The Summer Adventure Begins

This summer has brought a lot of changes, a lot of adventures and a lot of memories. As soon as Derek's school ended in May, we flew back East for the summer. We planned on spending a few weeks at my parent's house before Derek's internship started up in NYC.

OBX 2011

But the first adventure was going to the OBX (Outer Banks, NC) with my family. I grew up going to the OBX and it had been a few years since we last went. It really is the perfect vacation spot. You can rent really large houses so that everyone can stay comfortably together, have a pool and be right across of the beach. The beach we go to is not very crowded, the water is warm and it is just heavenly. We lucked out with good weather and no big problems or injuries (pretty good for a house of wild dads and crazy kids). We had fun swimming, playing at the beach, visiting the lighthouse, exploring neighborhoods, running, surfing, playing tennis, playing games go-carting and eating.

Car Ride :)

On the drive up, we wanted to stop off at the Grave Digger monster truck site...purely southern hick, right? Well, to our surprise, they were having a monster truck remote control car race too. Jack (and Derek) thought it was really cool.

We also tried a new dinner tactic. A few of the nights we waited to have our adult dinner until after the kids were asleep so we could eat outside and actually hold a conversation. We each took turns cooking dinner, so we had so new and yummy meals! I so looked forward to this time :)

One day I took the older kids to talk the Currituck Lighthouse (poor Lando was sick). They did great walking up all those winding stairs, and the view was beautiful!

One night we got the kids all excited for ice-cream and they started an 'ice-cream' chant to get pumped up.

Afterwards we decided there was nothing wrong with a little friendly Bills competition, so we raced go-karts with the older kids. P.S. I just love Tyson's face in it, but I love our cheering section more :)

Our attempt at a family photo...we opted for no grown-ups in hopes of getting the grandkids more focused....

And Dallin's attempt to be 'Uncle of the Year'

We also took the kids crabbing one evening. It was so fun and picturesque. The boys were all very patient (kids and Dads) and were so excited when they each caught one!

Of course we had plenty of pool and beach time! (more pictures to come)

Who wouldn't want to snuggle these adorable little monkeys? I am the luckiest Mom and Aunt!

I just love spending time with my family and love that my kids love it just as much or more.