Beach Trip 2011

We had a fun but short trip to the beach.  We had to come back early for Ella to start school but we squeezed in all the important things-lots of time in the pool (we are not ocean people), A trip to the actual beach, Thrashers French Fries, Grotto's pizza, counting the ubiquitous Candy Kitchens, mini golf, the boardwalk, and funnel cake.  

So nostalgic for Chris and me-we both grew up going down to this same beach all the time!  We even stayed at the timeshare my parents have had for close to THIRTY years!  I learned to swim this same pool!!  I brushed my hair in the same exact mirror with light bulbs all around it where I burned my elbow when I was a kid (and still have teh scar). And, a bunch of people have been coming this same week since I was 5 years old and recongize and remember me!  It's craziness that they cheered Ella on in trying to swim across the pool 25 years after doing the exact same thing for me!  Blows my mind.  Thankful for this strange but sweet legacy!

Chris got asked to help in the mime show on the boardwalk

Ella's first bumper car ride!

It's blurry but i still like this picture of sweet little Ady and Michelle :-)

This silly face/pose is SO Sadie.  She's becoming a little ham :-)

Outer Banks!

Last week was our family vacation with Chris' side of the family (plus about 10 people from Amy's husband's family). There were 25 of us in the nicest, biggest beach house I've ever seen! There were 14 bedrooms, a kitchen and dining room that was about the size of my house, an impressive theater room, about 30 TVs (it was excessive), a pool, and a private "boardwalk" out to the beach. You can tell, we were impressed by the house. Anyway, we did a "formal" family photo shoot on the beach (coordinating outfits and everything!) so those pics will be coming soon. Here are some of the more fun pics of people and stuff we did.


I think this was my nephew Silas' first ice cream cone :-)

A close-up of our little beauty-kinda scary!

Erin, Dave, and Chris on "Adventure Night" (think teams, sand dunes, mini-golf with "special rules", beer, and Chris' truck stuck in the sand for 30 minutes)

Matt was the creator of "Adventure Night" :-)

Ella was obsessed with this umbrella

The cousins had the time of their lives playing ALL DAY EVERY DAY!

Chris and I on top of he Wright Brother's Memorial


That's the Memorial up on the hill behind them

Ella spent lots of time in the pool-last summer she needed the floating bathing suit but she does great with just the "water wings" or "blow-bluffers" as my family calls them

Chris' rents having fun when we were out to dinner for some seafood

Getting ready for the beach. Yes, Chris is wearing Ella's shorts on his head.

A really fun game of Catch Phrase once the kids were asleep.

Ella and Christopher got a little carried away in Nana's bathtub!

On the drive Ella did GREAT. She watched DVDs a lot of the time and it was SO cute to hear her laughing out loud at the movies or telling Curious George to "watch out!"

Watch for some of the good pics from the family photo shoot soon!

Fall Day at the Park

On Saturday we finally got to hang out with Marissa (it had been weeks!) and went to a kid's day at a local park. Lots of fun and a GORGEOUS fall day. Have I mentioned I LOVE fall?? I REALLLY do.

We were at the top of a big hill and I told Ella she should run down to this amphitheater and get on the stage and dance for us. And to my shock she took of running and did it! That little spot with pink pants and black shirt is her!

Running back up the hill to Aunt Marissa

Sucking down a sno-cone

The park had a beach on the bay and we played there for a long time. Here Marissa is helping Ella right her name with a stick. She got really into writing on the sand but insisted she only wanted to make "loooong lines" not letters. She had a blast.

Ella's gotten quite adventurous lately and likes climbing and jumping off of things a lot more than she used to. (and a lot more than I do...I get scared!)

Great Day with the fam!

Beach Trip '08

We really did have a fun time at the beach. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

The Christy's always let us borrow their portable DVD player for long car trips-it's a lifesaver. Ella is obsessed with the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD and Zoe's Dance Moves. This time we hooked her up with headphones which was great so we weren't all singing "A says ah, A says ah" for 3 hours.

The first day we went straight to the beach. Ella really wanted to make a sand castle. She'd only seen them in books and we really have been talking about them for MONTHS so it was really exciting to see her face light up when Aunt Marissa taught her how to use wet sand to build a tower. She was thrilled!

It didn't last long but Ella did try to lay down and read with the rest of us for a few minutes.



It's probably a little known fact but I LOVE swimming. I LOVE the feeling of being underwater and since I spent almost every day of my childhood summers at the pool, it's sort of nostalgic. I was in the pool more than anyone else on this trip and practiced all my old tricks (handstands, forward and backward flips etc.). It was so much fun! Ella enjoyed it too mostly because her bathing suit ROCKS and she can totally "swim" around the pool by herself! I highly recommend these suits with flotation devices built in. And you don't even need a fancy one, this one was $9.98 at Walmart and it's been great all summer.

On our last day we went to the board walk at Rehoboth (thanks for the tip Ed!) and Ella got to ride on a bunch of cool rides. Definitely very kid friendly (and cheap!).

Just before heading home we got some Ice Cream and tried (futily) to teach Ella to lick it so it wouldn't drip. She just kept insisting that she needed napkins. She's really the neatest eater ever which is unusual in toddler world.

And last but not least...we stopped at a McDonalds on the way home for a bathroom break and CRACKED UP when we saw this lady on her motorized scooter at the drive thru. To top it off she had her little lap dog sitting on it with her!