Nelson Beach Trip - Day 4

Ok, so I am finally getting around to finishing up the Beach Trip blogs. I told you that our camera decided to take a swim, so the pictures on this entry are either from my phone or from Becca's camera. Here are a couple more pictures from the day our camera went swimming (day 3):

Nice family shot (even showing off little brother!)

That night we went to play miniature golf (though Olivia and I didn't make it to the end - it was MUCH too hot and we were both exhausted - so we headed back to the room a little early). Here's a nice shot of us from there that Becca took for us:

Collecting Sea Shells on our last morning at the Beach (Sunday morning):

Then we headed off to the Ripley's aquarium after lunch on our way out of town. Here are Drew and Olivia looking up at a shark from this neat bubble thing they had:

Another family/group shot - though Olivia was NOT in the mood for a picture! oh well!

Here is Olivia and daddy petting the horseshoe crabs and other creatures.

Here's a couple videos - sorry they are turned sideways - I don't usually use my phone for this stuff, but had to in the absence of the camera:

Then we headed to the cool tunnel to look at all the sea creatures swimming around us. Olivia was pretty tired (it was right in the middle of nap time), but really liked it all - especially the sharks!!!

Then they got to try to pet the sting rays - though both kids backed up whenever they got too close!

After saying goodbye to Susan, Chad, Becca and the kids - (we hung back to make a potty stop) - we saw that the mermaid show was going on and tried to let Olivia see the *real* mermaid before we headed out. We missed the show - but caught the meet and greet. Here is Olivia when she go to meet mermaid Melissa. She was so excited!!

Unfortunately - for some reason - the videos from my phone don't have any sound (though they do on my phone) - must be something lost when I emailed them to myself. Anyway, this next video is of the mermaid asking Olivia her name and just talking with her.

After we said hello to the mermaid - we headed back to Raleigh. We had a great time and look forward to going back next year. Thank you, Susan for a wonderful family vacation!

Hopefully we can get a couple little day trips in to some different places before little brother arrives and we are a bit more house-bound.

By the way - we did get a new camera - but we haven't really done much since to warrant taking a bunch of pictures. But, when we do, we'll let ya know!

Nelson Beach Trip - Day 3

Saturday was more of the same (again) - I mean, what else are you supposed to do at the beach! ha ha! Here she is in her cute little bikini that Grandmom got her:


All the cousin's got together for a group shot before heading out:


To the pool:

Then the beach to do our daily sand castles and such. Here we are digging a large hole:

Whatever can we put in that large hole????

A Livi!!!!

Then, of course, onto the ocean:

Unfortunately, right after this picture, our camera was jealous of all the water fun and decided to take a swim! Uh-oh! Needless to say, it was out of commission the rest of the trip. Fortunately, I was able to get the pictures off the SD card today! Yeah! We don't mind *having* to get a new camera - ours was getting dated anyway, but didn't want to lose our pictures from the trip! So, we don't really have a lot of pictures for the rest of Saturday (we went to play miniature golf) and Sunday (we went to Ripley's Aquarium). But I did take some on my phone that I need to download and Becca took some that she is going to send me). So, when I have those, I'll post them.

We did have a a great time and are glad we were able to make some time to go. Thanks so much, Susan, for taking us! :)

Nelson Beach Trip - Day 2

Our second day there was much of the same - sand, pool, ocean. We did start out the day with Olivia getting her nails painted by Grandmom - she had some pretty cool purple toenails and Olivia had to have hers done, too!


Here I am reading to the kids. I actually had them all paying good attention - not an easy task with 3 little ones!



Getting ready to head out in her Princess tu-tu bathing suit:



Here she is posing with Cousin Drew:

Here's a good shot of Olivia and Mama before we headed out:

At the pool:

Awww, so tired! I think it's time to go in for a nap!

Back out to the beach for more sand castle building:

Hanging out on the porch (we had 4 in our suite total!!!)

Heading out to dinner - had to give our cousin Drew just one more hug! They had such a great time hanging out together. It's too bad we don't live closer to them!

Then back to our hotel to get ready for night night so we can do it all over again tomorrow! Here is Drew and Olivia cuddling with Grandmom:

Nelson Beach Trip - Day 1

We just got back from our annual Nelson beach trip (See, you didn't even have to wait a month for this post! Getting better!). The weather was great - not even too hot for a prego like me (most of the time!). The kids had a great time and so did we. We arrived on Thursday around lunchtime, ate and headed out to the pool:

Then it was off to the beach to build some sand castles:

Then into the Ocean:

Here's a family shot - the best we could get - Olivia wouldn't get her hand out of her face. (This trip will give you all lots of opportunity to see my prego belly in all its splendor! - Ha ha!)

Playing in the waves:

(Here's a good side view of the little one!)

Olivia is getting pretty good at using her swimmies. Here she is jumping in without daddy even catching her (But don't worry, he's supervising!)

And here she is swimming around in her swimmies! What a pro!

Happy July 4th!

We invited our close friends (Randy, Sara and Gracie) to go watch the fireworks with us for the 4th. Sara even got them matching shirts! We had a good time and the girls LOVED it, but it was a VERY LONG walk to and from the car! We got there later than planned and had to park at the grocery store and walk (at least a mile, maybe more!) carrying all our stuff and keeping up with the girls! I was really worn out by the time we got home and the next day!

Eating some yummy snacks


Laying down being silly waiting for the show to start

Yeah, they've started. Here are the girls jumping for joy:

Here's a little video of some of the show - if you turn up your volume, you can hear them chatting with each other!

When we got home, even though it was really late, we let the girls have a sparkler (they wouldn't let us use them at the park):

The fireworks were the night before the 4th. On the actual 4th, we had our wonderful neighbors, Cindy and John over for a cookout. We welcomed one of their friends (Rich), as well and had some good food with some good friends that we will dearly miss when we move up to Wake Forest.

And we got to use the rest of our sparklers! Everyone got to light up a couple - but Livi got most of them!