We brought back the Friendcation this year. You may recall
last year's trip, where we took the town of Corolla by storm with 4 moms and 7 kids ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years. It's amazing how much changes in a year. This time we hit up the Southern Outer Banks, with a beach house rental much closer to the beach in Avon. Same 4 moms, same 7 kids - this year with an age range of 18 months to 6 years.
The cast of characters, in chronological order:
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| Evan (18 months) |
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| Gideon (2 years) |
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| Wyatt (3 years) |
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| Evelyn (4 years) |
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| Anthony (4 years) |
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| Kieran (4 years) |
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| Paige (6 years) |
We stayed at the Virginia Dare, a beach house owned by a family who rents it out when they're not using it. We discovered that this is definitely our preferred type of rental as compared to a house owned by a realty firm that only ever functions as a rental. The Virginia Dare had lots of family photos, it came baby-proofed with swing-away gates on nearly every staircase, and it had that lived-in feel. We had 5 bedrooms - enough for each mom to have her own room and to put the kiddos down on the lowest level in the bunk room - but all of our kids decided to sleep with their moms so the kid hideout was mostly just a playroom. One day when they're a bit older they might go for the shared crazy kids' room.
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| Leaving the house to hit the beach. We were on the second row, so it was ocean/beach, 1 row of houses, small road, and then us. It took maybe 1 minute to get from the house to the ocean. |
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| The view from our top deck. The beach access boardwalk is the dark line between the tan and yellow houses. |
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| Just after crossing the street, it was a short trek over the dunes to the beach. |
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| The pool in the backyard at the house. We alternated between pool and ocean throughout the day/night. |
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| We had a hot tub on the second level deck. It was usually a "Moms Only" hot tub, but on our last night at the beach we'd left the cover off and it wasn't too hot, so the kids all skinny dipped in the tub for a bit. |
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| We were there for a full moon, but it was cloudy that night. A couple days later I got this terrible picture of what was a really gorgeous, brilliant moon rising. |
I tried so hard to get a group picture with all 7 kids. I dreamed of getting one with all 11 of us, but as you can see just getting the kids in one shot was, ummm.... difficult.
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| Herding cats. |
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| No two children are not loving the photo ops. |
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| If I had mad photoshop skillz, I could add Kieran to this one, and turn Evan around. It's the closest I got at least... |
But I wasn't too bummed about it. I got lots of good shots. Until my camera died on like DAY TWO of the trip and I realized that I left the battery charger at home. Womp womp. Some time on the beach and a tasty beverage turned my frown upside down in no time.
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Top: You put down your delicious scotch and realize that it looks like the animals are bellying up to the trough.
Bottom: We had a fridge dedicated to adult beverages... and this was before the trays of "Mom Jello and Kid Jello", with carefully selected and easily differentiated colors to prevent any mix-ups. |
I can't go to the beach without getting up early to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic, and I caught two sunrises while I was there. The first time, I let the kids sleep and took in the moment on my own. The second time, Evelyn joined me as did Kieran and Alissa. It was beautiful.
And oh yeah, Gideon H-A-T-E-S the beach. He cried pretty much every time we were on the beach. One time when it was high tide and the waves were big, I turned around to see him running right over the sand dune (which is not allowed - you're supposed to use only designated walkways so as not to erode the dunes). When I asked him whether he'd like to go to the beach one day, he said, "No, mommy, the ocean is closed." And once when I was putting him down for nap, he looked up at a painting of the beach in our bedroom and said, "Mommy! The waves are going to get me!" *Sigh* Poor kiddo. His sister is the exact opposite, incessantly begging to "go out deep" and saying things like, "This is the BEST! DAY! EVER!" while squealing and splashing in the surf.
I was bummed to leave Friendcation a bit early - had to get back to get in some work so I can finance these sorts of outings, you know. But we're already planning for next year. It was so very good.
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