#sinksinthesand2015

We have an every-other-year vacation situation with my family and Daniel's family.  This year, we went to the beach with the Trevillians & Overstreets.  Last time we went to Duck with my family in 2013, we had 18-month old Abby.  This year, we had a baby boom, and there was 3-year old Abby + 2-5 month old ladies + 1-2 month old Seth.  It was so chaotic but we had a blast.  Daniel & I loved taking the girls down to the ocean for the very first time.  Putting their tiny toes in the sand was fun to do.  I'm sure they felt right at home, because they listen to "ocean waves" on their sound machine each and every night.  I'm not going to lie though, the beach was kind of a pain.  We did the beach two days, but there was sand everywhere.  In their rolls, in their diaper, on their legs.  It was challenging trying to keep them shaded and cool.  We spent the majority of the time at the pool at our house.  The girls hung out in the shade and spent some time in their floats.  Each night, a different family would fix dinner + clean up.  We watched the season-opener of the Hokies vs. Ohio State (womp womp...).  We had a really great time.  My most favorite part of the week was going out to the beach in the morning with Daniel, after the girls were well on their way to a morning nap.  We took our coffee with the intention of going on a walk.  Right away, our walk turned into shell-searching.  We decided on that first morning, we would fill a jar up for each girl with shells that we found for them.  It was awesome.  We spent alone-time together, it was peaceful, and we talked and looked for shells.  A memory I'll always treasure, and am looking forward to doing that in the beach-trips to come!

Buckle-up, my trusty blog-readers.  We took a zillion pictures!

Day 1

these two foxy ladies are ready for the beach!

just kidding, Ella isn't very happy with me and the situation I put her in

On the way down to the beach, we stopped and visited with the Lehman's and saw their pretty new house (sorry, we successfully took 0 pictures).  Then we hopped over to the McKinney's and met sweet Addie for the first time.

The McKinney's + The Sink's and all three of our additions

We finally made it to Corolla!  After unpacking the car, we took the girls to meet the ocean for the very first time.

While we were fixing dinner, I had to snap this most perfect view:  two babies + the ocean in the background.  Ahhh, vacation!

Day 2

early-morning Sink selfie.  So happy to wake up on vacation with these two!

Naked babies playing with Nana and Papa

Sydney wearing Papa's hat



and Ella, too!

We got the girls all lathered up and were ready for the pool!

that's how you do vacation right there

the guys had a blast playing pool-float-beer-pong.  I made a celebrity appearance occasionally

Syd-girl floating

Ella's just the cutest

You aren't a legit dad until you are drinking a beer on a float while supervising your infant, who is also floating

My mom took this picture of all three of us taking a quick snooze on the couch.  I'll be honest - that was such a good nap!  Love having those tinies on me

Happy cousins!  They are all three sporting pink and teal - and smiles!

 Day 3

Sydney is throwing up some gang signs, while simultaneously sporting her "This One's Trouble -->" bib (perfectly placed haha)

happy momma

always melts my heart when the girls have to be touching while they nap

 We conquered the beach on our third day there.  It was also game day!

Sydney is happy as a peach and Ella is less than thrilled

sleeping beach babes.  don't you just love those hats?

TOUCHDOWN!

 When we were done with the beach and sand, we headed to the pool to cool off and wash off

I can't even handle it...

beach bums

Ella :)

I can't get over Ella's look of glee on her face!

After we lazy-ed around at the beach/pool all day, we got ready for VT's season opener against Ohio State!

Let's cuddle and watch the VT Hokies play

Hokie cousins

....and Abby was done.  Too many babies all over her

really, she was done.

Hokie family <3 Ella is happy and ready for kick-off

Day 4

Ella is so good at vacationing - she floated around like this for so long

Sydney's letting it all loose

hiding her goods

family walk on the ocean

it's so hard to get a good picture of both girls - and here they are, in solid form, looking totally opposite ways

 Day 5

does this view look familiar?  bouncy seats on the back deck... only this time, there is a particularly good background :) 

Life is good today.

I couldn't resist a full-lap this afternoon.  The girls napped and I watched Scandal (duh!)

we pulled out the Ergos and became THOSE [cool] parents

and after the girls went to bed... we enjoyed adult beverages, adult card games, and the hot tub

Day 6

 

We spent the day being lazy inside and shopped a little bit, to give their baby sensitive skin a break from sun and sunscreen.  Daniel and I also enjoyed a delicious lunch out together, followed up by iced coffee and good conversation :)  When we got home, we hung out in the shade by the pool

Ella smiling at Abby and getting slapped in the face by Sydney

a cute view of all 4 cousins hanging out

and we often times find ourselves in this situation - one baby rolls on top of the other

Day 7

For whatever reason, I went picture crazy.  Maybe I was thinking I needed to soak it all in before we left the next day

sweet girls.  Ella is probably so happy that she's about to go to town on Sydney's arm

napping poolside :)

after a nap + bottle, I put on these cute coordinating suits (SO hard to find coordinating, so I guess I decided I had to document..).  They were a little big, but whatevs

two smiles :) :)

Afternoon snack by the pool; Ella & Daddy

Momma + Sydney

Daniel & Sydney... both are looking so fly

<3 sweet Elle

that belly though



I certainly hope the girls liked tummy time while looking at the pool

my main squeeze



Thing 1 & Thing 2

I had to take a few pictures of our awesome loot from my mornings with Daniel.  Pro-tip: you find the BEST shells the morning after a storm

we even found a twin-shell!  how perfect

We had such a fabulous week, and we can't help but look forward to all the beach trips in the future - I have a sneaky feeling they will just get better and better.