emmy starts school tomorrow

We celebrated MeMa's 70th birthday this week.  

Her birthday was on Thursday, but Tuesday was the best day to get our whole crew together.  

Emmy had freshman open house on Thursday.  These sweet girls have been friends since 6th grade.  I can't believe they're starting high school. 

Jason and Bryce were invited to go offshore fishing with friends in Hatteras on Thursday.  They caught a few, but not as great as some of the days that boat had recently.  

We had one last family meal on Friday night before we sent Chase, the first cousin, off to college on Saturday. 

We headed to our local horse track on Saturday for wiener dog racing.  

We heard about the races last year but couldn't go.  We wanted to enter Callie this year but somehow missed the deadline even though I stalked the website.  We hope to enter her next year.    

We had dinner at Nana's tonight and went on a golf cart ride to wrap up Emmy's summer vacation.  She's not excited about starting school a week before Bryce.  

summer is winding down

Emmy goes to youth group with friends from school and they do one last summer event called Tribal Wars.  It kicked off this Wednesday night with color wars.   

Bryce went to Virginia Tech night with his buddies at the new CarMax Park where the Richmond Flying Squirrels play.  

Jason had a golf weekend with our school friends this weekend.  There are 8 guys, and they thought everyone was going to make it, but they were missing one.  Bryce and another son got to play on Friday since they were missing two guys. 

My neighbor and I went to see Leanne Morgan on Friday night and she was hilarious.  

The guys had a second round of golf on Saturday and were just missing the one this time.  They played again on Sunday too.  They had a great weekend catching up.  

beach week #2, my birthday and our anniversary

This second beach week came about because Emmy got invited to go with friends this week.  When she was asking if she could go, she was worried about missing my birthday.  I told her she was fine to miss but then decided if she was going to be at the beach on my birthday then I should also be at the beach on my birthday.  Thus, a trip was born!  We picked her up for my birthday breakfast and dinner. We got acai bowls at The Spot and they were so good. 

Birthday dinner pictures. 

Vacations are looking a lot different as the kids get older.  We enjoyed having Avery along for the week.

We're going to have some senior pictures taken of Bryce locally, but I really wanted a beach picture of him.  I was pleased how this turned out. 

These two had lots of bonding time. They threw the football, played beach putt putt, bocce ball, and even fished in Jason's kayak.  

We missed Emmy but she was having the time of her life with her friends. 

The two sisters each got to invite a friend to the beach, and I love that they all go to the gym together.  

They enjoyed the ropes course. 

Matching shirts 

They had a bon fire with smores on the beach. 

I love that they had this week together. 

My pretty girl. 

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary.  We've celebrated anniversaries with dinner dates, solo trips and family trips.  Today we celebrated at the baseball field.  Bryce played at Longwood today, so we hiked the High Bridge Trail and went to a nice lunch between games.  

the week between vacations

We came home from the beach a day early because Bryce had a baseball tournament.

We had a few hours to kill in between games, so we explored the Bridgewater area.  The boys humored us for a picture. 

It's been great hanging out with these boys and their families again.  We missed them last summer when we switched teams. 

We all missed Callie so much while we were gone.  We couldn't wait to get her back. 

We went out for an early birthday dinner with the fam since we'll be gone on my birthday.  

Sedona Taphouse is a favorite for birthday celebrations. 

I don't know what it is with kids and pictures.  Emmy is at the beach with friends this week and we're at a different house.  Not sure if I'll see her on my birthday or not.  

nags head round 1

Bryce had a baseball tournament last weekend.  As soon as his game was over on Sunday, we hopped in the car and drove to Nags Head.  Our first day was gloomy with pretty chilly temperatures due to the wind.  We were not comfortable on the beach, so we did something new and went to the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  It was fun to do something different.  Later we went to the outlets to shop while the weather still wasn't great. 

Tuesday was a much better weather day, and we enjoyed every second of it.  

We went to Tortugas Lie for dinner to try something new. 

Emmy got a Shark Attack (aka Shirley Temple)

Emmy and I got up early for the sunset on Wednesday.  The wildfires in Canada at the time made for a very unique sunrise.  

Jason and all of his beach glory.  He brings everything but the kitchen sink to the beach and then barely uses any of it. 

Another day, another day on the beach. 

Cousin boogie boarding.  The red flags were flying on our first two days so the kids were happy when they could finally get in the water. 

Dinners out call for pictures since everyone is dressed up.  

We had to get out of our dinner clothes one night so we could head to Jockey's Ridge.  The dunes were so tall and I felt like an old lady hiking up them.  This was another first for us. 

We went to FishHeads for dinner on the pier on Thursday.  Pictures under the pier are a must.  

I get excited whenever I can create a then and now picture.  They were good sports.  The first picture is from 2015.

A friend from school was staying near us so we went to their house one night so the kids could jump off the dock and play in the sound. 

MeMa's annual jumping picture to wrap up the week.  Jason, Bryce and I left earlier than everyone else so we could get home for baseball.  We had a great time and are looking forward to going back at the end of the month.