crab night

Zach's favorite night at the beach is surely Crab Night.

This is, of course, when we order a bunch of crabs and sit outside to break them all open and dip them in butter.  

Some people don't like all the work it takes to get so little food, but Zach thinks it is all part of the fun.  The boys little agreed. 

Most of the kids screamed a lot when we put the crabs into the pots.

If wish I could post a video because it was pretty darn funny.

Most of them changed their tune once they ate it, but some stayed far away.

The hammers surely add an extra element of fun, that Gus appreciated.
Although, he did hit a lot of other things with that hammer so I didn't exactly love it.

I have to admit it is pretty good, but really what isn't when it is soaked in garlic butter?

I love this brothers shot of Nano and Uncle Kringle. 

I should have gotten Uncle Tony in there, too, so all the missing brothers would feel left out, and actually come to the beach next time.

Some of the kids might have liked the blue cotton candy more than the crabs

... not my boys, of course, since they are their father's sons. But they like it.

Yay, Crabs!

wright brothers memorial

On the second day in the Outer Banks it was pretty stormy, so we headed over to the Wright Brothers Memorial that was right across the street from where we were staying.

It was only sprinkling a little, and for the most part the kids liked it.  

They made it up the hill without too much complaining and were nice enough to pose for a few pictures.

I think their favorite part was this replica of the first moment in flight that they could play on.

The grown-ups had a little fun as well.

at the beach house

We had a great house this year at the Outer Banks.  

As in past years, it is fun to have everyone in the same house to cook meals and play games, but this year we were right on the beach.  

The quick walk back for forgotten things and potty breaks was much appreciated by me.

The kids all had lots of fun playing together.

... and Gus with Uncle Tony.

There were lots of cousin hugs going on.

Everyone took during turns shopping and cooking, so we ate pretty well.

Nano brought these reflective belts that they use in the Army because the flash from a camera makes them look like light sabers.

(Expect to see more of these, seeing as Jimmy wants to have a Star Wars Birthday/Halloween this year. 

FYI, it only seems to work with camera phones). 

The ones of the boys were on Nano's phone, but I got this one of Nat and I:

And as I said before, it's not a good vacation if you don't have some awesome naps. 

Zach and I both took turns having some great ones with Gus:

The deck was a fun place to hang out, although slightly frightening with small children due to the opening below the benches and Gus' general craziness. 

It made my stomach turn more than once.

Our cousin Ryan was supposed to be on the trip, but ended up having to go on a work trip.  

His wife Jess had to brave it with three kids without him.  

He did have some FaceTime with everyone so it was almost like he was with us... but actually not really at all.

At least, he can still make these girls crack up long distance.

Nana Weisse (aka: G.G.-Great Grandma) made it on her first beach trip and she got to bond with Gus.

He requested lots of "This Little Piggie."

The view was rather lovely, wasn't it? 

in the sand

Our walk to the beach this year was just right out our back gate and up this walkway:

The houses on both sides of us were empty so we usually had a pretty uncrowded area of the beach to take over.

Zach tried out some fishing and Jimmy helped.

There were many sandcastles built and many moats dug and filled.

Gus liked to carefully rub off the little notches on the tops of the castles because apparently he liked them better smooth on top.
This was infuriating to his brother.

Jimmy insisted on a sea turtle.

Quinn and Gus were good little digger buddies.

Fortunately, they were both past the age of sand eating.

The kids collected tons of shells. Jimmy refused to leave any behind so we currently have a huge bag of them on our porch.  A few shells even had muscles still living inside of them so the kids started collecting an aquarium of sand crabs and other odd things. Stella found some kind of spongie sea creature.  Then we were all baffled by a mystery blob that looked like a rock, but wiggled when you touch it.  My first few attempts at googling it were unsuccessful, so I am open to thoughts.  I have no pictures of this creature so it may just remain a mystery.

And of course, there was plenty of time for lounging and just being cozy.

Gus loved snacking on goldfish, but seemed to prefer dropping them in the sand to actually eating them.
The seagulls were keeping a close watch.
He also found a special friend in Uncle Tony.

And a beach trip wouldn't be complete without a nap on a towel.

 Zach and I went boogie boarding and I wiped out which was... funny?

 My boys:

Nano and Nana with their grandkids:

The Weisse Family Picture:

(Can you believe this is only a small fraction of them?)

Don't look too closely at the one above, okay?  Jess had the better version on her camera.

Instead just look at this cute family:

 And these cute cousins:

And these cute brothers.