OBX Beach Week, Part 1!

It's hard to believe almost a month has passed since our trip to Nag's Head.  During the first week of August, we joined my folks, my Too-Dad & Mary Catherine, my Aunt Viv & Uncle Tom, and my cousins Niel & Sam with their families for an amazing week in the Outer Banks.  12 adults.  6 kids. In an incredible beachfront home with its own pool and plenty of room to spare for all 18 of us!  It was an awesome trip filled with beach time, pool time, tons of play time with the cousins, time at the dunes, in Duck, and then some...  So much that it'll take two posts to cover all the pictures!

But first, had to make our annual stop at Morris Farms for some of their delicious pie for our week and some yummy ice cream for a our pit stop!

 Too-daddy getting comfortable at Morris Farms with my folks shortly after our visit there!

 Happy to be out of the car and into the hammock!

 

 Then into the pool!

 View of the back of the house

 So proud of our girl for learning to swim on our trip!!!

 Fun with the boys :)

 Excited over the monogrammed tees Too-Daddy had for each of the kiddos!

 So sweet!

 Early morning frolic in the waves

 And fishing...

 And admiring. 

 Enjoying their view!

Beach time!!!

 Party time! 

 Loved being able to celebrate my mama on her birthday with a delicious shrimp dinner and two delicious cakes :)

 

Happy Birthday to you!!

Proud of their work completing the adorable photo puzzle!

More early morning beach enjoyment...

 Another tradition of breakfast at Stack  'Em High!

 Our little sand lover

 Helping Pop-Pop with the big photo puzzle!

Over 700 pieces!

 The kiddos with their daddies.

How blessed they all are!

 Our sunset view from the house.

Early morning kite flying!

 And watching Sam kite surf!

 Snacks always taste better at the beach...

Can't beat that view.

Stay tuned for many more pics of the rest of our trip!

Slideshow of first half of beach trip:

https://pix.sfly.com/aEwuOt

(New "slideshow" type as picassa has transitioned to a terrible new format...

Hope this works for you!)

Moments from the middle of the summer...

The month of July feels like it ended before it began...  With school going so late and our beach trip at the start of August, I feel like July came and went in a blink and before we know it, we'll have one girl in 1st grade and the other starting preschool!!!

Other than our fun trip to NC at the beginning of the month, there weren't any major adventures in July, but still lots and lots of fun times.  I've included a ton of pics and will keep the words brief!

 Setting up the neighbor's pool right outside our place-

the girls LOVED it!

 Oh, these two... such cuties!

 So excited to have Nana & Pop-Pop back from their long trip to France!

Date night celebration of another step completed in our adoption journey (with much more to go...) and a promotion for Steve!

 Girls breakfast date across the street while daddy was on a work trip- 

discovering a love of breakfast pizza!

 BGR dinner with Nana & Pop-Pop before daddy's return

Party games celebrating Xavi's birthday!

 Including the hilarious pie-in-the-face game that kept smacking Maelee in the forehead with whipped cream!

 She took it in giggling stride :)

 Happy Birthday, sweet neighbor!

 Big milestone for both of our ladies the 2nd week of July-

full day "fun" camp for Maelee and half day camp for Lilee at her new preschool!

Successful first day celebrated over frozen yogurt.

 Pizza, ice cream, & movie night at our place
with several friends from K!

 Zootopia dance party to end the evening

 Last day of camp- Lilee proudly sporting her camp shirt.

She LOVED being like her big sis for the week!

 Getting ready to show what she learned!

 The theme for the week was "Reduce, reuse, recycle" 

so she was up there crumpling paper for their song.

 Lilee's "paper" artwork!

 Breakfast with  Nana & Pop-Pop while Steve and I got to take a sweet overnight trip up to MA to celebrate my dear Sarah before her wedding!

 Maelee's impressive solar system picture that she worked hard on while we were away!

 So sad to have not been able to see her say "I do" but SO happy to get to be there for her joint bacelorette/bachelor party!

 Beautiful evening at an awesome location with one of my dearest friends and my hubby at my side.  Couldn't ask for a better date night!

 Savoring every moment with this friend with breakfast the next morning before driving back home.

And the long drive up and down provided for lots of great conversation for Steve and me!

Grateful for every aspect of that trip.

Special "brupper" dinner of pancakes 

with whipped cream & chocolate syrup!

Fun at a water mister at Home Depot...

It's the little things.

Another highlight of the month was seeing another one of my dearest!

My sweet Cindy and her fun kiddos :)

Taking in some fun in Shirlington!

Double date with my awesome folks to see the Nats!

It was unbearably hot but we were able to move up 

under the shade eventually. 

We didn't win but had a great time!

We were so grateful for our friend, Lisa, for hanging out with our girls the entire day!!!

Yeah, they had fun :)

More water fun with ice cream and neighbors!

Hanging out with some firemen outside the Silver Diner!

Hanging out with Nana at the nearby playground!

Pool time lounging :)

Enjoying the VBS down the street from us!

Out for breakfast pizza with daddy this time!

Oh, how I love those smiles!

And that's a wrap for July!  We got back from our OBX trip last Sunday and what an amazing time we had.  Loads of pictures to come!

Slideshow from July: