Beach Week

W spent the last week of summer in the Outer Banks with friends.  It was nice.  I was worried that it would be too much with a six week old, but it was very manageable (mostly because Drew got up with the other kids and let me sleep/nurse in bed with Emma).  

This year's pros: sparklers, tie-dying t-shirts, Lainey finally dared to play in the surf, cots for the little girls (they fit in the walk-in closet!), almost no sunburns, searching for sand crabs at night with the whole family, Duck Donuts (somehow I didn't come to love them until just this trip), and a sleepover for Liz at her friend's beach house.

This year's cons: Drew had to work at least part of every day except Friday, Lizzie burned her back, we had a red flag/no swim day, and a weird surf situation.  One day there was too much of an under tow for the kids to body board, the next day there were almost no waves.  Also the drive home was tricky. I dropped Drew, Liz, and Lainey off in Richmond were they rented a car to drive to the BYU game.  Ellie wanted to go with them and she cried about it for the rest of the drive.  The rest of Drew's drive was no picnic either.  He was delayed by traffic and arrived at the game an hour after it started and just in time to see the crowds exit the stadium (due to lightening).

 

 I spent almost all of my beach time sitting under one of these awnings nursing/holding the baby.  It was nice.  I visited with the moms and reading Angela's Ashes. 

 The girls had a lot of nice daddy time.  Lainey especially enjoyed building sand castles with him and sitting on the beach while the surf washed over their legs.  Liz and Drew liked body boarding together.  Ellie (and Lainey) liked playing in the pool with Drew, and Emma had lots of snuggle time.

We had a lot of kids in our house--19 including little Emma--but it wasn't too bad because we could send them all to the theater room and contain their noise (and movement).

In the following shots Liz looks like she just finished crying because she just finished crying.  She was disappointed by how we tie dyed her shirt for her while she was at a sleepover (in my defense most of the dye was gone before we got to it and also, who really cares?)

I also tie dyed a onesie for Emmaline.