Way Back Wednesday- Family Picture Day!

Since the season of Family Holiday Pictures is upon us (ok, well it is upon me, many of you haven't even begun to think about it at all). I thought it would be a good topic for Way Back Wednesday. Ever since we had children Marc has been a big proponent of sending out a family picture NOT just a picture of the kids. We have friends all over the country, even the world. There is a good chance we may never meet some of these children, and in Marc's words- "I don't really care what their children look like, I want to know what my friend looks like now" For the record, I care what their children look like, but I understand his perspective.

So here is my retrospective. We start in 2001, the year Jessica was born. This picture was taken by Kelly in our backyard with out digital video camera.

2002: This picture was taken by the Picture People- we scanned it in, copyright schmoppyright.

2003: Along comes Justin. This year we decided to get together with the Cooks and Odells and do our first official Family Picture Day. We met at the Cooks house and took turns taking pictures of each others families. Then we went inside, looked at the pics on the TV and ate pizza [I believe- gasp!- Emily was still using a film camera at this time].

2004: Family Picture Day again at the Cooks house.

2005: This was our first year going to the Outer Banks and we decided to incorporate Family Picture Day into the vacation- thus getting the obligatory picture out of the way before the holiday crush begins. That has been the tradition ever since. I had originally chosen a green theme for our pictures, but hated the way the pics came out so we grabbed the clothes off the Cook Family's back used them instead- much nicer.

2006: Since the blues worked so well we did it again!

I think this was the picture we used on our card.
2007: We went with white this year. Couldn't find the pic this morning but here is the card we sent out.

We also did a second card and sent that one out as well.
2008: It was very windy this year so we couldn't go down by the surf or we would all have looked pretty crazy- so it was our first dune picture. Went back to the navy.

2009: Ok, I am not going to show you our official pic from this year- instead you get a reject one. Can't exactly send out a pic with Justin grabbing his crotch :) Tried something new for colors, but I think I may be going back to navy again next year- is it wrong if we are wearing the same thing every year?

A few of Jessica

Took Jessica out tonight for a photo shoot. Here are a few...






Then we went out for ice cream!

Diet Coke and Mentos = fun

Many of you know that Marc enjoys the Diet Coke and Mentos trick. If you are unfamiliar with this particular trick feel free to go to You Tube and I am sure you will see lots of examples. The kids love it too. Becky had picked up this attachment that goes on DC bottles to better facilitate this activity. So one night we went to the beach with 6 bottles of DC, one for each child. And this is what we did.

want a better example? watch this video (we have many videos but Jack at the end of this one makes me laugh)...





At some point this evening we notice a group with a water balloon launcher. If you have ever attended one of Justin's birthday parties you know this is also something we enjoy. In our opinion they were not doing it "right". We joke that one of us should go over and tell them how to do it. Can you guess what happened? Yup! Justin went over! With his smile and friendliness he convinced them to let him give it a chance. But just before he shoots the balloon, he stops, he says something else- everyone laughs and they turn around. It seems Justin saw more humor in shooting the balloons at his family than just down the beach at no one.


One more... Miss Julia as we were walking back from feeding the turtles.

Well we took around 1500 pictures between the 3 families- be thankful I am not sharing them all. It was another wonderful week and one all of us look forward to all year long.

Family Picture Night.

Every year we pick one night on vacation and that is Family Picture Night. All 3 families get dressed up and then we take pictures of each other. It is a beautiful location and then we get our Holiday card picture out of the way when we are relaxed and it takes the pressure off the holidays. As you can see I went with a different color scheme this year- not sure it worked for our family- probably going back to navy again next year.


Jessica and Julia had a wonderful week together. Very monkey see monkey do- if one of them had a boogie board the other one ran to get theirs and then they would ride the waves together. They were often the latest ones on the beach in the afternoon together. They have similar interests and enjoy doing the same things- made for a fun week for them.




People say that Jessica looks like me- I think they may be right.

OBX Baby!

For those of you that don't know- OBX stands for Outer Banks, NC. So I am finally getting around to blogging a little about our vacation. This was our 5th year going for a week at the end of summer. It is a 12 hour drive, at best, and yes that stinks. But the fact is, it is such a great place for a beach vacation. We get a great house, within walking distance of the beach, the beaches are not that crowded, the water is warm (compared to New England) and the waves are big and fun. So after the initial drive we really don't get in the car again until the end of the week when it is time to go home.

Because of Hurricane Bill the waves were pretty strong upon our arrival. We went to check out the surf at high tide around 10pm on the first night and the water was coming all the way up to the dunes. We have NEVER seen the water come up that high- crazy. Unfortunately this kind of surf means we have red flag days. Technically red flag means that you are not supposed to enter the surf at all- but that doesn't happen. So instead we kept the kids and ourselves to the shallow end. The kids didn't really care that were able to have fun sitting and getting swept "away" that way, and playing in the sand is pretty fun too. My pics aren't exactly in any kind of order- but it will give you a good idea.

Here is a video taken the first day or two- check out those waves..



Marc taking a break after digging a hole.
So tempting... but Neil resisted in the end.

We had fun sitting in the surf and letting the water come to us.


There is actually a whole funny series. First Jack and Justin sit at the edge. Then Neil joins them, then slowly Neil is sitting with all the kids. What really makes me laugh is Devin, who was the last to join the crowd, carefully chose his location directly behind Emma, calculating that she provided the best sheild if a big wave came. In the end he was right.


One of Jessica's favorite things to do...

All 6 kids creating a drip castle world.


By Tuesday the kids were so ready to go boogie boarding and yeah! no red flag. We bought real boogie boards for our kids this year and both of them were getting a good hang of it.




4 of the kids brought scooters this year to get to the beach. Half way through the week the Odells caved under peer pressure and picked up some for their kids. Emma was so psyched. Here they all are ready to conquer the trek!
Jack struggled a little in the beginning. There is more balance involved than you would think- and that is not Jack's strength. To Jessica's credit she stayed back with Jack to help encourage him and boost him up. My favorite moment was when Jack wiped out (ok that wasn't my favorite moment, just wait), he got up and said, "I think that was the first time I fell down and I didn't cry!" Jessica responded, "wow Jack you are getting more brave and better at the scooter at the same time." Very sweet.

You know we love the matchy thing- in the past we got matching swimsuits for the girls, but with Emma in women sizes now that wasn't going to work. So they got these matching "squirrel" nightgowns [ok, they are actually skunks but the tags said squirrel]

Our New next door neighbors in our Old house

A few of you have asked what it is like living next to our old house. It is a little strange. At this point we have yet to pull into the wrong driveway.

The family that moved in has 3 girls, ages 7, 5, and 1. Our kids had been trying to meet their girls before we went on vacation but we didn't get to meet them until we returned. Jessica and Justin ran over our first day home and introduced themselves. Their oldest daughter J was so sweet and told them thank you so much for the house they love it so much. Then the four of them went off to play.

They play together almost everyday and for hours on the weekend. They are so sweet and play so nicely together. We joked that isn't it ironic we finally got the neighbors we wanted but we had to move out of our house to get them.

The parents are very nice as well. They told us this weekend that our old house is a dream come true for them- they are so pleased to be living there. Well what more could we ask for?

Here they are playing with their Pokemon cards- they just busted me taking their picture- Jessica said, "yeah my mom does that all the time" and didn't even look up.

Here they are on our front porch.
Playing the running bucket game in our backyard.


So, while the kids were ok with moving before I think it is actually going to be much harder now. Me? Well I can't wait to get to the other new house, as Justin calls it, and start really settling in and starting the step in this very long process.