Annual OIB "Croquet" Trip 2013!!

Thanks for the picture, Missy!  Our extended family...minus Brian, Troy, and the newlywed, Stevan.  Next year, we hope to have the whole crew!

We went to the beach and there was SUNSHINE!  Lots of it!!  I could count the number of clouds we saw on one hand.  WHOOP!  Anyway, Payton, Griffin, and I had a rough trip down.  Not horrible, but a lot of stopping, switching movies, arguing and taking toys from each other...the typical sibling behavior. Since I was solo, I was a little stressed out when we arrived at Ocean Isle. (Brian stayed in Charlotte to attend UNCC's inaugural football game, which he warned me about, back in 2010!) The kids and I went straight to our house, which we couldn't get into until later, so I parked the car, and we went out on the beach.  We had lunch, the kids played, then we got to check in early.  I had the kids down for naps at 1, and was able to relax on the beach, to re-group, for about 2 hours.  In the meantime, everyone arrived and we had the best weekend!  Here are the pictures....

Sweet Caroline

Siblings...Amy and Jon

Dad, doing some much deserved relaxing!

Kate and Payton...Kate was A LOT of help this past weekend.  Payton was attached to her hip most of the time (sorry, Kate!)  But Kate was a good sport, and played with her a lot.

Amy and Me

Grumps and Griffin

Sam and Payton...so sweet

I had to.

Griffin, Payton, and Sam...he wanted in on the sibling pictures. And with that blonde hair and those blue eyes, he fit right in! He was so cute!

Volcom...represented.  Little surfer boy.

Miss & Amy

Katy & Wally

Kate, Sam, & Big T!

Representing my Boston & NE teams!

Early morning pictures...

Which way to muscle beach?

These HUGE gentle giants are our next door neighbors each year.  Griffin ran up to say hi!

Running away from the shark.  Just kidding.

Kerry with her littlest...Lauren.

Excited to find a shell that looked like a french fry.  Happy to report that he didn't try to eat it.

Caroline, Payton, and Julia

It was so nice that all the kids could feed themselves this year :)

Thomas and Payton even had a "romantic" breakfast together one morning.

The kiddie pool on the beach was a hit!

Aunt Amy helping G jump the waves.

The boy LOVES the ocean.

Here are 2 videos of Griffin jumping waves.  This is huge because at the beginning of the summer, he wouldn't even put his toes in without holding my hand, and certainly wouldn't go into the water without me picking him up...

Thomas (almost 4), Payton (3), Sam (4)

 Here's a cute video of Payton and Sam holding hands, and jumping the waves...

Sam and Payton were "playing house" when I found them in the shower together.  Payton was the mommy and Sam was the baby.  Aunt Miss, we're going to have to keep a close eye on these two in the future!

My friend, Stacy, was staying just down the beach from us.  Payton and I decided to go say hello...here is Tessa, Stacy's one year old daughter.

My beautiful mom and me

She can walk on water!

Getting ready for dinner...Griffin (2) and Lauren (2)

On the OIB pier...this fits each of their personalities to a "T"

Thanks for the pic, Aunt Miss!  Again, foreshadowing?

Well, we got 9 of the 10 kids in this one!  Sam, where are you???

The glass table corner attacked Wes' face...ice cream made up for it :)

Even little G, who doesn't like ice cream, had some!  Ice cream just tastes better at the beach!

Next year, maybe we'll try Putt-Putt.  Maybe.

A man and his son were catching tiny fishies.  Payton was determined to hold one...

All the kids wanted to see...

Julia, Payton, Caroline

Still having the haircut debate, but those curls are so cute!

Payton was attempting to write her name in the sand...all by herself

Not bad, for a 3 year old!

Kate and Payton

Caroline and Julia

Good morning!

Early morning on the beach

This motorized glider went back and forth.  Pretty cool!

Some happy boys right here! (Dad, not looking too bad for a guy who just had major colon surgery!!)

Thomas with his Auntie Jill

Me with Shana (who came to visit us) and Amy

Kate with her Auntie Jill

Thomas has a BIG crush on Payton.  He was adorable, and P played very hard-to-get.

The "babies" of the group...Griffin and Sam (just turned 2)

Getting all kids to look at the camera and smile, simultaneously, proved to be a difficult task! (and we were still short 2 kids)

Let's try turning them around ;)

Payton and Sam...good buds!

I don't think I ever had all 10 kids in one picture...

Whitt, Julia, Caroline, Kate, and Payton...underwater posing.

                                               

          AND THEN, THERE WAS GHOST CRABBING!!!!

(maybe mom should have put Payton's hair up?  Sorry, kiddo!)

Missy, Amy, Kerry

Missy, Amy, Kerry, awful pic of me, and Jill

Those eyes.

AND WE CAN'T FORGET ABOUT THE CROQUET!!!

 Everyone got in on the action!

Now, he is really serious about his croquet!

Uncle JP!  (And the only picture I got of him).  My advice, look at the ball.  It may help ;)

See that jet in the top portion of the picture?  He was back and forth all weekend.  FAST.  It was like Top Gun!  Tiny little jet.  So cool.

Luke and Wally Jones...best buds for life! (Notice the ball on the left, in the background?  Dad wanted me to make sure that was in the shot...he was proud of knocking Wally way down there).

Whitt Tis...making his daddy proud.  He played really well, and no mercy on the young man from the old guys!  I see the croquet trophy in his future!

Grumps giving Griffin some lessons.  He's going to be a superstar in no time!

Hitting lefty, of course.

Wally, making his move.

The rule is, you have to hit the ball, no matter where it ends up.  I'm happy to say that neither my mom or I were harmed in the hitting of this ball ;)

Even Jack Jung got in on the fun!

Shana's hubby, Lucien...going for the kill.

So, who won rights to the 2013 trophy?  Jon bowed out of the tournament, and Big Ben took his place.  I'm sure he's thanking Jon now, as Ben is the newly crowned CROQUET CHAMP!!  I don't think he's had his hands on the trophy, well, ever!  CONGRATULATIONS TO BEN!!!!

Dad's excuse for not winning:  he gave his stinky, old "Roos" the year off.  Ugh, I think that may mean he'll be wearing them next year.  Pewwww-weee!

Ben, giving his acceptance speech, lol!

So, the last night there, I told Payton she could sleep in with the big kids.  She was over the moon!!  We pulled her aerobed in there, and she stayed with Caroline, Julia, Kate, and Whitt.  Evidently, at some point in the early morning, she woke up...it was too early for everyone, so Kate invited her up to her TOP bunk bed.  They cuddled up for a bit...I'm sure Kate would say it wasn't long enough!!  Hopefully Payton will sleep in a little better next year, and possibly be able to stay with the big kids ALL weekend :)  I can't believe how big she's getting!

Someone was trying to make up for all those late nights and early mornings at the beach!!

**UPDATE ON BOB, ROBERT, LUKE, GRUMPS, DAD...he went in Wednesday morning for his first chemo treatment.  He was told it would take 3 hours (one hour per med), then they would send him home with a "pump" for the remaining medication.  This will pump continuously for 46ish hours, then be removed.  So, he was all psyched up, mentally, to go in and get this process started.  Well, long story short, his port was clogged.  This is not uncommon, but definitely needed to be addressed.  They put a medication in to see if they could dissolve anything in the way, but after waiting 30 minutes, still it was clogged.  He and I had lunch together, then he had an appointment to get it looked at by the specialists at Presby, sorry, Novant (the name recently changed).  They would run some dye into the catheter, and put him into a machine to see if it was clogged, pinched, or what, and where, and IF they would have to RE-INSTALL it.  Ugh.  Not what he wanted to hear.  He had to go under general anesthesia the first time, and had to wait 2 weeks for all to heal, before he'd be cleared to begin the treatments.  Two steps back, if this is what was to come.  Thankfully, they determined that when he was sitting upright, the catheter was pressing up against the artery wall, causing a suction as they tried to take blood.  When he laid down, the blood squirted out like a volcano, lol.  (Sorry to you more sensitive people! Don't pass out!)  Anyway, he ended up getting his "infusion," or cocktail of drugs.  He passed the time working, and trying to take a nap.  So, 1 of 12 down.  WHOOP!  It's a cumulative effect, so as of now, no fatigue or feeling bad.  As he continues on, they expect him to grow exponentially more tired.  BRING ON FEBRUARY when we can kiss this all GOODBYE!