Showing posts with label vacations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacations. Show all posts

Monday, October 8, 2012

Best Vacation Ever!

August 2-13, 2012

What do you get when you have sixteen kids and twelve adults living in one house for nearly two weeks? No, not a new reality show, but a trip of a lifetime; and what Austin would describe as, "The best vacation ever!"☺

 We were the last family to leave for the east coast, so we were quite anxious to get there.

 Most of Bethany's time on the plane (on the way there and back) was spent doing this.


Big brother and Daddy busied themselves like this.

Once we arrived at Dulles International, we joined our friends in Virginia where the party had already begun. After a day of rest, catching up, and a mommies' night out, all twenty eight of us piled into four separate cars and made an early 4am departure to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Our caravan of cars made a few stops here and there, but considering how many little ones we had, the six plus hour drive wasn't bad at all. But then again, I can only speak for myself since it was just the four of us in our car.


Still, you can imagine our relief when we finally reached our destination.

Our home away from home.

Aside from a few touristy things, we pretty much stayed put the entire time. There really was no reason to venture out too often since we had a fully stocked kitchen, a swimming pool, and basically, the beach as our backyard. Needless to say, the kids were never at a loss for things to do. The moms and dads weren't complaining either since the dads squeezed in four rounds of golf, and the moms had some time to go out on our own.

This is basically what the kids did ALL DAY LONG. They had so much fun together, and it was beautiful to see how well they got along for the entire trip.
 






 


We ate well, played hard, and had an amazing time together. It was hard to say good bye, but by the time we left, plans for our next big trip were already in motion. :)

I love these people!





Monday, October 10, 2011

LegoLand Part 2 - Then and Now

Austin's very first trip to Legoland was back in 2006. I was looking through some old pictures and found some cute then and now pictures.

Then

Now

Then

Now

Then

Now

Now it's time to make some new Legoland memories with this little one. :)

LegoLand - Part 1

Instead of celebrating our 10th anniversary with a couple's getaway as we had planned, we opted to take the kiddos to Legoland instead. Summer was quickly coming to an end, and I really wanted to do something special with the family before Austin started school again. We used to be Legoland regulars, but hadn't been there for a few years, so I thought we better go before Austin outgrew it, and before we had to start paying admission for Bethany.

We stayed overnight at a hotel and spent two days at Legoland. As an added bonus, my dear friend from junior high, along with her son who has been buddies with Austin since they were itty bitty babies, were able to join us for a day.

 


 









Of course we couldn't leave the hotel without Sam taking a gazillion pictures of us.







Sunday, July 24, 2011

Family Camping

After the 4th of July, we packed our bags and headed for Carpenteria State Beach for the second year in a row.  

Not only did we stay an extra day, but we actually had another family join us, and had special visitors who swung by for the day. Our goal is to have one more family come with us next year. You know who you are!

For a mere family of four, we sure had A LOT of stuff. Thank goodness we had the mini-van this time!

The kids were in play date heaven, spending all of their waking hours together.



There were also afternoon naps in the stroller,

fishing,

and smiles all around.







Each family took turns preparing food, and every meal was delicious. We had breakfasts complete with pancakes, hash browns, bacon, and sausage. There were tacos, fajitas, sloppy joes, banana splits, smores, birthday cake, and even some good ol' Korean food. 

Our most memorable meal by far was made by the kids. They all pitched in and did a great job. We parents are hoping they will take over all meals in the near future. :)

Here are some of the little chefs asking us which veggies we want with our chicken. So cute!

We had so much fun with all our friends and are already looking forward to next year! :)



*** one thing worth mentioning - at last year's camping trip, bethany had not yet learned to walk. thanks to her new found skill, she had a lot more fun this time around. ***




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