The Last of the Vacation Photos

Posted on July 19, 2012 by lauren

Before we get on with the rest of the vacation photos, thank you for all of your kind words through comments, emails, and FB messages about yesterday’s post. I felt the love! I had a really amazing childhood and was actually very lucky to have my dad in my life for as long as I did, given his constant struggles with health through his short but rich life.

And though you are surely getting tired of the beach pictures, a lot of why I do this blog is to have a place to keep our memories so we can look back on not only the stories but also all the pictures of our adventures as a family. So, if you want to share in this journey, please feel free! I have to warn you, there are a lot of pictures in this post!

The weather for the first two days of our trip on Hatteras Island was blistering hot. I have to admit, I cringed a bit when looking at the forecast. We had been hoping to leave the hot, heavy St. Louis air behind for a week, but arrived to much of the same weather. It was so hot that it burned the bottoms of our feet just running from the house to the water. Luckily, some storms rolled in and brought cooler, more typical beach weather. Plus, the rain didn’t last long and brought beautiful skies with it. We took a family walk before the rain one day.

Getting tired of seeing this dress yet? Every. Single. Day.

Oliver during the heat wave= miserable.

Jamie fed seagulls from our balcony one afternoon. One even ate right out of his hand! (Thanks Mary for taking these amazing pictures!)

And of course, the mandatory pictures of Milo jumping off stuff:

Our daily routine went something like this: Early rising (Emil was up by 5:30am every single day– that’s 4:30 St. Louis time!); breakfast on the balcony while watching the sunrise over the ocean; sunscreen time (I swear this took like half an hour every morning); beach; walk to the pier (the boys enjoyed pretending to play the arcade games); lunch; nap (for some); beach again; dinner; pier for ice cream; bedtime for little ones; beer and laughter for the mamas and papas (and one night Jamie and Andrew took Ben and Milo out night-beaching with sparklers!).

Obviously the pier was a major highlight of the trip. It was the only place we went other than the beach the whole week; a nice place to go for a change of scenery without having to wrangle the kids into a vehicle. It was amazing. The pier itself was weathered and zig-zaggy from all of the storms and hurricanes it had endured. Still sturdy, but crazy to think about!

View from the pier: kite-flying

Oliver asking, “Could I slip through there?” (the crack)

And of course, the main reason for the trip? The popsicles and delicious ice cream treats!

Greta wondering if there might be any extra for her…

… and giving up on it.

My gorgeous bestie.

One of the best parts of the trip was watching Milo, Ben, Oliver, and Greta getting reacquainted. Their friendships (especially between Milo and Ben) grow and become more complex (read: literal head-butting, but mostly sweet tender moments) each time they see each other. Ben and Milo are so similar, both intense and very active and creative. To see what kind of shenanigans they got into was more than hilarious.

Documentation of the only nap Oliver took the entire trip (including the 20 hours of car time!). He passed out on the chaise lounge on the last day of the trip. My friend Allison would call him a neversleeper:

Sleeping as only a true middle child would: hand clenched around his stash of toys so that no one else could play with them.

He looks so lovely and peaceful when he sleeps. Too bad he doesn’t do it more often.

And now, here we are home! We did the entire drive home in one shot, which included a 2-hour stint of basically stand-still traffic 6 hours into the trip during which Oliver half pooped his pants/half pooped on the side of the road. Oh, the misery. But man were we glad to be home once we collapsed at our door at 1:30am. Thanks, beach. Thanks, Mary and Jamie, Ben and Greta. We had a fantastic time and we love you!

***Next week we will get back on track, including an outfit post, a recipe, and a DIY fun activity for the littles. Thanks for sharing our trip!***

Outer Banks Trip, Part II: Greta

Posted on July 17, 2012 by lauren

Don’t let the adorable curls, squeezy cheeks, and chubby little toes fool you. This girl is a firecracker and she can hold her own with these boys! Mary’s little girl Greta was one of the highlights of our trip. I’m not around little girls all that much. So what a breath of fresh air to be reminded that girlhood is no tea party with pink princesses. Well, sometimes it is, but more often it is mermaids (who bite on occasion), singing at the top of your lungs and dancing down low, followed by sneak-bites of your ice cream cone.

Toes, the TOES!!!

And she is two. Barely. So much personality and sweetness packed into that feisty girl! I love her.

… and HER!

Greta, you can steal my dessert any day. Just promise to let me squeeze you a little more.

Outer Banks Trip, Part I

Posted on July 16, 2012 by lauren

We’re back from our trip, safe and sound, a little bit sad it is already over, but also exhausted and happy to be home. And, as promised, we took a gazillion pictures that I have had so much trouble whittling down because I love them all!

But I do have a story or two about the trip there. We decided early on that it made the most sense for us to drive the 18-20 hours it would take to travel to the Outer Banks. We rented a house right on the beach and had to bring all our own bedding, towels, and food, so flying was not really an option to begin with. Knowing it was a real gamble to drive this far with three little boys, we used a bit of strategy. Day One: Drive as far as possible and hope for naps, then have a short easy drive for Day Two. We made it 12 hours, no naps (except for Emil, of course) to a place about an hour west of Charlottesville. But on the way, as I was driving, I felt the transmission slipping and suddenly we were extremely nervous. When we got out to gas up, Andrew noticed transmission fluid covering the back window of our van and knew that something bad was about to happen. On top of that, we were blindsided by the fact that the entire area surrounding us had just recently been hit by massive power outages from recent storms. As a result, most people had decided that to escape the 100-degree heat, they would hole up in the neighboring hotels for the air conditioning. ALL the neighboring hotels.

Suddenly, we found ourselves in a Ruby Tuesday’s parking lot with a bum van frantically calling hotels looking for any available rooms. Luckily, Andrew found one an hour away in Charlottesville. A room with one bed. For 5 people. We booked it, then dragged our kids back into the van for the 13th hour of car prison. They were actually really well-behaved. When we arrived in the parking lot of the hotel, we went to grab a few bags out of the trunk and panic struck. It quickly dawned on me that my bag- the one with my underwear, toothbrush, bathing suit, all my clothing for the week- was not there. Nope. It was at home. Upstairs, outside of Emil’s room, waiting to be packed into the van.

Yes, things were going from bad to worse. I may have thrown a few things, but let the record show, I did not cry. After a horrible night’s sleep that involved Oliver lying horizontal in the bed with Andrew on the floor, Emil in a crib, and Milo and I teetering on the edge of the opposite side of the bed, we headed down to University of Virginia’s campus (which was beautiful) to get some breakfast:

Doesn’t this place look awesome?

… but it was closed (we are early risers).

So, after we scavenged up some food from the Starbucks down the street, I had to head out for some essentials. Seriously. I had nothing but the clothes on my back and at least needed a swimsuit and some clean underwear. Thank goodness for Old Navy (see that dress in the first picture? I wore it pretty much every day).

And after I grabbed a few things for the week, we headed the rest of the way to Hatteras Island, hoping that our van would make it the rest of the way so we could get it to a shop semi-nearby, and fixed in time for our return home. And we did make it! And the best part? Our friends were already there with their family waiting for us. What a wonderful end to a rough trip!

Oliver’s first view of the ocean

And though we arrived pretty late in the evening, there was no keeping those guys off the beach or out of the water. And for Oliver, it was all about the sensation of the sand:

As for the van, Andrew found a place to get it fixed right up. I found that I didn’t need all that much clothing anyway, and got over my swimsuit issues (after a little sulking about not getting to wear the awesome suit that I had found just days before the trip) and also got over the fact that the underwear I had to buy in a major rush would give me a perma-wedgie for 8 days straight. In the scheme of things, these are not real problems.

The view from our porch balcony

***Check back later today for another post and more pictures from our trip!***

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Tag Archives: Beach

The Last of the Vacation Photos

Outer Banks Trip, Part II: Greta

Outer Banks Trip, Part I