OBX--day 2

After not enough sleep, we woke up to Cole around 7:00 a.m. I turned on the TV to try and keep the kids occupied while George and I got a few more minutes of sleep, but it didn't work. We got up, got some breakfast from the lobby of the hotel and around 9:00 headed over to the house where the Scholz and Chens were staying.

The boys were quick to discover their friend from years past: Two Toes! He's a nice tabby cat that belongs to the house next door, but seems to spend most of his time hanging out on the front steps of the cousins' house.

Two Toes!

Later that morning, we drove back to the beach to enjoy several hours of sand and freezing water.

I really don't know how the kids stayed out in the water so long. I would go out for a few minutes but got cold pretty fast. These kids were out there for literally hours.

Trying to find a good place to keep his sword.

Uncle Po was awesome. Of all the adults, he was the one who stayed in the water the longest and played the most on the beach.

Still sword fighting.

This was a nice, relaxing time for George...

...he took full advantage of it. :)

Go Reagan!

Jen and Kerri

George kept telling Jude he was going to swim to the other side of the ocean which would make Jude really upset. Why was he upset? Because Daddy was going to fall off the waterfall that was on the other side!

The kids were obsessed with catching these little sand crabs, or sand fleas as my family calls them in Florida. They filled buckets with water and sand and collected dozens of them throughout the day.

Sand crab!

This little guy was REALLY tired! After fussing and rolling around in the sand for a while, he finally fell asleep in my arms for a 45 minute nap.

Uncle Eric was the official sand sculptor this trip.

Nice octopus!

The family next to us left before we did, leaving behind this awesome hole. As soon as the family walked away the kids were all over it like they had found the greatest treasure ever!

They dug a canal so as the tide came it, it filled the bottom of the hole with water.

Awesome.

It was a great day at the beach! Tired and hungry, we showered off at the showers in the parking lot and drove back to the house to have dinner: grilled filet minion!

Lance of course couldn't pass up the chance to hang out with his feline buddy.

Playing Plants vs. Zombies.

Another cat joined the fun, this one christened "Snowstorm" by the kids. Cole thought the cats were pretty neat.

Love it!

OBX--day 1

By some miracle, George got about six days off in a row! How that happened, I don't know, but we took full advantage of the time and met up with Jen and Eric at the Outer Banks!

Po and Kerri Chen were there with their three kiddos Alex, Reagan and Emerson, so it was an extra treat. We haven't seen them since 2009!

July 20th we loaded up at drove down to OBX. It was only supposed to take four hours, but with traffic it took about six. By the time we got there, we were ALL ready to stretch our legs. Luckily we had Harry Potter on CD to entertain us for much of the way.

We quickly checked into hotel and then met the family at beach for a couple hours. They had all come in the night before.

Cole was really excited to be at the beach again. I think he must have remembered being in Florida in May.

The older cousins settled took no time at all to reacquaint and start playing.

The water was freezing, but that didn't stop Lance from jumping right in. I had a hard time going up to me knees! These kids are crazy!

Loving it!

Look at all those cousins!

Brother and sister. :)

Bryce and Jude battling the waves with their trusty shovels. These boys play so well together.

We spent a couple hours at the beach and then ran back to the hotel to shower and change because...

It was time for dinner at Jimmy's Buffet--all you can eat crab!

It's a Glass tradition to eat here and Lance in particular was excited about this place. He remembered it from years past and begged to go to the "crab place".

First thing he did was march right over to the buffet and load up his plate with steamed crab legs. He even knew how to get the meat out. I don't think I learned that until George took me to Joe's Crab Shack in Ashburn when we were 17 and taught me himself. Good job, Lance!

Cole thought the legs were neat, but stuck with his macaroni and cheese.

Plate full of delicious!

Jude killed about half my plate of crab legs before he decided he had enough and opted for another sinful treat: ice cream!

Most of our group--Lance was loading up his plate again. :)

Crab hand!

After a not so quick trip to Walmart, it was back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep. Awesome start to an awesome vacation!

The creek and a haircut

We were bored. And cranky. It was time to get out of the house. 

So I took all three boys and Ellie (who was spending the day with us) to the "down park" in our complex--but not to play at the park. To play in the creek.

I usually try to keep the boys OUT of the water since it's a huge clean-up afterwards, but that day in July we needed something fun and water was just the ticket.

Cole wasn't too sure about playing the creek and decided climbing up the rocks was better.

Little Miss wasn't content staying in the stroller, so I got her down and she went to town crawling back and forth across the bridge.

She's such a sweet baby!

Cole abandoned the water for the park. His favorite thing? The slides!

Airplane!

Jude and Lance, however, stayed the entire time in the water.

It was great to get out and break out of routine, even if just for an hour or two before dinner. We were a very soggy, dirty crew marching back up the hill to our apartment, but it was worth it!

And Cole got his first hair cut! A couple days before heading to the Outer Banks in July, George broke out the clippers and gave Cole a much-needed trim. Not that he even has that much hair, it was just growing in such a crazy way we needed to landscape a bit so he looked less like an "old man unable to come to terms with his balding" and more like a little boy.

It started out well! Cole thought it tickled.

It wasn't long after this picture that it started to go a bit down-hill and he ended up crying. I don't have an official "after" shot, but he looks about the same, just without the random 6-inch long patches over his ears.

Stay tuned for some OBX fun!