BDA->PHL->VA->OBX!!!! it was a worth it!

So I just noticed that it has been an entire month since my last post and I do apologize, I suck!  Now that I have a real job that does not allow me to sit around play games and update my blog all day, this has suffered.  Lucky for you I have since been off island and have many wonderful (ie- hilarious, embarrassing, stupid, etc...) tales to share. 

I began my journey on Thursday, July 19th with not only 1, but 2 delayed flights!  I was late getting off the island and then really late getting out of Philly.  Thankfully I have an awesome brother-in-law who it seems always get stuck with picking me up when my flights are delayed (big shout out to Big Jim!!) oh, he always gets the even better job of getting me to the airport for the ridiculously early flights back here (but maybe by then he is ready to get rid of me!)

This vacation started for me as they all should moving forward.  My sis and I had Friday to ourselves to go get mani/pedis a nice lunch and then massages!  We did a little shopping as well, we needed to ensure we had enough supplies to get us through the week....

6 boxes of wine...check! very large bag of popcorn...check!

For more than half my life now (for serious!) my family has been going to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  It has been with different families and different house over the years, but for the past few years it has been the same crew of 24 (14 adults, 10 kids) in the same house, The Bella Donna Del Sol and for us it is one week of paradise.


our home away from home for the last week of July every year

This year we decided that rather than sit in house of traffic on Saturday to get to the house, we went Friday night and stayed in a hotel.  The kids were able to swim and Krystyn and I went on an adventure of our own trying to find pizza for everyone for dinner.  It would have all been great had we been able to get into the house on Saturday early like we did the year before.  As it worked out we were not able to get in until 4pm.  We had a whole bunch of unhappy kids which resulted in some grumpy (and a few hung over) grown ups.  But finally at 4 we were in and vacation had officially started!

The week involves a lot of fun activities and  many trips between the pool, the beach and the cooler for beers.  One of the newest activities is the Speedo Run for the men...this year they were each offered $50 to run down the the beach together and "frolic" in the ocean.  They did so and it resulted in a round of cheers from the many appreciative onlookers on the beach. 

We also have the opportunity to celebrate some half birthdays while we are there, any excuse for ice cream cake works for me!

Is Madison checking Jamesy out????

We  had a wonderful fireworks display (which was way better then the 4th of July one I saw here in BDA) thanks to Brendan! I also got a chance to eat so much food that I am not able to get here so I went all out and ate everything in sight, the extra pounds are totally worth it. 

This year we started a new tradition...The Ricky's!  They were awards given out at the end of the week in honor of Rick who we were forced to say goodbye to way too early and miss greatly.  With categories like "SandBarTender" given to Ryan for the number of times he swam out to the sandbar and back and "Face Off" to James for accidentally hitting Jen in the face with a football, it made for a very fun evening.

most of the kids waiting for the Ricky's to start

After spending  months counting down the days until the trip, the week ended up going by way too fast.  I would say it was a perfect week, except there was 1 really important person who was not able to join us, Philip.  He was missed by everyone. 

As anyone who knows me knows that no trip home would be complete without a couple hundred dollars spent at Target.  Krys was able to get me there on Saturday before I flew out on Sunday.  This resulted in me having 5 bags on the way back here (including a suitcase borrowed from Krys because I didn't have enough space).  At $90 per bag for overweight bags I had my fingers crossed when they were put on the scale and of course they were both overweight.  Thankfully I was lucky enough to either have a very nice or very mathematically challenged woman check me in because somehow I did not pay for either bag.  

So now I am back here on the rock missing everyone and looking forward to seeing them all again next summer.  In the meant time I have already started the count down to Christmas in VA when I can see my family and have another amazing week with them.