Oak Island 2012, Week 2

For our third week of vacation and our second week in Oak Island, my sister, Heather joined us with my three nephews Luke, Will, and John. Crazy, chaotic, fun, and busy would only begin to describe it. With five kids under the age of five, there was definitely tears, fights, tantrums, screaming, and problems with sharing. But there was also many laughs, tons of memories formed, oodles of bonding time between the cousins, loads of exciting energy that only kids can provide and unforgettable sweet, sweet moments. Of course, there was some kinks in trying to meld the two sets of parenting rules but I can say that all those problems got resolved in the first day. The week was a blast and Heather and I kept commenting on how great it was going on multiple occasions. (I think we were both a little stunned by how well it was actually going). 

This week Mae was lucky enough to go putt putt golfing for the first time ever. Thanks Aunt Heather for your willingness to take all three older kids. We also had lots of scooting on the driveway, many water balloons thrown, baths taken together, countless ice creams cones consumed, movies watched, lots of sunscreen applied, many, many hours spent in water, and dance parties. 

Fun moments with Grandma. 

Cousins bonding over technology. 

We skyped with Pearson on one of the days and all the kids got an absolute joy out of talking to him through the computer. 

The little kids looking on to the big kids and wondering what all the fuss is about it. 

It was then there turn. Whitaker is beyond excited to see his Dad. 

Playing under the bathroom sinks was a favorite past time and was a perfect hiding place.

Enjoying a movie in the big bed. 

PJ Twins! 

Heading to the beach. 

Joining the pool for the two weeks was invaluable. The pool started at 2 feet so Will and Mae were totally comfortable swimming. Mae really took to the water and was going under all on her own by the time we left. 

Scooting was a favorite past time for the big kids. Whitaker always trying to keep up thought he could also do it. 

Will sporting shades all on his own. 

Heather making sure Whitaker doesn't drown himself. Something he tried to do on numerous occasions. 

Baby John content to just sit on the beach and play with sticks. 

Wondering what these two were talking about. 

Time on the driveway with Grandma. 

Oak Island 2012, Week One

On our second week of vacation, my mom and I headed to Oak Island with the kids. I could barely contain my excitement to get to my parents completed beach house and see all the improvements they had made. It definitely didn't disappoint. My parents did a great job with all the renovations, except maybe picking cream couches. With five kids under the age of five it is hard to keep all those dirty hands clean and making sure they don't touch the sofa. Also, constantly reminding the kids to take off their shoe. The whole house has lots of light and feels like a real retreat. 

I enjoyed getting to spend the time with just my mom and kids and despite the weather not being great everyday we were able to hit the beach a few times and also had a famous celebrity sighting (more about that below). I also took the kids to the North Carolina Aquarium and we hit up Planet Fun (unfortunately no pictures from either of these trips). You might wonder what Planet Fun is. Well, it was fun and didn't disappoint in my kids book. Planet Fun is an indoor arcade with bowling, a bouncy house, laser tag, and indoor putt putt course. My kids were like pin balls in that place. They had never seen so many flashing light. They were both more than excited to just sit on the games without having to put any money in the machines - I don't know how long I am going to be able to dupe them into thinking they were actually playing it. The only thing that was a challenge this first week was trying to make sure my kids didn't destroy the new house and the things in it. With limited toys, my kids thought everything was interesting. Along with all the kid time, I was able to sneak in a bunch of runs, including a 12 miler, which had to be one of the most painful runs that I have logged. 

As for the celebrity sighting we sat next to (or should I say they sat next to us) Fergie and Josh Duhamel on the beach for a few hours. Celebrity sightings don't really get me going but it definitely made for an interesting beach afternoon. And made me question deciding to sport a bikini to the beach that day. While we were in NC, Josh Duhamel was finishing up filming a movie in Southport and as I understand Fergie joined him for the weekend. I was already on the beach with the kids by myself and let's just say Mae was being a real pill (a total nightmare of a child). I was about ready to call it day only 10 minutes into hitting the beach due to the  incessant whining and crying.  I hesitated to leave because Whitaker was having the time of his life that afternoon, my Mom was on her way to join us, and we had NOTHING else to do. 

As I was trying to manage Mae's 1001 tantrum, I see a dog out of the corner of my eye. I think to myself, "Oh God, Whitaker is going to trying to manhandle that thing." Then I look up and there is Fergie. My kids played with their little dog for quite awhile. The celebrities sat under a tent to themselves. I respect all celebrities right to privacy and was by no means going to go near them or talk to them or god forbid ask for a photo. I, of course, gave a few stares. After some time at the beach, I see Fergie get up to walk over to me! I was a little shocked but again not star crazed. That is not to say, I wasn't a little excited, I did love her flash mob on Oprah and enjoy dancing to "I Got a Feeling." In a nutshell (if I can totally remember what she said), she told me that Mae singing and dancing on the beach and talking to her dog was reminiscent of her as a child. She tried to talk to Mae and my diva child in training had no desire to chat it up. Whitaker was very interested in her cowboy hat and touched it. All in all, quite a memorable afternoon at the beach. 

But you know what was the icing of this whole week? Finding someone that could babysit my kids and figuring out how I could join the pool at the country club! Aww, the simple joys when you have kids. Here are a bunch of photos from the week with my mom. Funny thing is I brought my camera to the beach the afternoon of the celebrity sighting but I didn't bring it out because Whitaker was trying to kill himself in the waves for two hours straight. 

Grandma K reading time. 

The kids playing together nicely. 

Mae making a "pie," which of course she wanted me to taste. I didn't but I am pretty sure Whitaker did. 

My mom enjoying some rays. 

My kids playing nicely apart. 

Playing with the flamingos in the front yard. 

Whitaker really enjoying the birds. 

Not so happy after stepping on something in the front yard. 

We Made It & First Week

I haven't post for almost a whole month. Part of this was intentional. I thought it would be good to totally unplug from everything and focus on my kids and family, who I feel I don't get to see nearly enough. Also part of it was because I didn't have a whole lot of time to post, I spent the better part of 4 weeks with my family and focusing on them (as said above). As I might have mentioned, we [the kids and I] decided to spend the whole month of August on the East Coast. Reason being, my parents took an Alaska cruise and flew back through Seattle. Since they were flying back to DC I decided to join them for a week there and then travel to North Carolina for three weeks to hang out at my parents new beach house. (Pearson met us for the last week in NC).

I am going to break up the vacation into a few posts since I took about 300 pictures and since I have so many wonderful memories to share from our trip. 

First and most importantly is we made it. I have tried to block the plane trip from Seattle to DC from my mind. My parents got a first hand experience of what it was like to travel with small children on an airplane. Since they never flew with us as kids, I think they now know why they never did it. In one word it was HELL. My parents are saints among men (and women) for agreeing to do it and help to deal with my kids the whole way and the stares of fellow strangers. Mae was pretty much a breeze, Whitaker on the other hand was a menace who didn't want to sleep or sit still and screamed for a better part of the flights. Here is the one photo of my dad getting him to fall asleep. My poor dad though wasn't able to move an inch for a better part of an hour in fear that he would wake the beast.  

After our flight, which we banished from our mind, we spent the week enjoying the hot weather, my childhood pool, seeing old friends, and taking advantage of my parents yard. I also was able to sneak in a night of adult fun with Julie and her friends and attend a Nationals game and a night out in DC. And I spent a good deal of time spraying painting furniture for my parent's beach house. The week went by very fast and we were all pretty anxious to head down to the beach. 

Luke banishing the momarazzi. 

Baby John apres swim. 

Whitaker enjoying looking out the window. 

I had to change my kids about three times a day because they were always getting wet. 

Grandpa being the water park.