Summer's last 'hurrah'....

We were blessed yet again to join our special friends, the C family (we also vacationed with them over Memorial Day) on their trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What a fun, refreshing time our families have together. I brought along the small vacation album I had compiled so that we could reminisce over how our families have changed and grown over the past 10 years of vacationing together. When we began doing this, we had 2 children who were then ages 3 and 1! The C's had 4 kiddos ... now they are blessed with7 (they adopted 3 siblings from Panama 3 years ago) and a new daughter- in- law too! It is wonderful to see our diverse families interact together as we make memories with our newest additions! We create quite a clamor when we are all together but the 2 separate cottages at this timeshare we stayed in were spacious and easily housed our rambunctious crews! Thanks C family for inviting us to join you for another memory filled vacation! We were also blessed by the surprise visit of Mimi and Pop-Pop as they took a detour from their Indiana trailer on their way back home...only the big boys knew the plan so it was great fun to see the 4 littles jumping up and down when they realized their grandparents car had just pulled into the driveway!
Enjoy the pictures :)
With a full heart!
MamaB

I just love this picture :)!!

After 10 hours in the car our kiddos were anxious to see the ocean. After dinner that first night we took a walk to the beach...of course a few of the kids didn't quite listen to the instructions NOT to get wet (except feet of course!) and we had a load of laundry to take care of only hours into our trip ...thank goodness for laundry facilities right in our cottage!

The bigger kiddos joined us with their Frisbee and football and we stayed on the beach until the sun went down and the moon reappeared :)

One nite' after dinner we took a walk to the local park. There was no one on the baseball field and we had equipment so between our 2 families, we filled the field and the kids played until dusk.

L found a kindred drawing partner in F... these 2 were so cute together!!

The 7 youngest do so well together playing games or just hanging out.

Meal time! Daddy C , Mommy C, and their 17 year old son with M in the background.

The older gang spent their spare time in marathon Risk games...

Mercy was very comfortable in the ocean and totally enjoyed being tossed around by the waves!

Fun in the sand and sun!

SURPRISE!!! Mimi and Pop-Pop took a detour on their way from their summer trailer in Indiana to PA...they decided to make visits in Cleveland, N.C., and then us in Myrtle Beach. I came back to the house to get showered while the rest of the kids were at the beach...then Mimi called to say she was here...I ran a few blocks to meet her and on my way,Daddy was pulling in with the van load of kiddos.While he was getting the kids showered and changed, I met up with Mimi and Pop-Pop (thank goodness for cell phones) and jumped in the van with them. As we rounded the corner to our cottage, we saw the kids out on the porch . We had hoped to surprise them with the 2 of them just walking in the front door but the next thing we knew Mercy was screaming, " Mimi and Pop-Pop are here!!!" Soon, the 4 littles were tumbling out the front door, down the stairs and straight into Mimi and Pop-Pop's waiting arms. What a great memory!!

Nothing like a big hug from your grandma!!...we had not seen them since our visit to Indiana in June~

Even the big dudes need hugs!

It didn't take long for Pop-Pop to get wrangled into a game of UNO!

G and Mimi enjoy a little snuggle time on the beach.

Thumbs up after a good ride!

The boys and "Flat Stanley" :) For those of you scratching your heads in wonder: Flat Stanley is a character in a children's book who traveled in an envelope to visit friends in California. Each of our youngest 4 sent one of these to someone hoping their Flat Stanley would have some adventures traveling as well. Mimi didn't disappoint us and this picture is part of a large album of Flat Stanley's escapades as he traveled with Mimi and Pop-Pop. We were able to share his adventures with our geography class today :) Thanks Mimi for your creativity!!

L riding in style!

The youngest kiddos thought riding this to the beach was such a hoot! L called it the' gypsy' (aka: jitney/shuttle) Our gangs filled it up--no room for any other vacationers with our families!

Having fun looking at old vacation pictures... K is 'admiring' the hair style of her new groom in one of the old pictures!

Slumber party!! We were able to have the 2 youngest C kiddos join us overnight to make room for their big brother and his new wife.

The whole gang including Mimi and Pop-Pop and the C's oldest son and his new bride who joined them for an overnite' :) I attempted to take a picture myself by setting the timer and balancing my camera on top of a trash can and a stack of styrofoam plates... a kind passerby saw our pitiful set up and came to the rescue!

Thanks to him, we have a decent picture to add to our vacation album!

We 'banished' the kiddos to the back porch to eat their messy, drippy ice pops...

All this fun tires a fellow out!! This was during video time as the littles watched Curious George before bed~

I attempted to catch a sunrise on my camera when I was up for my seaside walks...the clouds would not cooperate so this is the closest I got to seeing a sunrise~

We were able to leave together for the trip home and stopped for lunch at the BK enroute...the goodbyes are always the hardest but it wasn't too bad this time around :) No wailing and tears!!