Around Here Week: Vacation!

 A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family just this moment...on vacation! 

selfie cred: B

photo cred: Kev

photo cred: Kevin

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 386+ hours (of 1000)
thank you NC for the beautiful outdoor time. We are all tanned up and no one got majorly burned, so I'm counting it as a major win! We will be washing sand out of our hair probably for the next several weeks, but that's a small price to pay for the ocean! 

Reading Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (but very little of it) too many kiddos to play with and pay attention too! 

Listening to the ocean! Also our Surf City Spotify playlist curated mostly by Gemma.

Where we stayed: Surf City, NC (on Topsail Island) at a VRBO house on Oceanaire drive (a block walk to public access to the beach). Such a great vacation spot - beaches were not overly crowded and it had great waves (& not scary big for all our little kids). The seashells were plentiful, there were sea turtle nests to learn about (a great, patient, and knowledgeable conservation group stationed in Surf City!). There was a beautiful pier and little shops to visit if that's your thing too! We had lots of little encounters with animals; tree frogs at our house, kids saw a lizard on the walkway over the dunes, we saw a pair of dolphins twice, and lots of crab sightings. 

Nine hour drive from PA to NC at 9:45p on Thursday night. It was brutal. All the points and crowns and prizes go to Brandon who muscled through the whole drive. I asked him about 300 times if he wanted me to drive, and then before he could say, "no, I'm good" I was already bobbing my head in sleep off the dashboard (LOL). God bless daddas, honestly. He got a much deserved nap on the beach that morning! 

First day with a morning swim and dig at the bay. Our first day there, we couldn't get into our VRBO house until later in the afternoon, but after driving through the night we were all anxious to get out into the sand and move our bodies (except for B who really needed a sleep!). We drove all the way down to the end of Topsail Beach to hang out at Serenity Point for the afternoon on the bay side (fyi: pay-to-park). We loaded up the wagons and set up a little base camp. The water was smooth and when boats passed by it gave enough waves to make the kids laugh. It was the perfect little introduction into vacation while we warmed up to the sun and waded in the water. 

So thankful for Uch & Kevin's tent system: The Neso It was so easy to set up and take down (after we figured out the perfect folding/wrapping style). It had great shade coverage no matter if it was windy or not. Five star review from us! (we are considering purchasing the sideline version because we literally go through a pop up tent per year?!) 

Texting with the dentist to make sure Olive's lip was okay. It was still swollen at the beach (after she sucked and chewed on it while it was numb from her cavity fill the day before) and I started to get worried that it would become infected and we would be all the way south in an unfamiliar town, ugh - mom worry is so easy to start to spiral. Thankfully after some texting and photo sharing, the dentist said she was pretty sure that the saltwater would do wonders and clear up that little bite in her lip in a day or two. (it did!) Thank you to our awesome dentist office for easing my anxiety! 

DIY henna for vacation. I did henna for many of us on the porch of the house on the first evening and most of us opted for hand henna (like usual). Reddy got a skeleton look on one hand and even though the little kids smudged their designs a million times before it dried (hah), it was fun to keep our summertime tradition. (we just order mini henna bottles from Amazon and then I free hand the designs using the internet for inspo). 

Very happy kiddos in the waves in the Atlantic. The first evening after we got settled into our house, we all walked up a block to the beach on the Atlantic side and the kids were so thrilled to see 'real waves.' Everyone was soaked and we had to practically drag them out of the water at dark because they were having so much fun. Rusty only wanted to stay right at the break of the waves so he literally got the crap beat out of him the whole week (scrapes and bruises all over his face and body!?) But he loved it even though he was taking a beating - that kid! Violet and Gemma loved boogie boarding and had plenty of instruction and tips from the actual pro in the house: Uch! Every single time Uch tried, she caught the wave the whole way to the beach! Reddy liked the waves but was adamant about wearing his life vest (my cautious baby) and Olive loved going out past the break and floating on the boogie board. Grey liked nothing particular the most, he just wanted to do a mix of all the things; boogie board, dig in the sand, try to muscle through the wave breaking, and fishing. 

Letting the kids' needs lead the flow of the day. When they were all up and ready to go to the beach, we went. (some days that was 8a and some days that was 10a). When we were all hungry and ready for a rest, we went back to the house for lunch (some days that was 1p, some days that was 3p). If the kids wanted to stay home and play and nap for the rest of the evening, we did that - if they wanted to get in some more time in the waves and sand in the evening - we did that. If the boys wanted to fish, they did that. If some of the group wanted evening beach time, someone else was happy to hang back with the rest. If the littles wanted to warm tub (haha, we set the hot tub to 80 degrees!), one grown up monitored that. We watched Outdoor Boys on Youtube and KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix. We sat on the back porch or built giant towers of blocks in the living room. Everyone just chipped in when chipping in was needed and everyone just went with the flow. It felt so stress-free to not feel like we had to be anywhere at any time or have to be anywhere for any amount of time. We just moved through the day at the energy levels of the kids - big kids and little kids all got their fill of what they needed, we all got so many naps, people slept in or went to bed early. It was just summer beach life and living was so easy. 

Inland Fishing trip for Grey and Uncle Drip. Kevin planned the whole thing and made sure Grey had all the stuff he needed to go. They left early in the morning and Grey loved it. They each caught some and made it back to hang at the beach with us early afternoon that day. How grateful we are to have Uncle Drip who loves all the same things as Booboo and gives him opportunities to learn from another good and decent man. Kev was also patient and generous with teaching Rusty and Violet how to tie some flies, which Violet is now obsessed with as a new version of art! (we love you Uncle Drip!)

Movie night! The whole crew, cozied up in the living room and watched Happy Gilmore 2 one night. We are a big Adam Sandler fan in our house (the kids absolutely love The Grown Up movies, we also like Happy Gilmore, Hotel Transylvania, and Hubie Halloween...don't get me started on my love for his rom coms like 50 First Dates and The Wedding Singer!) We liked Happy Gilmore 2 and laughed a lot. It was nice to just rest with everyone smooshed into the living room together; half of us softly snoring and half of us laughing at the movie.

Family photos on the beach! We got 'dressed up' in the nicest clothes that we packed (hah), and made sure to get some full family and individual pictures of everyone on the beach (so easy to forget to do this!) The kids were all troopers about it and I got some good pics of everyone. A fellow beach walker stopped to take our full group shot (thank you to him and all the people out there willing to take the stranger group photos! hah!)

Learning about sea turtles from the sweetest volunteer from the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. There were turtle nests on the beach (roped off) and one of them was in the process of hatching while we were in town. We stopped by and had all of our 300 questions answered so patiently and kindly from the volunteers. We didn't get to see any baby turtles make the trek to the ocean that night, but we got to see the little tracks from the 15 that made the journey the night before! Each morning, the volunteers walk the beach to look for tracks from mommas to new nests, or tracks of babies from the nests. Then they set up for the night and listen with sonar to figure out if there is any action. Beachgoers set up along the runaway to watch the babies make the journey to the sea!

Visiting the Surf City Pier and Soundside Park on our last night in town. From the pier we saw some sting rays, nurse sharks, and "Sharkbait" (a guy who swims way out parallel to the pier daily who the local rescue team calls Sharkbait because like, why you trying to be out there by the hammerheads and sand tigers, my dude?) From the pier, we walked to Celtic Creamery for ice cream then to Soundside Park to watch the sunset and play on the playground. Grey threw a line in just to see if he could catch anything and we all went into King's for trinkets (or Trin-KATS as we call them because why are beach souvenir shops wild and have the most hilarous souvenirs!?) All the kids got to choose one thing less than $10: Olive picked a mermaid in a tiny suitcase thing (classic Liv), Reddy chose a shark tooth necklace, Rust picked a pirate's sword, and the three oldest picked Topsail Beach shirts. 

Nine hour drive from NC to PA and it was brutal again but not because it was late at night but during the day and kids were awake most of the drive. Kev & Uch drove and stopped along the route for food and pit stops as needed for their crew and we chose to drive five and a half hours before stopping in Warrenton, VA to eat dinner at Foster's Grille.  Then because I didn't want to immediately get back in the car, I forced my family (against their will, hhaah) to stop in Rady Park while we were in town so we could stretch and walk and play on the playground. As we pull into the parking lot - who do we see.... but Kev, Tash, and the boys! Totally unplanned and we were all cracking up that the sisters/ moms had the same idea in exactly the same spot on the route back and somehow at the same time even though we were on our own driving timelines. Like, how? We added another hour to the day playing and running together at the park - but it was worth it to move and be together before hitting the long road again. Rady Park has an accessible playground, walking trails, and beautiful flower gardens. If you ever find yourself in Warrenton, VA - it's worth the visit! 

Thankful for Miss Baylee who checked on our home and took care of our animals all week. She sent us updates and photos to let us know all was well and it was such a weight off our chest to know that everyone was cared for back home! We love you Miss Baylee!!

Proud and grateful for the big kids who just went with the flow and found enjoyment in doing whatever we were all doing. They didn't fuss and whine about wanting to go places or doing big kid only things. They were happy to nap (yay sleepy teenagers!) and play with the little kids, and just hang out. They found joy in watching the little kids experience the beach and then found ways to play and be kids too (nerf football, spike ball, boogie boarding, reading, music on the deck, looking for and pointing out cute teenagers (hah), catching sand fleas, finding shells, holding babies) and because of that we spent the whole week together; not fragmented into separate groups of big kids vs small kids. I don't know how many more vacations it will be like that and I am so very grateful to have this one just like that - thank you Grey and Gem for being so chill and so helpful. i love you forever and ever.

Vacation was wonderful and it was also exhausting because when you have little kids everything is wonderful and also exhausting. But vacation adds another layer of exhaustion with the sand in all the kids' creases and the out of normal schedule, and the not having all the regular appliances / snacks, and it's just like normal every day parenting but actually a little harder. So being on vacation with my sister who I could look at and say "I'm so happy but this sucks" when we were carrying two full wagons with all the stuff it takes to bring a family to the beach and she just smiled because she gets it, was the biggest blessing of the whole trip. The fellas would pat the couch and let us rest after each of the moms had just wrestled a toddler into the shower to hose them down while they screamed and cowered in fear of the showerhead (LOL). We all did dishes, we all switched whatever laundry was in the washer/dryer and we all four were like "this is awesome but also I'm dead tired." Just the grace and permission to exist in the beautiful chaos that is parenthood was honestly the best part of the week.

Reminding my kids that we are happy for the people we love when they have joy. At one point during the vacation, one of the kids said something like, "I bet we had more fun than ### (a friend) who is on vacation in ### (a more fancy / expensive place)" and I said, "Hey! we love our friends - and I hope they are having JUST as much fun as us! When the people we love have something good, we don't feel jealous or angry. How lucky we are to know that the people we love are healthy and happy and safe. That's all we ever want for the people we love!" Parenting and raising goodhearted kids doesn't take a break just because you're on vacation - hah! 

Making most meals at the beach house! We had meatball sub sammies, church picnic chicken with rice and green beans, chicken quesadillas, buffalo chicken dip, burgers and hot dogs with mac&cheese, and chicken and shrimp fajitas. We did order in pizza from Max's Pizza and tried the Topsail Steamer buckets (such a great business idea - they were on Shark Tank too!) and visited Shaka Taco in Hampstead on our first day to burn some time and grab some delicious lunch before our beach house was ready for us.  On our last night, we got ice cream for dinner from Celtic Creamery! B and I had a little day date at Lowtide Steakhouse, and we had breakfast our first day at Daybreak Donuts and Sunrise Bagels. Gemma "needed" a Dunkin run (moms of teen daughters, IYKYK) , so she and I went out first thing and got our iced coffees and brought home donuts for the house too. For desserts I made two batches of chocolate/pumpkin cookies and a double batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. We had enough leftovers and deli sammies to get us through most lunches and Walmart Delivery came in absolute clutch - very grateful for that option!