OBX 2014 - Family Photos

Every year in the OBX we do a family photo shoot in our matching jeans and white shirts.  I know it's a lot of the same shots year after year but I do love these pictures:

I think my favorite of the whole bunch, which I'm tempted to turn into a canvas, is this one.  They were holding hands and walking:

Onto the attempts of the family photo.  Here everyone cooperated but Evan was looking away:

And in this one, everyone but me looks good (I don't know like my smile):

The winner of the family shots, though Eric is looking away:

Brothers goofing around:

Having a good time:

With the ocean in the background: 

And the obligatory "looking out at the ocean" photo.  It was getting pretty dark at this point:

And what would a beach trip be without the "throwing the kids into the air" picture:

With Evan at over 40 pounds, it's getting harder to throw him up high:

Hopefully I will get a chance to post a few videos in the near future of the boys swimming - they both came a long way with a week living with a pool!

OBX 2014

Today marks our 4th straight year in the OBX with our good friends (i.e. - the frisbee crew).  And we were also there in 2010 with the Weiss crew and 2008 with our "Delaware" crew.  We have been taking this picture since Evan was born with all of our footprints.  Look at how much we've "grown" since 2010:

There was a tropical storm out to sea when we were there, giving us beautiful skies but LOTS of wind and very rough seas.  So our first full day there, we headed to Jockey Ridge State Park as we thought the wind would be great for kite flying.  The kids found some tadpoles in the water here:

Eric running around:

 Love this photo . . . these two boys love to just run, run, run:

Hiking the dunes:

 

Well, the wind was so strong that flying kites didn't really work.  And the sand pelting the boys legs resulted in crying and then us having to carry them back to the not-so-windy area. Very happy when being held . . . and Brian got a workout:

On Wednesday, we headed on a dolphin cruise.  We saw tons and tons of dolphins:

Eric has a knack for passing out on boat rides:

All of the kids got a chance to drive the boats themselves:

Just after the boat ride:

We did get some time on the beach:

Evan continues to love the ocean . . . and running:

We got them some trucks for the sand and Eric was a happy camper:

Empty beaches:

A little Pro Kadeema for the guys:

And burying the big kids in the sand:

A new addition to the week's events included a Pirate Treasure Hunt.  We hid clues throughout the house that the kids had to find, which directed them to their next clue.  Here we are kicking it off:

And after 13 clues, we ended up on the beach to dig up the buried treasure:

Which included a few small toys and some candy:

Probably my favorite picture of Evan from all week - pure joy:

Digging for sand crabs:

Watching the waves:

Some beach pics taken with my phone:

And our first ever mini golf outing with the boys:

Those are the highlights from the week. Next up are the pictures from our annual family photo shoot.  Hope to get to those in the next few days.  

Virginia Beach - Part 3 (Family Photos)

Our attempt at family photos on vacation could best be described as a complete and total circus.  We had to shoot in the morning because the kids would probably not all cooperate in the evening.  It was way too sunny at the time of our shoot so everyone had trouble opening their eyes for the photos (which also leads to lots of shadows in the pictures).  And getting five kids aged 5-and-under to cooperate was challenging . . . to say the least.  We did not attempt a family photo of the Felt crew as we have our OBX trip coming yet in which to do that.  But here are the best of the shots . . . though we didn't get one real winner.  

This one may be my favorite of the Schaller kids:

Dee-dee and Pops with all of their grandchildren:

Playing on the boat . . . if only Evan would have turned around:

The adorable Schallers cooperated a lot more than the Felt boys:

The older boys:

The best we could get out of Evan:

And Eric:

And two fully family shots - notice Evan wearing Dee-dee's sunglasses in this picture:

And without sunglasses, he refused to look up:

Those were the best we could get.  I still think we're years away from getting a good shot of everyone but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised in the near future.

That's all from our Virginia Beach trip.  It was a great trip!

Virginia Beach - Part 2

In no particular order, here are some of the other highlights from the trip.  

We headed to a water park on Wednesday and the boys LOVED it.  While Evan may be afraid of a lot of traditional amusement park rides, he has no fear when it comes to the water rides.  He had to be 42" to ride the rides but only stands at 41". Brian helped him lift his neck/chin up so that he could reach the proper height.   Eric and I spent most of the day in the younger kid section of the park.  Here are the boys in the lazy river, having a great time:

Evan loves his baby cousin Andrew and was happy to hold him

Eric in my favorite bathing suit of his:

Evan really enjoyed boogie boarding in the ocean:

Brian would help him catch a wave and he'd ride it in:

Pops making a big hole for the kids to play in:

Weiss beer pong night:

Beer pong partners in the longest possible game ever:

Catching sand crabs:

And on our way into town on Saturday, we had some time to kill before we could get into our house.  So we visited a small farm that we passed.  Here Eric was about to hold a chicken:

Still have a  few more pictures to come.