We're Back

...and we had a great time. All of the kids loved the beach most of the time. Here is a picture of us on our last day.


If you look closely in the picture above. You will see something new on Brooke's forehead. Brooke decided to take home a very expensive and rather painful souvenir from Nags Head this year. We were getting the kids ready for lunch on Tuesday and then all of a sudden we heard a bang. We looked over in time to see Brookey flying through the air and onto the floor. She was jumping on the bed (after being told not to plenty of times that day) and hit her head on the nightstand and then fell on the floor. She put a nice gash in her head and needed to get five stitches. We spent about 2 1/2 hours in the emergency room.


She is showing us where she hit her head on the nightstand.

My poor little sweety. After it happened she cried of course and I cried too. By the time we got down to the van to take her to the emergency room she was finished crying. I was not finished and she was just looking at me like nothing had even happened. Thank goodness Dominic was there because he was able to keep his cool. I couldn't because all I could think about was that huge hole in her head. I had never seen a split forehead before and I thought she would have to live with a hole in her head the rest of her life. I guess you don't see too many people walking around with holes in their head from falling off a bed. I'm not very good at handling emergencies.

The emergency room was backed up of course. There was no need for all of us to stay there for a few hours. So Dominic took the boys to get some lunch and then back to the hotel room for a nap. He then came back to pick us up when we were finished.

The doctor looked at the wound and said that she was hoping to be able to glue it but after looking at it realized that it definitely needed stitches. It was too deep.

That was a part of the trip that we will not forget. And after we returned from the emergency room, we put a bandage on her head and went back out to the beach. There was no way that we could keep Brooke away from the beach.

Here's the rest of the story. The fun part.

Brooke

Since I started the blog with Brooke, I might as well start with her here. She is our free spirited little girl. Nothing holds her back and she has absolutely no fear. She LOVED the ocean. As soon as we get out on the beach she heads straight for the ocean. We had to keep a close eye on her because she would walk along the edge of the water and then out of no where she would dart right into the water. She's crazy I tell ya. Or she would walk to the water all determined and then plop right down in the sand as soon as she gets to the edge.

I've mentioned many times that she is our little social butterfly. Well, I'm even more convinced after our vacation. She met everyone on the beach and I'm not joking one bit. She even got a few snacks from some of the people. One time she was coming back up from the water and there was a woman sleeping in her chair. Brooke walked right up to her and just stared at her for a few seconds. She then realized the lady wasn't going to talk to her so she walked away. There was another woman near by that saw the entire thing and started laughing real loud. It was very funny.

I've always said that Brooke is our little fish because she loves playing in the bath water and the pool that we have here at home. Now we are sure that she is our little fish.


A rare moment where she was actually tired and let Dominic hold her. Most of the time she was running nonstop.

Nate

It took Nathan a little while to actually like the ocean. He loved playing in the sand though. He would play for a while and then start walking. It was so cute to watch him because he would just take off and walk real slow with his head down. Every so often he would turn around to make sure we were still there and that we saw him. We didn't stop for naps all the time so they got real tired. Nathan would be walking and almost fall asleep while he was walking. His blinks would get real long. It was very cute.

His favorite thing to do was to cover his feet or someone else's with sand. He loved it.


Here he is on one of his walks. Almost anytime you would look at Nate, this is what you would see. I couldn't get any pictures of him walking towards me because he was always walking away.


He was enjoying the morning view from our balcony.


Lenny

Lenny was on the fence about the beach. Some days he loved it and the next day all he wanted to do was play in the pool. Once we got him out to the beach though, he had a great time playing in the sand. He loved building the sand castles. He's still a little afraid of the ocean since it took away some sand toys last year.

The pool was definitely his favorite part about our vacation. The hotel had an indoor pool and an outside pool. He is getting very good at jumping in from the side of the pool.



Tuesday morning we decided to go play miniature golf. We got there when they opened at 9 but it was still very hot. Dominic and Lenny played while Brooke, Nate, and I walked along with them and cheered them on.


Friends

Our friends DJ and Carol were also at the beach with us along with their kids. They came to our house on Saturday and then we all headed out on Sunday. I didn't get many pictures of all of the kids together.

Here they are outside of Pigman's Barbque. That was one good dinner. I will definitely go there again. Dominic bought them all a push up as we were leaving so we sat outside while they finished their ice cream.


Lenny and Peyton in the pool.


Lenny and Kierra holding hands at American Pie Pizza place. We discovered this great pizza place several years ago and always have to go there when we are at the outer banks.


The Crew

Here are just a few other pictures. Dominic made a few sandcastles and we put the kids in the middle to take their picture.





The view from our balcony one morning.


The kids playing together in the sand. Brooke is always covered from head to toe with sand. Nate and Lenny don't like to get dirty too much so they stayed pretty clean. If Nathan gets his hands dirty, he wants me to clean them right away. You would think that our girl would be the one that doesn't like to get dirty.


Brooke and Nate about to get in the pool. You gotta love those swimsuits with the floaties in them especially when you have two little ones to watch out for.


Grave Digger

We had to stop and see the Grave Digger on the way home. Lenny and Nathan were so excited. Nathan wouldn't stop pointing to the Grave Digger. They both went crazy when we walked in the store. I have to admit that I was having fun there too.

It's not easy to get a picture of any of us with the kids. One of them is always trying to run away. This is the best out of three pictures I took before I just gave up.


All in all, we had a wonderful vacation. Brooke and Nate were much easier this summer at the beach. We are sure it will just get easier each year. As much fun as we have, it's always nice to be home in your own bed. Lenny always misses home much sooner than any of the rest of us though.

From the Mouth of a Four Year Old

Lenny loves to eat shrimp and crabs. I think he likes talking about it more though. He also likes to talk about food that makes you grow and get stronger. Today he said that crab makes you grow. I said, well yes but fruits and veggies really make you grow. He said, "Crab makes you grow because it gets the jelly beans out of your throat that don't make you grow." You can take away from this what you want. :-) I just had to put this in because I have no idea where he came up with that one.