After having our computer crash and 2 weeks without it, I was SO excited to finally be able to see all the pictures from Topsail! We took over 300 pictures between all the cameras so I'm a little overwhelmed...I'm just going to have to pick some favorites to post on here. We had another fabulous week at Miss Sandbridge on Topsail Island - I can't even thank my parents enough for doing this for our family. We had a blast and I've been in a real "post-vacation depression" ever since!
Let me start with my favorite pictures of all. Each year we do some family pictures on the beach and Andy does a great job being our professional photographer. There were too many favorites to choose from...
These girls just melt me. I adore these of Samara playing in the surf and holding hands with Claire. We had a beautiful Blue Moon that night too!
Ok, let's back up and go to the start of the week. I'll just try to put down some things to remember about our beach week. But first, here's something I'd like to completely FORGET!
This is us on 95S. We are in park. A drive that normally takes 5 hours including a stop for lunch, took us EIGHT HOURS. 95 had actually flooded out and they were detouring everyone. We creeped along 95 for 2 hours and finally took a tiny back road exit which also creeped along for who knows how many miles. We were digging around in our bags for food since we couldn't stop anywhere for lunch - we had peanut butter crackers, raisins, and dinner mints. Finally Rob saw some people turning and he decided to just take the turn. I was worried because we had no idea where we were, but in the end I do think it saved us time and at least we were moving! Claire handled it great and Fielder did better than expected. I kept him as entertained as possible with what we had......I've never been so happy in my life to finally reach our destination! (Rob said several times in the car that I was being worse than the kids!)
There wasn't much left of the day by the time we unpacked the car and ate dinner. We let the girls run around on the beach before bed. They had matching pj's this year....so cute. Claire loved sharing a room with Samara. Each night they would get a couple books and then once Samara was in her pack n' play, whoever was doing bedtime that night was told to "sit!" And we would sit there until we deemed it safe to sneak out of the room. Fielder shared a room with us, although we designated the large closet as his own "suite." It worked great and I was so relieved that he slept just as good (if not better) than at home.
The first morning was gorgeous. I got down to the beach as soon as possible to see what Fielder would think of it all. He just kind of looked around and wanted to be held the whole time. Eventually we got him sitting and crawling in the sand, but for the most part he just wasn't ready for playing at the beach yet!
On the other hand, it was the "Year of No Fear" for Claire! She loved the water and the waves, no whining at all about the sand, and she even let us hose her down with very little complaint. Really, watching her play in the waves made my whole week.
The girls played together so great. Mom and I were able to sit in the shade while they played for the longest time - mostly in their "rabbit and mole holes." And then they did a little lounging in the sun...
Later Sunday afternoon, Tara arrived with her parents. They had been to a wedding in Danville Saturday and we were excited to have the Damerons join us for a night!
Here's Andy in the giant hole he dug for the girls. It was a big success, but maybe not the safest idea (Samara liked to dive in head first) so for the rest of the week we played on a mountain instead.
Who knew a big mountain of sand could keep 2 kids entertained for days?! Tara also invented a game that Claire played non-stop - we just drew a house in the sand with rooms, a bed, table and chairs....then she added roads and a "basket store" and a school where she drew all her friends.
Fielder even had an ocean-front dinner one night when it was just too beautiful to go inside. We all stayed out on the beach playing and relaxing.....my absolute favorite time of day on the beach!
We had one day that rained all day. While we were stuck inside, the girls did several art projects - Claire found a new love for watercolor painting. We also did mani/pedis, built a fort, had a tea party, and played Candy Land. I was going a little batty trapped in the house so I was very happy when the weather cleared for the rest of the week!
These pictures were taken on our last night. We had a delicious dinner (actually we ate wonderful food all week) out on the deck under the full moon. Then the girls went down to the beach one last time and ran around with glow necklaces. This was one of my favorite memories - watching the girls running, chasing, and laughing and then Uncle Andy would pick them up and run while carrying them.
Ok, I have to make myself stop. I could keep adding pictures all day! We just had such a great week and made so many memories. Most of all, it was just great to spend so much time with Samara since we don't get to see her often enough. (This year Samara was potty training so Claire loved "helping" with that. I never thought I'd see the day when Claire was a good influence with the potty!!) I loved watching the girls together and they didn't fight over sharing as much. Next year Fielder will be trying so hard to keep up with those girls! I was also pleasantly surprised that at times, it was actually relaxing! I didn't think it would be possible to relax with all the kids running around, but we took turns (Rob and I saw each other the least all week) and everyone helped us out. I even managed to read an entire book. I was pretty tired by the end of the day, but a couple nights we played games after kids were in bed! I still laugh thinking about our game of Last Word - Andy's word "Jewel" and Rob telling Dad that he didn't have to actually talk into the buzzer. AND....Rob and I went out on our first date since having Fielder! I couldn't believe that we hadn't been out alone in almost 10 months. We went to our favorite spot - I told the waiter I had been waiting an entire year for that crab cake sandwich!
So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of my family for making it such a special week!
