Virginia Beach!

Yesterday we decided to go to Virginia Beach and we had a blast!  

We hit the road at 6:45 AM.

30 minutes into it Trevor said he had to go to the bathroom-  

he said he didn't need to go before we left!

Jacob posed for pictures outside the rest stop. 

We stopped at a doughnut shop in Richmond at 8:30 AM called Country Style Doughnuts.  I am still trying to find  a comparable doughnut out here to my all time favorite doughnut, Dunford's chocolate cake doughnut, these were really good, just not my Dunfords!  

                                   

We made it to Virginia Beach around 11 AM. We parked at a parking garage on 31st street.  We walked done to the beach and there was a huge Neptune stature. (picture from wikipedia.org) 

 There was a playground in the sand the kids played on and the bathrooms were super close!  

It was the perfect spot!

We spent the rest of our day playing in the sand and splashing in the water!!!  

   I love when my kids play together!

Ellie's favorite thing was going out in the ocean with Nick and having the waves splash into her.

                                             

Trevor had so much fun learning how to body surf.  He loved it! 

The waves would knock Trevor down and he would just get back up and do it all over again.   

Jacob LOVED playing in the sand.

 He would pick up mud balls and throw them into the waves over and over! 

Mom and Ellie taking a lunch break.  

On one of the many bathroom breaks I took Ellie on, I noticed that there was a Chobani yogurt truck giving away free samples so we all had a yogurt break!

 More water and sand time!

 Nick and I even saw dolphins out in the ocean and I saw one do a flip!

 Nick building a sand castle with Jacob and Ellie.  

Around 5:00 PM we hit the road.  

Our family picture for the day!

A fun day playing in the sand and ocean leads to this...

 On the way home near Fredricksburg a HUGE, torrential, rainstorm hit!  The rain was just coming down in buckets and of course Ellie needed to use the restroom.  Nick was a trooper and ran her to the rest stop bathroom.  They got SOAKED!

 We got home about 9 PM! 

It was such a fun day!  

Swimming at Cub Run

Some friends of ours invited us to go swimming the first Saturday in January for their son's birthday.  It was at a rec center in Chantilly called Cub Run.  Ellie and Nick weren't feeling well so they stayed home and I took the boys.  

We had a great time!      

Every hour you have to get out for 10 mins. so this is a picture of the first time we got out.

This rec center had 2 slides that you could go down if you were 48 inches or taller.  Trevor loves going down slides so he went down the first one and loved it.  I asked him if he was going down the second one and he said no because it was a pitch black slide that went outside and he didn't want to.  I said are you sure, you love slides and he hummed and hawwed and said okay I will try it.  

Well, I watched for him to get done and when he exited the slide he flexed his arms and said yah to himself (I had him do it again when he got back to me, see picture below)!  it was so cute to see!  He then looked over at me and just smiled and smiled.  He loved it, so, he went and did it again!   

Jacob loved doing the playground slide and going in the lazy river.  

And here we are ready to leave!  

I am so glad we got to go!  There was a moment of panic when we were leaving and Trevor said "mom, where is my hat?" (his new flat bill hat he got for Christmas that he LOVES!)  I said "I don't know Trevor you never gave it to me."  And he said "yes I did!"  I didn't have it.  Luckily, someone had turned it in to the front desk.  

  

Elsa/Ana Hair

Ellie doesn't love it when I do her hair!  So a couple weeks ago I asked Ellie if I could do an Elsa/Anna Braid, and she said "Elsa Anna Braid!" and she let me do it.  So now when I do her hair I just have to add Elsa or Anna before whatever I do...so Elsa/Anna messy buns, Elsa/Anna ponytail, Elsa/Anna pig tails... hopefully it lasts for a while!  

For this picture I did Elsa/Ana braids and i love how they turned out.     

 But, boy she wasn't happy this morning!  .

New Year's Eve 2014

For New Year's Eve our friends invited us to their house with a few other families for a little party.  They told us to bring white elephant gifts for each person.  So, Nick and I looked around the house for different items to take with us.  I had remembered I had purchased this fuse bead craft kit from Savers and hadn't ever pulled it out so I thought it would be great.  Well, I pulled it out and Trevor said, "Hey, I love those...don't give that away!"(See picture below)  I told him he could try to win it from the white elephant exchange and bring it home.    

 I also thought it would be great to take a snack to share so I thought making stuffed pretzel bites would be delicious...well, they probably would have been but I learned first hand there is a huge difference between wax paper and parchment paper!  They were stuck so bad that they were a total waste...lesson learned!  Nick though made Oreo truffles and they were a hit!    

The white elephant exchange for the kids...

 Ellie got to be first...

 She got a "Frozen" lunch box with puzzle and she was so excited.  Well, I made the mistake of saying 

"Ellie will start crying if you take this from her."  My intention wasn't to dissuade others from taking it but to let them know it would be all right if she cried.  Well, everyone was very kind and didn't take it away but I felt silly for saying what I said...oops!  

 Jacob's turn...

 He got a girls headband and a girls lunch box...it was so funny!

 Then someone opened up the beads...

 and Trevor stole them and ended up bringing them home!  It made me laugh!  

 Donut eating contest...which the kids loved!  Before Jacob started we kept telling him, Jacob you can't use your hands...he kind of remembered!  

 Trevor's turn...

 Nick and I

 And for the adult white elephant gift exchange these hats that Brian Steed brought were a hit!  They were hilarious!

 Ellie playing with the set of bowls I got.

 Ellie and I left the party about 9:30 so Ellie could go to bed.  

Here is Ellie's last picture of 2014, with her lunchbox!  

 Then, Nick and the boys came home around 11:15...they celebrated at the Hutchings at 11 pm.  Then we stayed up and watched the ball drop at midnight!  Trevor and Jacob stayed up the whole time and loved that they got to stay up.  Here is our family picture (sans Ellie) after we yelled Happy New Year and blew noise makers.  

What a wonderful 2014 we had!  We are excited to see what 2015 brings!