Beach Bums

As I type this blog post, school has started and the beach already seems like a distant summer memory.  However, looking at these pictures again makes my heart happy and especially thankful for such a wonderful week last month at Rehoboth Beach with our Winterhoff family.  The weather was perfect with the exception of one rainy day, which turned out to be full of fun indoor activities.  It wasn't too hot, and the water and sand were perfect for our beach goers.  This year, there was a grand total of 30 extended family members dispersed among 3 houses during our beach week.  We congregated on the beach each morning and the kids loved swimming and playing together:

We counted 22 out of our 30 family members in the water together!

There was also lots of fun at our beach house.  The cousins are very cute together and it's a neat dynamic to watch them interact with each other:

Luke and Gabe bonded over a shared obsession with Minecraft, and the rest of us had no idea what in the world they were building/creating/doing during this time in their virtual worlds:

On the morning that it rained, the kids created 50 balloon animals/objects.  It was a perfect way to pass the time, and pretty soon, the couches and main room of the beach house were covered in balloon creations:

There was also Book Bingo to pass the time until the raindrops stopped... Balloon Headwear optional:

Poppy's Treasure Hunts are a favorite beach tradition, and that Beach Fairy is getting trickier every year with the clues:

Another beach favorite is Crab Night.  What started out years ago as 3 people in our house feasting on crabs (Anika, Brian, and me) has now morphed into a full family affair!  Luke, Leah, AND Mark joined our growing crew of seafood lovers this year- Hooray!!

We loved our family time together, the boardwalk, and the beach:

After our week at Rehoboth, we headed back to Mimi's house where Winnie was spending her annual week at "summer camp".  Luke had been hanging on to another wiggly tooth, and was determined to lose it while on vacation due to the double money rule (somehow, when Luke lost Tooth #3 and #4 last year on vacation, the Tooth Fairy paid double for these teeth... coincidental that grandparents just happened to be with us?).  Captain Literal (who stores every memory/fact in his head) recalled this, and wiggled Tooth #7 right out of his little mouth on the very last day before we returned home (and yes, Mommy had packed the tooth pillow again... Do I know that kid or what?!):

Worth $2

We piled in the car on Sunday morning after a successful overnight Tooth Fairy visit.  On our way back to NC, we decided to stop at the Mill Mountain Star in Roanoke.  This landmark overlooks the city where Mark and I lived when we were first married and new parents of a black lab puppy named Winnie.  In honor of Winnie's 11th birthday this month, we drove to the top of Mill Mountain and let all 3 kids enjoy the views of the Roanoke Valley.  It was a fun stop, and included ice cream cones for the final stretch of our car ride:

Such great summer memories and wonderful week at the beach!  To see more beach week pictures, click below: