Ware so lucky to have just had THE BEST WEEK EVER!!
Where to start?
Chronologically, I suppose...
here we go!!!
The girls and I, I mean KIDS and I, headed down to the beach with Nan and Poppop late Sat night.
We spent Sunday doing the traditional things... Uncle Bills Pancakes, Playing on the beach, Mac & Manco's pizza and rides on the boradwalk. We found out this year that Jenni has NO fear of the ocean and waves and that Jackson LOVES the whole beach experience! He sat on his bumbo seat and the waves would crash around him - we even put him and his Bumbo on a boogie board and pulled him around! Monday JB and I (with Mandy & clan) went to the seashell museum and back to the beach for the afternoon. Jaylee spent that morning with Nan and Poppop riding bikes all over Ocean City. That night we "celebrated" Meg's birthday with a horrible, expensive dinner that she ended up walking out on!! Good times... Then Tuesday we rode bikes on the boardwalk with Jenni on her own bike and Jackson on my bike. Again we spent the afternoon on the beach but ate at the house, when Jason met up with us. Grandma, Grandpa & Maria's family arrived in New Jersey at 9 that night and we met up for McDonald sundays. They met up with all of us on Weds morning and we had the greatest day at the beach - perfect weather, all the kids played together wonderfully, and the waves were fantastic. I boogie boarded more on Weds then total the past 10 years! On Thursday, we had some rainy weather as Hurricane Irene headed north and New Jersey started to evacuate - Jaylee and I stopped by the sea shell museum and we all managed to do rides/shopping on the boardwalk (Tommy could NOT WAIT to spend his money) and spend an hour or two on the beach, before heading back to PA in torrential downpours. !! Here's some of my favorite beach pictures in no particular order...
Mmmmm.... Mac & Manco's!
Finally... Jennibelle on bumper cars!
She thought she was cute bumping Brody and Blake!
Waiting for the tide with their sandwiches...
Always. On. A. Boogieboard.
One of the cutest couples I know...
Oh, the Gravitron - you used to be my friend,
but we are friends no longer, in my old age!
Jaylee still loves you though!
He stayed awake smiling for the entire 1 hour ride.
The one-breasted midget mermaid?!?
Good habits start early!
Best Buds already!
Sooo... we spent Friday on the farm relaxing, recovering, and letting the kids just run and play. They stayed busy! Tommy & Blake tattled on poor Brody for playing with "naked dolls"!!! (ALL of our Barbies are naked, like every other house with Barbies, I believe.) There were trips to the creek, animals caught, arrows & bbs shot, hiding and seeking games, and much more! Saturday we packed into our cars again and headed to Dempsey's Family Day at Knoebels. We were literally racing Hurrican Irene but we had fantastic weather until 7pm when we were heading out of the park!! Here's some Knoebel's pictures...
I was hpoing someone from Seattle would break the news to Jaylee that these glasses are hideous, instead they all told her how cute she looked! She WILL regret this 10 years from now!
Everyone's favorite ride...
The Footsy Wootsy.
These two were daredevils!
Sooo... Hurricane Irene showed up on our drive home late Saturday night and kept some of us awake on and off throughout the night. The wind was crazy strong!! We got rain, but not ridiculous amounts. Luckily, the kids slept straight through it. This is what we found when we got ready for church in the morning...
The field of corn is bent to the side now.
Our sunflowers were uprooted.
A few shingles are poking up.
Just a little windy!
What did you do in the Hurricane?!?
Jason flew a styrofoam plane!!
And destroyed a styrofoam plane...
all at once!!
You would never beieive how beautiful the day ended though! We spent the afternoon eatting delicious pot roast that flavored beautifully with sugar rather than salt... whoops!! Not sure HOW Grandma thought this was salt... Crazy Grandma!!
Then we spent hours having a photo shoot around the farm with the bigger kids (Brody was napping and Jackson just observed.) I have tons of pictures from the shoot, but I'll do a seperate post of it next.
Monday morning we packed the kids into cars again and drove them to Hershey's Chocolate World!!
Eric, Maria & I got to take an Amish tour right before it closed.
Think they could pass as an Amish couple??
Then we headed home for our last night together - we ate, boxed Jason, had a blessing for Jackson, walked to Rita's Italian Ice and just hung out, laughing at each other!! I have no pictures from Tuesday because they left at 0630 for their flight and I spent until 0730 consoling Jaylee!! Here's pictures of us just hanging out all week on the farm!
Lots of XBox playing.
Blake fighting the "bad guys" for Brody.
All dinners were outside... the weather was cool and perfect for our guests!
All the kids shared a room and they were so well behaved!
Notice Blake 1/2 on the floor!
BB practice with Uncle Jason.
They attempted to get all four on the swing for a picture!
The kids helped me clear the big bushes down to the fire pit after the storm.
It's sucks not being able to have the girls grow up surrounded by ALL of their cousins! As Maria said, "all the kids made memories this week that will last a lifetime!" We feel so blessed that Jason's parents, brothers and sister have spent their time and money to come visit us. Can't wait unti lthe Mendenhalls come again (even Maria;))! And can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa in the next few months!!!
