We spent the week of July 4th in our traditional and most favorite place...the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is our fourth year going now and has become such an amazing tradition for the Cleveland family. Tami even surprised us by coming...only my parents knew beforehand that she would be there!!
We had fabulous weather the entire time that we were there which made for lots of fun times at the beach...
Many sand creations were made...
And some big holes were dug!
Lazy days at the beach with family never get old!!
The best part is all the fun time with cousins...
And this now 4-year-old loved the beach this year and had so much more fun playing in the surf. Last year he wouldn't go anywhere near the water so this was a huge improvement!
I had so much fun spending time with my wonderful sisters and their families!!
Maylie was a trooper through it all and probably ate her entire body weight in sand!!
I was so glad that my parents were able to come out and had such a great time. My dad is in the middle of chemotherapy right now and definitely has some rough times but was a trooper through our week-long stay in North Carolina.
Grandma enjoyed lots of time with all 10 grandchildren!
Maylie would often take her morning nap in my arms on the beach and I didn't mind one bit!
We had lots of fun family moments like dancing to the "Bird song"...
Eating lots of yummy foods (each family takes a turn cooking one night and we were very well fed that week!)
The whole group together again...
Grandparents of 10 now!
The kids always enjoy lots of time in our own private pool too...
It is so fun when your cousins are your best friends!
Even the babies joined in the action...
Every night included a fun family activity. One night was a family talent show...
A night all about memories (remembering our past like elephants do)...
A fun skit about colors which included a solo of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Abby!
And Abby came up with a cute little play all about Independence Day that the kids put on together.
We also took an excursion over to Roanoke Island to visit the aquarium again this year.
With all of the recent shark attacks lately, we were grateful that this was our only shark sighting that week! We did see a big pod of dolphins out in the ocean one day which was pretty awesome!
Maylie didn't enjoy being a T Rex's snack!
Petting sting rays is always a fun treat...
Maylie tried out a few souvenir hats too!
Look at that cute little face!
A semi-family portrait (minus Maylie who was in her stroller and Landon who decided to stay at home with Grandma)...
The kids really enjoyed learning how to save and rescue sea turtles too!
On Friday morning we attended the annual parade in Duck which is a fun quintessential Americana type experience...
And on the 4th we enjoyed some firework displays up and down the beach from Kitty Hawk to Corolla!
(not my picture but gives you an idea of how cool it is to watch fireworks over the ocean!)
We look forward to this week so much and it is always a little sad to come back home to the real world again. We already have our reservation set up for next year though so until then...
