NC & 4th of July 2012

I am so behind blogging, so here are the photos from our fabulous trip to North Carolina and Kure Beach!! I am so mad because I didn't take very many pictures :( With all the moving hubbub (we got the job offer the night before we flew out, then flew from NC to NJ to house hunt) and working with the realtor to set up our visit to NJ the following week, we missed out on all the 'relaxation' part of the vacation. Plus, with a baby on my hip and sunscreen all over my hands, it was a challenge!

We got to be a part of our precious niece Amelia's baptism!

 After the baptism on Sunday we went over to our brother-in-law Peter's parents home for a lovely brunch. They made the most yummy breakfast casserole that I am dying to make here at home with bacon, eggs and cheese. Later that day we packed up the ginormous van that we rented to hold all of us... a total of six adults and five little people, plus luggage, strollers and other beach gear. Jarrett joked that we probably looked like a cult or something crazy like that piling in and out of that van...LOL. Thank goodness Carol (my mother-in-law) has a special license to drive one! It thundered, rained and lightening the entire four hour drive to Kure Beach, NC.

The view from our beach house deck... pretty sweet right?

 Now, the beach house we rented did have a great location and deck, but the inside was not great. It was pretty old, but it had four bedrooms and two baths which came in pretty handy with our crowd. It was able to accommodate five kids and it's share of sand, sunscreen, spilled red wine, drool and other gross stuff. Maybe it was ok that it wasn't that nice...lol. Here are a few (very few...sorry!) pics of our fun from that week:

After the kids went to bed, we got to enjoy Margaritas... courtesy of our in-house bartender, Uncle Peter!!

There were some catnaps...

It was Grandma heaven for Nonna, who got to have all her grand babies under one roof for a week. I think we wore her out!

Saluting on the fourth (not sure why, but it was unprompted...lol)

Happy Fourth of July!!

Madison Grace's 1st Fourth of July
5 months old

 Since the beach was literally in our backyard, we got to enjoy hours in the sand and surf. The Atlantic ocean is much warmer than the Pacific, and Jarrett and his sisters took a swim while me and Nonna chaperoned the kiddos. It was SO hot and SO humid... it was the week of the record breaking temperatures across the US. So glad we had air conditioning in our beach pad.

Maddie and Nonna watching the waves

Auntie Sarah and our sweet niece Amelia taking a snooze

Beach babes...LOL

Ameila's 1st Fourth of July
6 months

The "Big" kids... Nate (3yrs), Lindsay (2.5 yrs) and Katarina (2.5 yrs)

 The cousins had so much fun playing together...Lulu is still talking about her cousins and wanting them to come over and play. They got along pretty well, and only had a couple meltdowns, usually around bedtime or nap time :) We went on a few excursion, checking out nearby Wilmington, where we were thrilled to see where they taped Dawson's Creek (yep we are that nerdy), and Nonna took the kiddos to the aquarium. There was also a before bed walk into town for ice cream cones, and watching fireworks from our deck over the pier. We all took turns cooking one night and not surprisingly chose to eat Mexican food, including famous Reid Tacos. It was a fun-filled week filled with great conversations, games (J won Yahtzee), good eating and a pirate landlord. Cmon, let's make this an annual event. Love u guys!

Sweet Cousins

Eating smores on the 4th..So very American :)

Happy Birthday America!!