High Jumps, Jellyfish and Jockey's Ridge

Pyramid? Amoeba?

It was the best we could manage. I see some impressive structures in our future though.

From left: Sophie, Lauren, Rachel, Grace, Madeleine, Ryan, Brendan, Ella, Zack, Mia, Alex, Matthew (missing: Sean)

#13 The Steak Dinner

I don't have any photos of Thursday night's dinner but Lawrence did a great job on the steaks and it was an all-around crowd pleaser. I wish I'd taken a picture of all of us seated for dinner. Nineteen people total--six adults and thirteen kids. We somehow managed it and ate together every night.

#12 Reading

I don't have any photos of this one either and wouldn't have picked it for the list. I love to read on get-aways with Chris when I can lose myself in a book but when I'm with the kids, especially around water, I am distracted. Our kids are getting to the point where they're a little safer but I still had to run to pull Ella out of the water once when she tripped trying to fill her bucket and started being pulled into the ocean. That scared both of us and she talked about not wanting to "go backwards" the rest of the vacation. She also kept a healthy distance from the water which was fine with me.

David was reading one of the books in the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series and a guy on the beach actually came over and commented on how great the book was and how he must be at the good part. David was just hoping he would go away before he spoiled it!

#11 Jumping Off the Lifeguard Stand

This one was kid-inspired. I walked down to the beach with them one night and they took advantage of the vacant stand and the big pile of sand to do some jumping. I'm sorry now that I didn't try it myself since a few of the kids must have chosen it for their top three of the week--pretty impressive.

#10 Collecting Sea Shells and Jelly Fish

Somehow, we made it home this year without the requisite pail of shells. I was a little sad because one of my mornings was spent collecting them with Sophie and Matthew. I said a lot of "oohs" and "ahhs" over their special treasures and had plans of using Sophie's haul in a couple of craft projects.

Much more than shells though, this year was all about collecting the clear jellyfish that lined the beach. I wasn't thrilled when I felt a few brush against me in the ocean but they didn't sting and kept the kids entertained. Thankfully, we also made it home without a pail full of slimy critters!

Ella in one of the pools Chris made for her.

She spent most of the vacation filling her pools with jellyfish....

....and piling them on Uncle Dave's head. I think he had about five on top at one point.

He was so in to his book, I don't think he even noticed!

And finally, here are Jes, Dave and the friendly sea monster we decided to bring home

# 9 Jockey's Ridge

At 6:00 Wednesday evening, we met four of my cousins and their families at Jockey's Ridge, a national park made up mostly of large sand dunes. The main purpose of the trip was to catch up. We hadn't seen each other since last year's meet-up at the beach and even though this year, we stayed at opposite ends of the Outer Banks, we made a point to get together. As it turned out, the outing was a favorite with the kids who ran, tumbled and rolled down the dunes. It was a perfect evening, beautiful and ended with a trip to Dairy Queen where our raucous group took over the whole porch--no pictures of that though.

Two of our god-daughters--Rachel (left) and Maggie (right) with Mia and Sophie

Tag

Maggie G with my cousin Jenny's oldest, Abby

Abby, Maggie and Jeffrey were all great with the little girls

That's Sophie and Ella climbing, Jeffrey to the left in the black shirt,

Maggie, Mia and Rachel

Perfect place for football

Matthew, QB to be for the UVA Cavaliers

This picture makes the dune look small. They were at the bottom and I took it from the top

Chris ran the hill with Ella a few times

Peek a Boo

View of the ocean from the top of the dune

Best Buds

Madeleine and Brendan

That's Sophie to the right in the pink skirt.

People were doing flips and cart wheels, rolling down the dune and even sliding down on boogie boards. Our group is at the top right and in the picture below, Sophie and Jeffrey are walking together at the bottom right. When Chris saw Jeffrey, he called him "Jefe" as he always has and reminded him that it means "boss" in Spanish. "Jefe" was quick to ask his mom to call him that as well.

The little brown spot in the bottom center is a fox. He came along as we were leaving and it was exciting to watch him. He was definitely scared and confused as he ran first in one direction then another. A man finally chased him toward a less populated area.

Coming up: more of OBX 2010