Together again

After a grand adventure for the kids (I'll let them tell about it in another blog for another day) and much work back at home by Dustin and me, we were finally reunited in Virginia Beach last Saturday. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough to hug those cutie pies! While our vacation was amazingly fun and relaxing (except for the part where I never slept) I'm not going to lie to you -- every day there was a moment of drama sure to make the vacation unforgettable. So first the bad:

Day one -- While my sister picked us up from the airport, my dad decided to take my kids to the beach while they waited for everyone to arrive. We're waiting for one more bag to come off the carousel (never did -- it missed the flight) when we get a call from my parents who are headed to the ER. Long story short, my dad was body surfing and he ended up breaking his scapula.

Day two -- Washing machine broke. 17 people, a beach, a swimming pool and no way to get clean towels. Panic set in until the washing machine was fixed the next morning.

Day three -- The boys decided they want to go parasailing. I had no intention of going, but I brought Nate and Ellie out on the boat hoping they would go up with Dustin. I have them all talked into it and they are harnessing Ellie up while my brother, his wife and one of my nephews are up for their turn. Suddenly the ROPE BREAKS! I kid you not. Everyone's kind of freaked out, but I don't want to scare the kids so I decide to make it sound like it must be super duper fun. All the while my brother and his family are gently gliding into the choppy ocean and our boat is racing to them as fast as possible. It was scary. Especially watching the waves toss them around as they got unhooked and tried to get back to the boat. It was enough to freak my kids (and me) out. Nate just keeps repeating, "I'm not going." My other nephew, however, thought I did a pretty good job making it sound super cool. "No fair! Zach got to go in the water." Never mind that he got dragged under the waves 2 times and is sitting on my mom's lap crying. Matt still wanted to go up. So we returned to shore where Dustin and my sister decided they would go take Matt up. Sometimes my family is crazy.

I feel like that day should have it's own entire blog because there are so many more levels of craziness involved with this story including a clothing change between my sister and I in a pitch black storage shed.

Day four -- My aunt and uncle had to leave early so she could get back to work and she sneaked out in the middle of the night so they wouldn't have to say good bye. It was a sad morning the next day.

Day five -- Family picture day when our beach house had no power. Showers in the dark and freak outs about how on earth we're going to do our hair. My brother-in-law was busy on his iphone calling every hair salon he could find nearby to see if they could blow dry our hair. Of course we're also in Sandbridge, which is about 20 minutes from any actual civilization so we're 5 minutes from running out the door when the power was restored. HOORAY! And good thing we didn't pay to get our hair done because it was so stinking windy that night at the beach anyway.

Day six -- Motorworld. We wanted to do something other than the beach and decided to take the kids to race go carts. This should also be it's own entire blog entry. I should have known it was a bad omen when Ellie tripped on the way in and ended up sort of a bloody mess, crying for 15 minutes while we tried to find somewhere with a first aid kit.

After paying way too much money we realize the park is run by a staff of Eastern European immigrants who speak no English and hate children. Nate got stuck on the rail on every single ride the first few times so we thought we'd try Bumper Boats. Nate couldn't steer the boat, so he ended up going in circles for the full 20 minutes crying, "THIS.IS.NOT.FUN." Of course since the staff hate children, they pretended they couldn't hear him. Then there was the roller coaster which made both my kids cry. And this was just the first hour. Finally we found the family courses and the day was salvaged.

Day seven -- Because I was feeding Luke when the drama occurred, I will skip the details for this day. Also because what happens in Sandbridge, stays in Sandbridge. Now I have you all intrigued, don't I?

Day eight -- Time to head home. We had to be out of the house by 10 and our flight wasn't until 4:30. Loads of time. Yet somehow we managed to really cut it close getting to the airport which lead to 3 crying children, one screaming baby and two frazzled parents lugging them through the airport racing for the plane. And our DVD players didn't even work. Finally we got home around midnight Virginia time. Thankfully the kids all slept in until a decent Arizona time.

I had to tell you all the bad stuff so you wouldn't be incredibly jealous of the rest of our fantastic relaxing vacation. Our beach house was perfect and right by the beach with plenty of room for everyone. I won't bore you will all the details, so here's some random pictures (in whatever random order I uploaded them)

Luke's first day at the beach. As you can tell by hair it was a little too windy for a baby to be out that day, so we headed back in shortly after. Good thing too because that was the day most of family got burnt.
The rest of the days were gorgeous so Luke took a nap or two at the beach.

Body surfing and boogie boarding were big hits
If you've ever been to a park with Sadie you know of her affinity for sand. She wasn't a big fan of the water, but she could spend hours laying in the sand. Or cuddling my dad.

Dustin looked at me at one point and said, "Who knew jumping waves could be an hour-long activity." And that is why I love the beach. Two entire hours can be spent collecting clams and jelly fish followed by an hour of making sand creations that will be destroyed when the tide comes in.The boys. I was amazed by how much my kids missed Luke. I think he kind of liked the noise and attention though.
The little girls on picture day. They slept in my parent's room. One day they were down for a nap when my sister-in-law hears them fighting. "My bed." "NO! MY bed." Turns out Sadie had hopped her pack-in-play and jumped in with Allie.
We actually caught those crabs! And by we, I don't me mean me because I do not think fishing and crabbing is fun. The kids do however and they loved eating crab. Guess who uttered these words, "I LOVE crab." Sadie. No joke! She actually ate meat.
Nate is fearless in the water. He would have stayed out all day if we didn't make him come in to eat and sleep. He made a little friend named Taylor and they ran all over the beach together.
Other big activities were burying people in the sand and digging giant holes. One day, a giant hole was pretty much my entire accomplishment.

We also managed to squeeze in some Rock Band, games, Arrested Development, running (a vacation I didn't gain any weight on -- hooray), baseball watching, pool swimming, late night strolls on the beach where every kid came home soaking wet. . .

And now I'd better publish this before I have more stuff to blog. If you can believe it -- school starts TOMORROW!