Virginia Beach

Whew!  What a busy week it's been catching up from vacation.  We spent the week before last in Virginia Beach with the Young clan, and we haven't stopped since the minute we arrived home.  City swim meet, working extra hours to make up for last week and the start of both football and field hockey  (not to mention the laundry from the beach!) has meant a full schedule...all good, but busy!  It's nice to sit down and look back at the relaxing week we had in Virginia...

We stopped along the way for a visit to Washington & Lee University, and it was fun to see where Dick went to school and hear some of his stories from his time there.  Loved this beautiful campus, but I told the kids the ride to get there through the mountains of West Virginia could be a deal breaker if this school ever ends up on their short list! 

I think they could pass for students 

Had to make a stop at the bookstore for some W&L swag!

From there we headed over to Appomattox for some Civil War history.  This was a neat place to see, but before too long the kids were ready to get to the beach!

Pretty afternoon in Appomattox

A few hours later we arrived in Virginia Beach where we spent a great week with family on the beach.  Rich, Lori, Tanner, Taylor and his friend Ashley beat us there and had the house opened up and ready for us.  Dick rented a beautiful beach home with four floors of beach views, and everyone had a wonderful week relaxing and having fun...

Sand castle building...

Beach time

Our beautiful home for the week

Posing in the silly T-shirts John bought for everyone

The girls swimming with the dolphins - look how close they got!!

Celebrating Rich's birthday

Family beach pictures...MT's branch of the tree...

Lawrence's branch...

Rich's branch...

The whole gang...blessed to all be together  

Cousins

Boogie boarding - so fun! 

Lots of playing (and pranking!)

A day in Williamburg -ready to tour the village
(the black bandanas are for a game there called
RevQuest - which Sydney, Tonyand MT won!)

Family time 

Dick and his kiddos

Chill time at the surf

The week went by fast and before long it was time to pack up and had home.  Tanner left on Thursday to attend the Manning Passing Academy in New Orleans...Lawrence, the kids  and I headed out on Friday morning to get home in time for City Meet, and the rest of the gang said good bye on Saturday.  We had a great week together, and we are so blessed and grateful to Badoo for giving us such a nice trip.  

John's 12th Birthday Party

After a looooooooong break from posting, I'm going to attempt to get back to documenting our life on the blog!  Instead of trying to catch up, I'm just going to jump in where we are today, which is celebrating John's 12th birthday.  His actual birthday is this upcoming Saturday, July 6th, but since we will be on the road to our Young family vacation in Virginia Beach we had his family party this past Tuesday night.  He requested to have his party that night because he wanted to go the "midnight" showing of the Lone Ranger, which opened that night (I guess that's not too late for a 12 year old, huh?).  The first showing that night was actually at 10:30, which felt "midnight-ish" enough to me!  It's been raining at some point practically every day these last few weeks, so I was glad we had a nice evening to hang out on the deck and celebrate my not-so-little man turning 12.

That afternoon I made his annual jersey birthday cake.  This year he requested a Kentucky jersey, which I'm sort of surprised we hadn't already done.  He didn't love having the number 12 on it, because that was Kentucky's not so great point guard last year, Ryan Harrow, but it was also worn by former Wildcat and NBA player Brandon Knight, so that made it a bit better!  

May be my best yet (easy letters to cut out!)

Check it out

Like I said, the weather was perfect so we spent most of the evening playing in the back yard.  My parents were in Bowling Green for my second cousin Eric Wallace's funeral visitation, so they were missed, but the rest of us enjoyed hanging out and catching up.

Super Syd playing some whiffle ball

Uncle Tony schooling the kids in basketball

Tanner with a three!

Recovering from basketball!  Uncle Tone is hard
to keep up with!

Of course Sarah and Claire were playing field hockey

Time to open presents

A HUGE bag of candy (thanks, Hamiltons!)

Lots of "green" gifts this year - always fits!

Lots of visiting...

...and laughing

Time for cake

Making a wish