's birthday AT MY HOME the night before we left for Outer Banks. Yep. Crazy. My stress level was through the roof as I planned and executed this "little" party for my little man. At least it was cute!!
Bennett is finally starting to enjoy reading books with me and he likes Goodnight Moon. I built the party theme around it. I started with our green room(living room), added some red balloons and voila, instant party! Not really! But I did hang up some teeny tiny socks and mittens!

I wanted to make Bennett a bear for his smash cake. I wasn't crazy enough to make three little bears, but I did seat three little bears in chairs!

I really did think things turned out cute. We had a Goodnight Moon cake and cupcakes complete with stars and moons. I served cheddar bunny crackers, teddy bear crackers, star marshmallows, carrots and dip(for the bunnies of course!) After this party I don't think I'll ever serve a full meal again! The kids were just as happy with snacks!

I invited everyone to wear their pajamas to our Goodnight party. The adults didn't comply, but most of the kids were sporting their cutest Jammies! Katie and Scott were actually able to make it to the party since I had it on a Friday night. We were so happy to have Aunt Katie, party planning extraordinaire, with us--and Scott too, of course!

Bennett, of course, had no idea what all the fuss was about, but this boy LOVES excitement and confusion and he loved all the activity. We snuck a moment to snuggle with him before the festivities began in earnest.

Bennett sure was happy to see his Grammy and Pappap! Most of the time he abandons me in favor of Grammy when she appears!

We loved getting a chance to catch up with our friends before the craziness of our summer began in earnest! Annabel came to celebrate with us. She's only six weeks older than Bennett, so they're church nursery buddies. She's a cutie!! Bennett is too! I debated putting him in jammies too, but then he couldn't wear his cute 1st birthday shirt!

Sarah and Carter, both church friends came to wish Bennett Happy Birthday. We'll miss Sarah--she and her family will be moving away in the next month. Carter is sticking around, though! He and Tristan bonded over Cars. I love that Tristan has some good guy friends.

Lorie and Alexandra weren't going to miss this party, even though they'd be with us when we celebrated his actual birthday the next week at the beach! Bennett loves his Aunt!

Friends all around--and this isn't even everyone: Carter, Lily, Gracie, Bennett, Tristan and Haylie. Bennett liked the snacks, but he LOVED the cake. He couldn't wait to get his hands on his smash cake! He acted a little embarrassed as we all sang to him and then REACHED for the cake as soon as it was over.

Happy, happy boy! He demolished the cake. When I finally took it from him, it was nothing by crumbs on the plate! The kids LOVED watching him smash his cake. They all gathered around his highchair and yelled "Smash it!" at him. He was happy to comply!

Cake coma. Thank goodness presents were next! Bennett was READY...to play. He could have cared less about his gifts. I unwrapped them all with the help of the other kids.

"Look Bennett!" He just wasn't interested. There was just too much to do. Paper to play with, people to watch, steps to take. Yes, that's right, he took his first steps at the party. Colleen was holding onto a balloon string and Bennett had to have it. He took about three steps before falling over. So sweet. He's getting big too quickly! There's just something about parties and walking for my kids. Tristan walked at his first birthday party and Maura walked on her birthday. I didn't expect Bennett to walk as soon--he's been a lot slower to cruise, but he's definitely up and about now!

I thought that this photo did a great job capturing the chaos of the moment! Kids everywhere, paper flying, lots of conversations. It was awesome! We really had a great time and in the end I'm glad I actually had a birthday party for him, vacation or no vacation. My family stuck around afterwards to help tidy up and it made my job much easier. I was able to leave my house in reasonable shape and I didn't have to stay up all night to make it happen. Happy birthday Bennett--you are the sweetest, happiest, most adorable one year old I know!