Hatteras!

Grandma said that all she wanted for her 75th birthday was for all of us to go to Hatteras, so a total of 18 adults and 19 kids descended on Cape Hatteras in the middle of July.  It was an absolute blast.  Okay, the 20 hour drive from Chicago was not a blast.  In fact, the first night we drove through the night so that we could get pretty far while the kids were asleep.  At 4:15 a.m., Joe and I were exhausted and needed to catch a few hours of zzz's before continuing.  So we thought we'd just pull into a rest stop for a couple of hours.  Well, the problem was that I turned the car completely off instead of letting the music continue to play.  Instantly all three kids were awake and wanted out.  I curled up in a fetal position in the drivers seat and tried to ignore them while Dad did the same sprawled out in the back.  After 3 hours of not very restful sleep, we decided we'd drive to Bob Evans and get some breakfast.  Right as we were going in to Bob Evans, not looking our best, Finn sees a rest stop across the street and shouts "mom, is that the truck stop we slept at last night."  Thanks Finn for making us look like complete hobos.  But the kid was obviously traumatized by his less than stellar sleeping arrangements for the first night, because even after spending the next night at a Marriott with a pool, the first thing he told Grandma upon arriving at Hatteras was: "we slept at a truck stop!"  But the rest of the week more than made up for the drive.  We would wake up every morning and hit the beach after breakfast, then come back and put the girls down for a nap while Dad and I worked.  Then afternoon was usually pool time.  This was followed by delicious dinners.  And Finn LOVED bedtime because he slept in a full sized bed with Xavier and Colin.  We figured out the attraction one night when I told Finn to go to bed and he said, "I don't want to go to sleep.  I want to fart and laugh."  Boys.  The girls had a blast too.  Sabine loved getting in the ocean, whereas Lourdes was more in to playing in the sand.  But don't let that make you think she doesn't like water - Lourdes liked water so much that our first full day in Hatteras she jumped into the pool by herself while I was trying to silk corn for dinner.  She was only in the water for a minute before I realized she was gone and fished her out.  I think at least 10 of my hairs turned white in that minute though!  Oh, and it wasn't only just the kids that had fun.  Joe and I became three time champions of the Manning euchre tournament that week and much wine was consumed and stories told.  All in all a great time ... can't wait to do it again in a couple of years!  

The kids showing off their ditch making skills.

This was basically our beach set up every day and the house on the far left was ours.  It was huge!  We also had a second house a block behind that one.

I'm king of the world!

My three beach bums!

Tiny Sabine running after her brother.

Love this picture of Finny acting crazy with his daddy.

Finn and Daddy taking on the waves.

Lyle is still brave enough to boogie board.

Xav and Lou making friends.

There were some intense bocce ball games during the week.

Lou getting love from Dad and Mom.

My loves!

Cute pictures of the Frost family.

One afternoon we all took turns flying monkey kite.

And many sand creations were made.

Michelle and Zella getting their chill on.

Cute beach babies!

Awesome shots of the kids captured by Ed.

On Thursday night, we went out to the beach and took pictures of most of the grandkids.  Here they are family by family.  

And here's all 19 of them together.  

Our last day, we took the ferry with Molly's family to Ocracoke.  The big attraction is Blackbeard's Museum, since the pirate spent a lot of time in Ocracoke.  This definitely appealed to my pirate boy!

Finn LOVED learning all sorts of new things from his older cousins, including this song about offing poor Barney.  Boys will be boys, right?

Happy Birthday, Mom.  Thanks for suggesting such a wonderful trip!

Visit from Grandma, Mary, Colin and Lucia

Even though Mary makes the effort to fly from Italy to Ohio every year with her family, I usually still ask her to also make the six hour drive to Chicago to visit me.  I know....I suck, but I just love hanging out and taking them to my favorite Chicago spots.  Grandma also made the drive out this year, so it was extra fun.  They got in Friday and we just took them out for Italian food, which I'm sure didn't measure up to the authentic Italian food they eat ten months out of the year.  But this place does give the kids balloon animals, so it has that going for it.  Then Saturday I took them to Morton Arboretum, which is my new favorite outdoor spot for the kids to play.  Everyone had a blast.  Colin LOVED the maze.  I think Lucia enjoyed watching my girls soak themselves with the water pump.  And my kids had tons of fun trying to keep up with their cousins.  Then that night, we left Joe with the kids and Grandma, Mary and I hit up a very yummy Mexican restaurant and imbibed a few margaritas.  Sunday, I took them to Beauty and the Beast at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.  I don't think any of us had high expectations going into the play.  The tickets didn't cost very much, so I was assuming it would be the typical children's theater fare.  But this was a full out musical with probably 20 cast members.  And the seats were amazing.  It was so good, that Mom, Mary and myself couldn't stop raving about it.  I'm definitely taking in every children's play they have there from now on.  Then we hit the Ferris Wheel and carousel at Navy Pier, and while Grandma, Finn and I waited for seats at the Cheesecake Factory, Mary took Colin and Lucia to see the American Girl Doll and Lego stores at Water Tower.  We had such a blast, I was bummed when they took off that evening.  But thankfully, we were seeing them all in Hatteras in less than a week!

Mary took some great pictures of my kids playing in one of the fountains at the Arboretum.

Despite Sabine's crippling fear of dogs, it appears she is fine with pretending to be one.

And my kids favorite spot, the water pump where they always proceed to get absolutely soaked while I just watch -  much to the shock of passersby.

Swing batta batta swing!

Trying out his new t-ball stand from Aunt Monna.

Lou couldn't be bothered with baseball as there were rings to swing on.

Finn felt his one day of practice qualified him for the big league.  Cubbies shirt courtesy of Uncle Jon.  The way the Cubbies are playing, Finn would probably be a welcome addition to the squad.