Just another day at the beach......

We have so many pictures this year, I hardly know where to start. Some of the pictures are from Angie, she took over 200. We took something less than that but got some great ones. This is the back seat of the car on the way down to the beach. This year we tried something different. We decided to leave at 3am and drive all the way in a day. We arrived around 130pm. I liked that, what I didn't like was that I was too excited to sleep and didn't get to sleep until after 1am so we didn't leave until 4am and the kids were just starting to go to sleep again at about 530am and we stopped to pay a toll and it all started all over again. Kids were VERY tired and after all the leaving early we still sat in traffic for 2 hours in the same place south of DC. That was infuriating. Next year we will take 81 down, even though it adds an hour, it still saves my nerves. We took 81 back this year and really enjoyed the drive. We drove past Shenandoah National Park and I want to go back and do some exploring one of these days.

So, we got there and Allen hauled all our stuff up to our room and then it was craziness. Sunday was our first official family walk on the beach that Jake managed to turn into full on body surfing and Julia and Jo became sand crabs. Here we see the whole Shaw family, first walk on the beach (THANKS ANGIE). We see Julia, Mayci and Chandra in the background, note, this is the ONLY time Julia actually wore her beach hat in the entire week, good thing we got a picture or that would really have been a waste of money~ And we see Jo in her absolute favorite beach pastime, sitting in a sand whole, later you'll see a picture of her eating sand and walking in waves with Allen those are the entire sum of her vacation, that and sleep.

Here we have Allen, Travis (packing Malan) and Rafal, acting cool. Laura and Jo taking a walk in the waves and Max and Jacob just shortly before the "don't get too wet" thing went completely awry and full on body surfing began.

The girls were happy in the sand, Jo, Mayci and Julie. Jo in her hole.

We spent time at Sandbridge Beach, where the house was, Chesapeake Bay, which the kids love and Virginia Beach, a great place for Boogie Boarding. And watching military maybe SEAL? training. We've seen it every single year we've gone to Virginia Beach.

Here are the girls at Chesapeake Bay. Jo in the water with Allen, in her hole by mom and Julia on the beach towel, well away from any kind of water! Jo was crazy about the water here, she would run down to the edge of the waves and grab Allen's legs and try to pull him into the water, she wanted him to hold her hands. Julia absolutely wanted nothing to do with the water this year. Jacob, on the other hand, couldn't be kept out of the water. Here is he and Max playing some football in Chesapeake Bay.

Next post, Virginia Beach and the Pool. Jacob learned how to play Marco Polo this year, it was funny.

Unlimited Beach Week

It's a strange name.....Unlimited......unlimited what?? Everything has a limit. But I digress, that was the name of our beach house this year. This is what it looked like. Yes, that IS a pool in the back and a finger of Back Bay Wildlife Preserve. Think that's pretty good......

Here's Julia and Mayci hangin' out in the HOT TUB. I swear it was more popular with the kids than the adults... or maybe they just had more time to use it. No, I don't know WHY you need a pool noodle in two feet of warm water, THEY, needed three between them.

So, you may be asking yourself, what more could you possibly ask for? This room wasn't bad.....

With it's private deck, monstrous bath with dual head shower and king bed, with two huge armchairs.

Thinkin' you maybe should have come with us this year?!?!?! I haven't even posted the good stuff yet! What makes the vacation over the top, crazy fun and has them beggin' to never leave?

You have to have some of these..........

Seven men and some sort of stacking game using architectural blocks ...with no instructions.

They actually stopped the game and had Angie come take a picture of this amazing creation....Trust me, it was a big deal. It was wonderful, just watching them play together. I see most of them every Sunday doing their various jobs in primary, bishopric, elders quorum......but this......was......important and memorable and fun and , oh bother, I'm not saying it the way it felt watching these guys just have fun together and all the oooooohhhhssss and aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhsss and then these gigantic roars of laughter and disbelief.... Amazing.

You also need lots of these..................................Oily skinned muscle men like Max...
Rex and his pig. Malan, crackin' himself up again while Jo considers the punchline....

Kids watching TV in Scott and Margie's Room. (Julia, Miriam, Jake, Mayci, Jojo, Marcus, Max and Liesl)

Pool sharks, on the prowl (Max, Jake and James) ...and crazy card playing girls...(Julia, Miriam, Liesl and Mayci)

I learned this year that an UNO ATTACK game is almost but not quite as important as a POOL TABLE. I learned that there are parents among us who are in direct line for Sainthood. I learned that there is a reason we marry who we marry....it's called balance. I learned that the fathers that came to the beach are all serious, hands on, knee deep in the muck "Dads". I realized how much I love my "ladies". I'm not talking about the 6 and under set ( though they are indispensible) I'm refering the the grocery shopping, suntan lotion slathering, lunch packing, dinner cooking, wild child wrangling, late sleeping, sand shoveling, seashell searching, shoe finding, pool floating, fun loving women without whom, this would have never happened, never been so successful and who make this extended Pittsburgh Family, just that.

From the left we are, Laura and Allen, Scott and Margie, Brandon and Tassi, Steve and Erin, Christian and Melinda and Travis and Angie( and a large group of kids ranging from age 8 to 6 months).

Escape '08

Next post............The outdoor pictures.......