Family Reunion

We spent last week in Nags Head, North Carolina in a beach house for a family reunion. What a great trip! I love the beach! There were 27 of us in all. On our way there we drove through Durham, NC and visited Duke University campus. Also, we went across the freeway to Chapel Hill, NC and visited the University of North Carolina campus. The boys really enjoyed walking around the two colleges.

Dustin and Kannon outside of the Duke Blue Devils Basketball Stadium.

The boys outside of the UNC Baseball Stadium.

The first night we were all there we had a "Luau" Birthday Party for Corey. Wow, he is twelve now!! He was very excited to celebrate his birthday at the beach with so much family.

He got snakes, a video game and Sonic cards. His favorite things!

Happy 12th Birthday Corey!

Monday we hit the beach . All of the cousins had a great time reconnecting with each other. We spent the week:

playing in the surf,

building sand castles...

and drip castles,

flying kites,

playing paddle ball,

hanging out with cousins,

and of course, digging holes!

Off the beach, we visited an early colonist museum, played miniature golf (thanks to Uncle Bill) , had a beach bon fire with s'mores, went crabbing (thanks to Kendall), and spent a lot of time in the beach house pool.

Our pirate gang - What a fun museum with lots of dress up stuff.

It wouldn't be a beach trip without a fun game of miniature golf.

The s'mores never tasted so good!

I remember "crabbing" as a kid so it was great to have a chance for my kids to do it. Corey and Papa caught the first crab. For those of you who have never crabbed before, you have to have a lot of patience. You tie a string around a chicken neck and then you throw it into the water. You then very slowing pull the string up when you feel a nibble. When you get the chicken neck close to the surface your partner uses a net to scoop up the nibbling crab. Many times you come up empty but then you try again. I think just about every kid caught a crab or at least got to help catch one. Fun times.

We also got to celebrate Sophie's 5th birthday and Summer's 1st birthday on Thursday night.

Happy 5th Birthday Sophie!

Sophie's birthday included a treasure hunt that led us to the beach to dig up a treasure , an adorable "Strawberry Shortcake" cake (thanks to Susanne), and some fun time dancing.

Happy 1st Birthday Summer!

Saturday morning came too soon. We all had a wonderful week with family. We are already talking about the next reunion. Thanks Nana and Papa for a great week!