Friday, June 26, 2015

OBX Memories

 Juliet cracked me up in the mornings. I was so worried about all of us in 1 room, but it was totally do-able! Leah slept on the floor on Juliet's mattress and Juliet slept with us. It honestly worked out well. I had originally thought of having Leah sleep with her cousins, but she wasn't comfortable being on another floor, away from us. And, honestly, their sleep schedules are so different, that I think this worked out best. It was fun to pile in the bed every morning and cuddle as a family.
 This trip Leah was really into practicing her gymnastics. She was moved up early to the next instructional level at her gym. She is the smallest one in class, sometimes by far, but she is determined. She loves to do gymnastics, and has no fear of flipping over or trying something tricky. Yesterday I was trying to help her practice and did a cartwheel, for probably the first time in 10 years. It was bad. But, it made her laugh hysterically. She says dance is her true passion, but she flips, somersaults, and does cartwheels at every chance she gets. We will see!
 Our nephew Trevor is really coming into his own as an athlete. I can't believe how much he has grown and matured since our first OBX trip 5 years ago. Chris prides himself on being fast, so after a few cocktails, I arranged a race. Peter, Trevor, and Chris all participated. They ran about 75 yards. The first race was a photo finish, but Trevor emerged the winner. Go Trevor! Trevor also won the second race. It was so fun to watch! I'm proud of Chris, who has 15+ years on Trevor, and kept it competitive! Peter did awesome, too. It was all in good fun, and I hope to recreate the race in a few years. Chris will be practicing!
 Second Race, action shot!

 Auntie Renee was very helpful in the swim lesson department. She gave Leah and Lucia swim lessons every day. We saw Leah become much more comfortable in the water. Lucia actually learned to swim on her own! I told Leah that this is the summer she learns to swim. She's not totally on board, but I am determined. We plan on going to our neighborhood pool regularly once it warms up a bit more.
 Leah and Juliet had so much fun giving Hannah make-overs. They loved doing her hair and trying on her glasses in the evenings. 

 The last day Leah wanted to jump in the ocean and have me take her picture. We had to be super safe and stay on shore because some a-hole fisherman caught a sting ray in his line, then cut the line, so there was a fighting-for-life, pissed off, sting ray right where we sat and played every day. Auntie Nicole had a wrestling match with a string ray earlier in the week when a wave pushed one into her. Both parties were pretty freaked out, and Auntie Nicole walked away with a pretty big scrape on the back of her leg. Then, we're pretty sure the fisherman's bait attracted a small shark because we saw a dorsal fin circling the area for about an hour (and, no, it was not a dolphin). After some serious side-eyes and loud talking about how inappropriate it was for him to be fishing at 10am in an area that is full of families and little kids wanting to swim in the ocean, and how we were not appreciating the half-dead sting ray and possible shark, he packed up his things and left. I don't mind the fishermen in the early morning, or evening, but prime beach time for families is pretty ridiculous. 

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