Beach Day!

Checkers?

Who needs checkers when you have Swedish Fish and Goldfish?

We're Here!

Today, after almost 8 hours in the car (~2 hours to travel the last 12 miles!), we arrived for our long awaited family vacation in North Carolina and were MORE than ready to see our family, and the vacation house we would all be spending the week at. We had been checking the house out online for months, and were hoping it wasn't too good to be true. We were NOT disappointed! We quickly saw that the house exceeded all of our expectations. The house was three levels with a Foosball table, multiple decks (with Adirondack chairs), a pool, outdoor hot tub, poolside tiki bar, and backyard full of things to keep the kids entertained - including a multiple hole miniature golf course, pirate ship and castle playground. We quickly got to work unloading all of our gear and food (17 people + 7 days = a LOT of food) and then set out for our first walk to the beach. We never change into bathing suits for this adventure, but half of us usually end up in the ocean anyway, in our clothes - it has become a family vacation tradition. We spent time on the beach, relaxing and enjoying the warm sea air, and the fact that we were all together. The first day of vacation, with the entire week stretching out ahead of us filled with fun and possibility, is always the best. Watch out Duck, NC - The Doody's are here!

It's a mystery...

As most other 3 year olds, Ryan asked the question "Why?" a lot. A LOT. He also is very inquisitive when he hears a word that he doesn't know the meaning of, and asks us right away what the word means. Last night Tim told Ryan that he was "a mystery." Ryan quickly asked what a mystery was and we tried to explain the word as best we could. Without missing a beat, he then said "It is a mystery how we will get to Emma's house on Saturday since we don't know where she lives!"

Sunday Funday!

Necessary ingredients for the perfect Sunday Funday:
- Plenty of Dreamsicle frozen drinks
- Wii just Dance
- Crabs outside on the water
- Fun and great friends to share the day with :)

Thanks to Mike D, the Cardwells, Amy, Bump and the Adkins for a great impromtu Sunday Funday!

Family Beach Day

At the end of our week in Massachusetts, we visited Aunt Sue, Uncle John, Taylor and Krista at the beach cottage they had rented for two weeks. Several other family members were there too so we were able to catch up with a lot of people at once. I think Ryan has a soft spot for cousin Sean though - he played with Ryan for a LONG time in the ocean, pushing around an inflatable tube. Thanks to Sean for entertaining my little guy! We also saw Uncle John and my Dad on the beach for the longest period of time in recent years - although John still wore his white socks on the beach - Classic! The weather was absolutely perfect, and we stayed on the beach for several hoours. And no trip to the beach is comnplete with a beach dinner on the way home, so we stopped at Markey's for some fried seafood. So unhealthy but SO yummy and well worth it :) Thanks Aunt Sue for inviting us to spend the day and for the hospitality - we had a great time!

Mini Golf and Skee Ball!