The week of Aug. 14 - Aug. 21 we went on our annual beach vacation with our dear friends, the Stepp's. We have been going to the beach with the Stepp's for the last 9 years. We went to Holden Beach this year and stayed in a wonderful house. It was a wonderful week full of boogie boarding, playing in the sand, catching clams and crabs, surf fishing, runs on the beach (including Regan), daddy/daughter dates during lunch, lots of reading, napping, water slides, learning about sea turtles, riding scooters in the carport, board games, Wii, and lots of eating and lots of ice cream. The kids played so well together and entertained each other so nicely that the adults had a lot of free time to relax, read and sleep. I was able to finish two books which is rare for me to do in one week. Tony and I were able to go on a date night too (thanks Dave and Lori!) We went to an Italian Restaurant and had some good wings, took a LONG stroll on the beach (I wanted to get to the end of the island but it was much farther then we thought), and then went and got some ice cream. It was a GREAT week and it was sad to say goodbye.
Riley jumping the waves...
Regan had a great time with her dear friend, Hannah.
Our family
Riley having fun in the water.
Regan was being a great big sister helping Reece in the waves.
The girls being silly...
Riley doing gymnastics on the beach.
The kids had fun digging a pool in the sand that they could play in.
We spent one morning at Magic Mountain Water slides in Holden Beach. Riley and Reece loved it but Regan was not a fan. Regan was too tall (did I just say too tall??) to ride the smaller rides and the larger ones intimidated her. So, the lifeguard let her try the smaller one first even though she was not supposed to. Well, the smaller one is actually pretty fast and she only did it about 3 times before she was done. We kept telling her the larger ones were actually slower (at least one of them was) but she did not want to try them. She is very much like I was at her age. Riley and Reece on the other hand loved it and wanted to go on the bigger ones but were not tall enough. So, in order to make the smaller one more fun, Riley and Reece were trying all kinds of stunts - going down head first, going on your belly, flipping over halfway down and going without a mat. Hopefully, next year Riley will be tall enough to do the big slides and Regan will hopefully try them next year.
As you can see Reece was having a blast!
Tony captured some beautiful sunset pictures.
Riley taking a rest from boogie boarding.
Regan and Riley having fun boogie boarding together.
Riley riding in a wave
Tony tries out surf fishing
Regan and her friend, Hannah, playing in the waves together.
Riley and Daddy playing in the waves together.
The Stepp's
This was the family room in our beach house.
Tony brought his Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip books and the kids LOVED them. All the kids were reading them all week long. Regan's favorite comic was the one where Calvin locked the babysitter out of the house. We better warn whoever keeps our kids from now on.
Our view from the back porch.
The kitchen
Playing games in the extra room upstairs.
