Outer Banks Family Reunion, part 2, Plenty of Beach relaxing/chatting

After all of the competitive games, we stayed at the beach, played and chatted.  We would then head home, eat lunch and go back out to the beach.  

Skim boarders

Basic wave playing

Messing around when Aunt Janice says, "Pose." 

Me and my siblings. 

Outer Banks Family Reunion, part 1, "The Teams"

We just got home from our trip to the North Carolina Outer Banks for my side of the family, reunion--28 people.  My brother rented a beach house for all of us to stay in (eight bedrooms, private pool and hot tub, game room with pool table and foose ball--the works) and we all headed back East for some fun family togetherness.  The first night, my sister in law announced that we would be competing in teams the whole week.  She had divided us up fairly (equal amount of young kids, mothers, teenage boys and fathers) and every day at 10:00 am, we were to meet at the beach for team competition.  (Our beach house was not directly on the beach but a short walk away).  

We are fierce competitors and none of these activities were taken lightly.  

The Teams:  Team Green (headed by my brother)

Team Orange:  Headed by Dentist husband

Team Blue:  Headed by my brother-in-law, married to sister number 3

The pyramid pictures were taken at the sand dunes near Kill Devil Hills.  That day, we had long jump (down a long sandy hill) races and running up and down races on the sand dunes.  We competed by category--sisters and sister-in-law, teenage boys, adult men (the fathers) and children under 11.  

Day 2:  Relay races (no photos because I forgot my camera).  Potato sack, egg on the spoon, three legged race and egg toss.

Day 3 Obstacle course:

Each team had to come up with two different elements as part of the obstacle course.  Each team was timed as whole, meaning, each person did the whole obstacle course and all times were added up as one group time.  Orange team schooled the rest of us that day.  

Day 4 Soccer  Again, no photos but each team had an A group and B group.  B group were the younger  players (and their mothers) and A group were the older (teenage, playing on their school soccer team) players.  Each half was five minutes and two halves were played.  Each team played each other.  This was very fun but exhausting.  Have you ever played soccer on the sand?  Brutal.   

Day 5:  Sand castle and hole digging.  

We had one hour to build a sand castle and dig a sand hole.  The sand holes were judged by volume of sand removed.  (Yes, we had a measuring tape and computed it.)   By Day 5, we had a crowd of people watching us compete--people who had rented beach houses at the same beach that we did and were at the beach at the same time.  They got really curious about what we were doing and came up and asked what was going on with our huge, loud, color coded group.  They were all very nice and fascinated by our large, very competitive family and after the first day, several vacationers actually made it a point to come out and see what we were doing that day. We asked two different groups of these nice people to judge the best sand castle.  Sister Number 2 really befriended (buttered-up) some of the judges and there was much drama after their sand castle won.  We think she got some insider votes.  (Again, we are very competitive)  

Third place sandcastle.

The first place sandcastle

2nd place sand castle

Inside our holes.  Again, team Orange schooled all of us on this one, moving over 110 cubic feet of sand. (FYI:  The sand holes had to have four right angles, thus the box shapes.) 

Day 6:  Red Light/Green Light and Simon Says.  This went on forever in that we all very good Simon Says players with the exception of my immediate family.  We obviously are not very good listeners because it seemed that the Toothsome family were always the first six people out.  That night, we had team trivia night, where we had to come up with two difficult questions about people on our teams to be asked in the group.  This was a true question, "Who has said out loud, 'I shattered that toilet!'"  

When all was said and done, Orange team beat the green and blue handily.  We have learned Dentist Husband and Sister #2 are forces to be reckoned with.  Also, when you have a nephew who runs over 30 miles a week (one of the top runners in the state of Maryland) on that team, they were hard to beat.  And, FYI, no prizes were won during all of this just the joy (and anguish) of competition.    More about the reunion later.  Time to do more vacation laundry.    

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

Rarely, have I been moved by something this much.  I am indeed humbled and will try to be like this man.
Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

Swimming can be Exhausting

Sorry this photo won't turn.

How can this be comfortable?

And, for those you asking, why isn't she in a car seat?  She was.  We got home and I started unloading the car and and she climbed out of her seat and promptly fell asleep. 

The Pathetic, sad story of a suitcase

In front of you is one of the suitcases I got as a graduation present from high school.  This was the suitcase that I loaded up a bunch of clothes (the rest being boxed and mailed to my sister who lived in Utah and brought them to me at my dorm) and drove to Utah to attend Brigham Young University as a college freshman.  This same suitcase traveled many miles between Boulder, CO and Provo, UT during my time at BYU.  I also took this suitcase on a study abroad to Israel and carted this huge suitcase through Egypt and Jordan.  (I even dragged it with me on a train between Cairo and Luxor because I didn't trust the hotel that offered to store our suitcases for a few days.  Guess what?  Most people in our group got stuff stolen from their suitcases while their stuff was "in storage", so I was grateful I kept it with me.)   It then traveled with me to Argentina, and home again when I got sick and finished my mission on Temple Square.  Yes, you guessed it, it came with me there too.  I got married and packed for my honeymoon in this suitcase.  It has traveled to various places with me since I got married--California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, Ohio, Wyoming, etc.  I have taken it camping, on airplanes, in cars, trains and shuttles.  It's most recent use was a trip to Wisconsin over Thanksgiving to visit Dentist husband's brother. After that trip, Dentist husband said "Enough!  This suitcase is too big.  It doesn't work with a mother with four young kids and their luggage.  It is time to move on."  I will be honest, I got a little teary.  This my suitcase.  It has literally been my traveling companion for years.  And, look at it!  It still looks great and kept its functionality.  All of the zippers still work for heaven's sake.  

But then reality set in.  Next month, we are off to North Carolina to the Outerbanks.  That means six of us traveling with various layovers, hotel stops, etc.  We plan on flying to a few more places in the coming year and it would be good for each child to have their own suitcase to pull behind them in airports, hotels, etc.  

So, now you see our new "kid" suitcases.  They are small, colorful (easy to spot) and have easy pull wheels.  JCPenny's was having a great luggage sale and so I got these for a song.  

Will I ever get rid of the above mentioned suitcase.  As of right now, no.  Maybe later.  Time has a way of slowly easing my sentimentality and at some point, I might look back on this moment as silly but for today, it will go back in my storage room and hold all of the memories that I cherish with it.  So, it is not "bon voyage" but "until next time".    

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

~ Audrey Hepburn
(4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993)

Photos Stills from our Family Film Festival movie

For an upcoming family reunion, we were all asked to make a short film.  We will use this same film for Dentist husband's Family Film Festival later this year.  We take these things very seriously.  Filming took all day Friday and editing all day Saturday.  It is now "in the can" and I think, one of our best efforts.  Fun had by all.