We are home! After our long, two-week vacation we are back in hell, I mean Arizona. We're ordering lunchboxes online as we sit under piles of laundry and avoid creating our lengthy grocery list. Oh yes. It's great to be home.
It really is good to be home if for no other reason than I get to type blogs on my computer. I wrote fourteen of them on my phone. My phone! Touchscreens are not meant for that type of activity, yo. But I was determined! Today I'm on my fourth load of laundry, and all our photos are finally on our computer. I picked out the best of the 804 we took, and they are ready to be shared. Enjoy the story of our week while I enjoy reliving it.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and it was a little rainy. After dinner the weather cleared up so we took our first glimpse of the beach and ocean up close. Evenings on the beach are so calm and peaceful.
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| Ali |
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| Matthew and Lila |
On Sunday morning, we enjoyed some porch time before a full day at the beach.
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| Dad and Elizabeth |
That evening Dad and Elizabeth took the bikes for a spin while the rest of us hung out on the driveway until they returned.
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| Lila |
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| Matthew and Lila in the big waves |
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Theresa, Elizabeth, Nick
Though he won't admit it, I'm ninety-five percent certain Brian made an effort to include the girl in the background. |
Every day was pretty much the same as the day before. It was a relaxing vacation.
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| Matthew and Elizabeth in a pool |
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Mom, Dad, me
Dad and I shop at the same hat store. |
That night we went out to dinner in Calabash for some seafood. It's tradition to take pictures outside the restaurant by this big tree.
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| This would be a nice one if I looked at the camera. |
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| All of us |
Hurricane Arthur invaded on Thursday morning. It was windy and rainy but that's about it. We made the most of it with games and movies.
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| Elizabeth and Ali as the bingo callers |
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| Lila and Ali |
Throughout the day, we'd look at the surf from our top deck and it was noticeably choppier than usual. So when the rain stopped after dinner, we went to the beach to see it close up. It was extremely windy; the fine sand was whipping around our legs. Sometimes it would even hurt.
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| Lila pointing to the "sand smoke" |
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| Matthew and Lila running around as if they'd been caged animals all day |
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| another family group shot |
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| Ali and Nick |
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an unflattering pose of me, but a cute one of Ali
She only posed with me so she could get her phone back. :) |
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| Brian with Lila and Ali |
On Friday, our last day, Dad and Mom started off with a bike ride. We all went to the beach. All day. Like every other day. It was awesome.
After we got all cleaned up, Mom wanted photos of all the kids in the matching outfits she got for them. We tried. Matthew was not into it at first.
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| Matthew wasn't into it later, either. |
There were three cameras and probably a hundred photos taken. Surely Mom will find at least one suitable photo for her wall. Right?
All in all, our beach vacation was laid-back and fun. Most important was that we got to see my parents and my brother and his family, all of whom we hadn't seen in a year. My dad's health problems kept him home for the better part of six months so we were fortunate to be able to see him and everyone else for this week. Thanks for the memories, Mom and Dad! Love you!
