• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• More...

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• More...

Something great happens this month....now, what is that?  Oh yea!  MY BIRTHDAY! 
I will be 7 - Mom can't believe it! 

Big adventures this month, visits to grandparents - a HUGE vacation planned with friends and karate camp! 

Summer is going much too fast for me! 

 

Saturday - July 12th:  We were allowed to check into our house at 3PM - it would take about 6 1/2 hours to get there, so we packed up (way too much stuff) and left our house around 7:30AM!  I was excited to go and see my buddy Sam, oh and everyone else of course!   I had my DS - so the trip was easy and quick for me!  Traffic was not horrible but we did get stuck in a few little back-ups but they were all those mysterious types, like you are moving at a snail's pace and then all of the sudden it breaks lose to a normal speed.  So, we got to our house around 3:30!  The Hartley's were already there, they left Harrisburg around 3 in the morning!  They hit no traffic issues at all!  They spent some of the extra time exploring Virginia Beach boardwalk and they were actually allowed in the house early, so that was nice.  The first thing I did was picked the bedroom for me and Sam!  I chose the one with two twin beds.  Our house was really nice (but not too nice that we were afraid to have "fun' there!).  You had to walk up these really tall stairs (almost all of the houses were on stilts - that was neat, like you could walk UNDER the house!)  Anyway, you enter in the kitchen area, to the left were two bedrooms (mine & Sam's and the Lemmons) and a bathroom in-between.    To the right of the kitchen, the same deal, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in-between.  (Mom and Dad, and the Hartley's had those rooms.)  Then you could walk straight to the (small) living room, out to the deck or up the stairs to the 2 lofts, one on each side, then there was a walkway connecting the two room that you could look down to the living room/kitchen area.   Karissa and Brionna had those two rooms.  There was also a bedroom downstairs along with a laundry room and another half bathroom.  No one slept down there.  Outside, there was a deck and stairs down to the pool!  That was the first thing all us kids wanted to do, so the Dad's got us all ready and we went swimming!  We had only been there about 20 minutes and in the pool already!  It was awesome!  Mom and Ms. Jen went to the grocery store to get us our food for the week - the Lemmons hadn't arrived yet, they were stuck in some of the same traffic that we were, only worse for them because it was later in the day!  We couldn't wait for everyone to get there!  We all had our timing down great, Mom and Ms. Jen got back from the store, the same time Dad and Scott went to get the pizza for dinner and the Lemmons had just arrived and were settling in!  The excitement for me was just like Christmas morning!  We all ate soo much pizza!  Dad and Scott bought 8 pizzas!  Wow!  We had 3 whole ones leftover - it was crazy trying to figure out how we would get all of that in the fridge after Mom and the Jen's filled it with over 400 dollars worth of food.  You think that is a lot of money, Mom said when they were at the grocery store (which was super nice) you could tell that there were other "beach visitors" there...one group of men (that must come there every year, by the comments they were making) spent over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!  They were joking with who must have been the store manager (who was packing our stuff in bags) about if they got a free turkey or something?!  Mom said that when she and Jen went outside they had filled their entire SUV to the rim with bags!  We thought they must be together to have a good time as well!  HA HA HA! 
After our pizza and everyone getting unpacked - it was so nice that we had closets with hangers and shelves to put everything up and on so we didn't have to live out of suitcases for a week!  Also, so nice that we had laundry facilities right there - Mom took special note that for next year, we won't need to pack so many clothes.  Anyway - we all wanted to see the beach and wondered what our walk there would be like.  Well, the path was right beside our property and it took only a few minutes for us to be at the ocean!  We were wondering since our property was on the "third row" we thought we may have a few blocks to walk...nope...it was perfect.  It did not take us kids long before we were all in the ocean!  Sam is not afraid at all...he was way in there.  He was making his mom nervous, as he kept getting too far away and we would have to tell him to come back in!  Sarah was more adventurous with the ocean than she had ever been, her mom was happy and surprised about that.  I took to digging in the sand first and then I dipped a few toes in the water, I'm not afraid of the ocean, I just only like to go in so far, I have no desire to get way out there.  We stayed and played for a little while, it started to get dark and just before we were ready to head out, Sarah was knocked by a wave and started crying...but really crying...like she was hurt.  We immediately thought she was stung by a jellyfish...but then after she felt better moments later, we "rethunk" it, maybe scratched by a broken seashell or something...but then after being at the beach longer and seeing many, many jellyfish, soon came to realize that is what it was.  We had done the right thing though, rinsed her leg with ocean water, not fresh.  Also explains why she didn't like putting the ice on it - they said that jellyfish stings were like beestings ( glad Dad didn't get stung, who knows how he may have reacted) but fresh water could aggravate them.  We were glad is was nothing serious, and we saw tons of jellyfish all week long with no other issues!  After our quick walk back to the house, a spray down with the hose before heading back in the house, we all got dressed for bed.  It was getting late and we could hear this funny "popping" sound, only to look out the deck doors to see giant fireworks being set off - we all ran outside to watch those - it was awesome!  Sam, Sarah and I set up our bedroom - got to stay up watching some TV and then it was "lights out" - we had to be reminded numerous times that it was time to shut our eyes, but we were too excited to sleep! 
Sunday - July 13th:  Our first full day in Sandbridge, what are we going to do?!  Spend it at the beach, of course, we were all up early this morning, everyone ate a good breakfast of their own choice and we started getting ready.  All the Dad's helped us kids and the mom's packed the coolers full of snacks, drinks and everyone's lunch!  We were out the door and at the beach by 10AM!  Dad, Scott and Darrin set up the tents and we had a great day at the ocean.  I'm not much for being in the ocean, but I still stuck a toe or two in there.  My buddy Sam gets right in there.  The older girls really enjoyed boogie boarding and they did that most of the time we were there.  The grown-ups were in and out, sat around visiting and playing with us.  We built huge sand castles and dug some really great holes.  Dad showed Sam and Sarah how to catch Sand Fleas, so we did that for quite some time.  The weather was perfect and we had a lot of space for playing on the beach.  We were in a more private area so it was very nice.  Soon, it was time for lunch.  We stayed for a few more hours and then decided it was time to head back to the house to get ready for dinner.  We all hit the pool first.  We all had to hose off before getting in the pool, didn't want to get too much sand in it.  We all loved the pool, it was so much fun.  I loved it!  I was a little nervous at first, and kind of stuck to Dad and my kickboard.  I wouldn't go into the deep end, but that is a good thing.  My buddy Sam, is a pretty good swimmer.  I borrowed his goggles and once I put those on, I could see under the water.  They also help to keep the water out of my nose.  I liked them so much that I immediately started going under water and swimming!  I shocked everyone!  The Dad's got the grill fired up and we had a nice cookout of burgers and hot dogs.  After dinner, we all got showered, dressed, loaded up in the cars and headed over to Virginia Beach to check out the boardwalk.  We walked along the beach for awhile, checking out some stores, we did find a little carnival type thing, so we played a game.  They were charging way too much money to do much else there.  Last stop before we headed home were gigantic, melting so fast we were all a dripping mess, ice cream cones!  Yummy!
The evening was a nice wind down of everyone realizing that they had gotten a nice amount of sun!  HA!   The kids were all put to bed and the grown-ups played some games.
Monday - July 14th:   Today, there were storms in the forecast that could hit anytime in the early to late afternoon, so with knowing that we decided to stick close to the house.  The "Moms" had brought all kinds of fun crafts to do, so today was the perfect day to do some.  Sam's mom got us all wooden treasure boxes that we could paint and decorate with foam stickers.  Everyone had their own way of decorating them so they all turned out really nice and different.  Grey was being the ham though, he decided he would rather paint his hair lime green than his box, so we let him!  It was too funny.  After that, Grey's mom had gotten all of us sand buckets - I picked an orange one.  We decorated those with foam stickers too.  I put sea creatures all over mine and my name across the top.  It was a nice fun activity to pass the time - we had made a great decision as it had started to storm shortly after we set the table and paints up.  At first, the winds were pretty strong and blew out our electricity but that did not last for very long, the lights came back on shortly after and it probably rained for a good half hour, if that.  None of us even noticed...by the time we were done crafting and got cleaned up...it was time for lunch and the skies still looked a bit hazy but clear of storms...so we hit the pool!  We hit it hard too...we had battles with the grown-ups and I think they think they won, but the judgment is still out on that!  I got even better with my swimming underwater that I would even do it now without the goggles.  I do plug my nose, so that made it harder to swim with one hand.  I don't think any of us kids got out of the pool until it was time to come in and get cleaned up for dinner.
Tonight was "date night" for The Hartley's - so we had to babysit Grey.  He did a good job with the "good-byes" and he was playing with my Mom and Sam's mom while my Dad and Sam's Dad walked all us kids to the beach to collect sea shells.  We were gone for about an hour, while the Mom's fixed dinner - Yummy, spaghetti and meatballs!  I heard that Grey helped to put the meatballs in the sauce, Mom taught him to toss them in and say "Bam!" - just like Emeril.  It was funny.  After dinner, all of us kids decided to play a game.  I brought my Doodle Dice game, so Mom was helping us to figure it out, along with Sam's parents.  My Dad was on the computer, I think fixing something for the Lemmons'....anyway....Grey was playing in the living room....or was he?  Sam's mom says, "where's Grey?"  I never saw the parents move so fast...heehee....my Dad knew right where to look - his bedroom, as we were keeping him out of there all day...as he knew that the one thing he can get into was down where he could reach it and must have noticed his moment of opportunity and took advantage of it!  There he sat, proud as a peacock, slathering himself in Vaseline!  We all about died - after a super quick check that all was safe, everyone laughed and laughed and took his picture - those crazy grown-ups even gave it back to him so the picture would be more funny!  Of course they did feel bad that he had gotten out of their sights for even a second - we knew he couldn't have really gotten into anything dangerous, we had the house pretty kiddy proofed.  Later, we all blamed Scott - Mom had (earlier) closed off all the doors so that Grey was kind of "trapped" in the living room...but when Scott gathered the trash he forgot to close them again...heehee...could you imagine what Grey's little mind was thinking when he noticed that window of opportunity?!  Carpe Diem they say!
The Hartley's came home...we confessed our sins...all was forgiven and it was soon time that us kids went to bed.  We were tired, there was only the first night that we had trouble drifting off to sleep.  These days of the beach/pool wore us out!  I think the grown-ups played games again, and the women were leading with the most wins in Finish Lines but no one seemed to be able to defeat Darrin in Apples to Apples!
Tuesday - July 15th:  BEACH DAY!  We missed going yesterday, so there was no question about heading over there today.  Same drill as before the Dad's took us over and set up our tents, while the Mom's packed the coolers with our drinks and food.  It was a breezy and cool day at the beach today but the water still felt fine.  However, there were quite a few jellyfish in the water and being washed up on shore.  We were all very careful but most of us kids stayed out and built all kinds of things in the sand.  Even my Dad and Sam's Dad got in on the fun of sand sculpting.  They built themselves chairs with cup holders!  They must have been comfortable seats because they both spent the better part of the day sitting there and reading their books!  Later, we got my Dad to allow us to bury him, after we did that we turned him into a mermaid with boobs!  I thought that was the funniest thing ever.  We pretty much spent all day at the beach and soon it was time to pack up and head home for dinner.  Oh, not after a dip in the pool and a few battles - all us kids ganged up against my Dad!   My Dad hates being splashed but he let us do it anyway!
Tonight was date night for my parents.  They decided to go out to eat at the same place the Hartley's went...Margie & Ray's CrabHouse.  Well, it did not disappoint.  Dad said he agreed with Jen that the She-Crab Soup was "too die for"!  Mom had stuffed shrimp.  They both had a nice night out. 
Back at the house - Sam's mom had made us brownies, so we all made brownie sundaes - we were all in bed by the time my parents got home. 
Mom and Dad didn't get a very good report about my behavior, mostly my bossiness and lack of manners.  I guess there was a big discussion about all the kids and our lack of manners....yea, little did I know that my next morning wasn't going to be so much fun!
Wednesday - July 16th:  Well...we all got up around 8 this morning and the mom's were making breakfast and us kids were in Sam and my room watching TV.  I got mad at Sarah (course I think she bugs us) and I pushed her.  Well...apparently the mom's heard it and the next thing I know I'm stormed into my parents room and sitting in time-out.  Ugh...it was not a fun morning for me or Mom.  We were in there for about an hour talking about what happened, how I have been behaving and how I can make it better.  Oh, and I also got grounded from my DS for 2 weeks - with the warning that if I didn't shape up the rest of the week, it would be for the rest of the summer!  Whew....that over with, mom and I ate a late breakfast and we all got ready to go to the pool. 
Today was the "Dad's Day Out" and they chose to go golfing.  They went to a place called Hell's Point which was right  near where we were.  Dad said it was kind of expensive - especially since he forgot to pack a collared shirt and had to buy one there...then took his shoes out of his bag and the soles came off!  Not sure what happened there...but they were old anyways.  They had a fun time showing off their golfing skills or lack thereof.  Scott won with 159, then Darrin with 120 and my Dad shot a 116!  Oh, wait....it's the other way around in golf!  HeeHee...Congrats to my Dad!
Whilst the Dads were golfing we all did some playing around and swimming in the pool.  We came in for lunch and then we did another one of our crafts.  Shirt painting, we all brought t-shirts and Mom brought all the colors of paint that I picked out.  Everyone made a nice design...I used the fabric markers for my shirt and drew a rocket and stars.  I did have Mom trace the stars with glow-in-the-dark paint.  Not sure why or how we missed getting a picture with everyone in their shirts!  Oops! 
After that and my rough morning - Mom decided to tell me to go lay in my bed and read for a bit, she came in and read me a story and I was asleep before it was over.  Sam's Mom thought that was a good idea, so she told Sam and Sarah to go lay down and they both fell asleep too!  Sam hasn't napped in years, so you can tell we were just all spent and needed this little break. 
The dad's got home in time for dinner and thought it funny that they Mom's put all the kids to bed!
After dinner was all got dressed up in our white & khaki, loaded up in the cars and headed down to the pier for groups pictures.  It was kind of crazy, trying to keep all of us kid out of the sand and water but we did okay.  We kind of ran out of daylight and Grey got to cranky to finish he shots.  After we saw the pics on the camera - we really weren't that happy with them, they were okay but we thought if we can find the time, we'll try doing it again, another day and sooner.
Thursday - July 17th:  Our last day at the beach and we sure made the best of it.  We did have a scary moment - well the grown-ups did - none of us kids knew about it.  I guess Sarah got mad at her Dad and decided to walk herself back to the house without telling anyone she was going!  My Mom was taking pictures of us kids building in the sand and she saw Sarah coming out of the ocean, away from her Dad, not looking very happy.  She heard Sarah's mom say to her, "are you going to tattle on Daddy?"  Mom is still taking pics, kind of turned around to where the other mom's were sitting and didn't see Sarah sitting there, and Mom knew she wasn't with us kids, she did a quick spin to the water, no Sarah.  So, Mom asked "where's Sarah?"  Her Mom said, "she's back there pouting" and pointed to the tents.  Ugh, no, she's not.  Sheer fear and panic, Jen yells at Scott, my Dad, Darrin, Jen all come running to the chairs, we knew she wasn't in the water - because she walked passed her mom and went behind her.  Mom said, "surely she wouldn't have gone back to the house?"  She was no where is site and this was only moments after my mom had just heard her talking to her Mom.  She could have gotten that far on this burning hot sand, that fast?  Darrin - who had shoes on - RAN back to the house and Scott followed (barefoot).  Jen's and Mom stayed put but scanned the beach (thankfully not a crowded beach) up and down - there were not many people with kids anywhere near us...nor had anyone been recently walking up and down the beach either.  Scott reappeared seconds later, not even able to speak until he got his feet in the water, that Darrin had her, she was at the house,  he could hear her crying from the ROAD, yes, she crossed a road all by herself!  Now, it's not a busy road at all, heck it's half covered in sand...but it's a road!  She was sitting on the deck, probably scared and realized what she had just done.  My Dad had gone to the house when Scott got back because we had the key to the house.  They got her situated, cooled her feet down and checked them, they were okay.  She came back riding on my Dad's shoulders and she got big hugs from her Mom and Dad and then they had a nice (sad) long talk about what had happened.  It was not a fun moment and we all can't believe that she got that far- that fast.  She was mad and on a mission! 
After that eventful moment - we all played more in the ocean....not so many jellyfish today.  Even my Dad did some boogie boarding with Brionna.
The afternoon pool activities were showing off our cannonballs.  I got daring and jumped in a few times too!  This is a huge accomplishment for me.  Then I started getting daring and would jump off backwards, scared my parents half to death because they said I wasn't jumping out away from the side of the pool enough, and I would kind of bend over...so after showing off 2 backwards jumps, I wasn't allowed to anymore.  Frontwards was fine, so I did that lots.  I even had Mom take a "movie" of it!   
Tonight was the Lemmons date night - they did dinner at the same place too!  While they were out - we all loaded up and went to the boardwalk of Virginia Beach again.  The older girls wanted to do some shopping so the Mom's took them, and Darrin and my Dad took me, Sam and Sarah to the arcade.  We had a fun time.  It was time to go home - and we were out late for us - but my parents stopped at the store and bought stuff to make ice cream sundaes. 
Friday - July 18th:  Today was "Girls Day Out" and the Mom's opted to go sailing.  They went on a 2-hour peaceful and beautiful cruise aboard the Iggy Biggy.  Mom and Sam's mom took some cautionary Dramamine beforehand, but they both said they were fine.  The waters were pretty smooth.  They saw all kinds of sting rays, they were every where and lots of them, they saw more jellyfish and a couple dolphins too. 
While the Moms were enjoying their day out - the Dad's took all of us to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center.  We saw all kinds of fish and other animals.  We all were super well-behaved too.  Dad gets a kick out of telling the story about Sam and I playing with the "switches" (which were just little light switch type things that did nothing) in the "submarine".  They kind of had the tank decorated like a submarine but you can look thru portholes or above us and see all the big fish and sharks!  Yea, we didn't care...flip, flip, flip, flip, flip....is what we had fun doing!  We all had lunch and then Dad took us to a park to do a few geocaches.  Brionna and Karissa had never been so we wanted to show them our hobby.  Well...it went okay, and they liked it but the weather was warm and the bugs were very bad.  I swear the one mosquito Dad swatted was the size of a small bird!
We all came home and got in the pool.  We weren't home that long before the Mom's came home from their trip.  Sam's mom took a nap (Dramamine kicked in!) and the rest joined us in the pool.  Soon it was time to get out and ready for dinner and to get ready for Take 2 of our beach photo session.  All us kids cleared out, Grey woke up from his nap, so he and Mom had a nice peaceful swim in the pool.  I think he liked being able to be in there by himself. 
Take 2 of our beach pictures went 100 times better than the last time.  We all cooperated and it was fun.  Then we all ran down to the shore, splashed around in the water a bit, said our good-byes to the ocean and it was time to go back home.  We had one more fun activity planned....my piñata that I brought to celebrate my birthday with my friends.  We hung it from the loft bridge and everyone got a good couple of hits at it.  Brionna was the last one and she cracked it right open!  I got presents from Sam & Sarah and from Grey too.  Thanks!  After a few pieces of candy, it was time for bed.  We have a big morning of packing up our stuff and cleaning out the house.
Saturday - July 19th:  Today we had to go home.  Boo-Hoo!  I did not want to leave, we had so much fun.  Everyone was saying how nice it was and how nice we all got along with each other.  It was the perfect vacation that we all were hoping for.  Mom wasn't feeling good at all that morning, she had been up sick thru the night as well.  We got the house packed up and cleaned and were soon all out of the door.  We did stop and do a little souvenir shopping before we hit the very crowded highway.  Mom slept the best she could for a little while.  I managed to entertain myself without my DS and we were home - 10 hours later!  Other than that drive, the trip was perfect and we soooo want to do it again!