East Coast Part I

 

We recently completed our whirlwind travels to the east coast. It started off with an overnight stay in Greenville, SC (where Ed had a business mtg) – and by the way, the novelty of hotels has not worn off for the boys... Then it was off to visit Darren, Annie & Jonas in Chapel Hill. The boys had fun playing and it was great to catch up with my big bro. Just wish we could've stayed longer! Nana and P-pop awaited us in Greenville, NC where we caught up, went to a dairy farm, and flew model airplanes with Greatdaddy. (Morgan & Dean said their favorite part was being the "rescue team" after the plane crashed). I also had multiple visits with Great Nana and Great Daddy, including a special treat: Greatdaddy's famous whiskey sour cocktail : )

park in Greenville, SC while Ed was in his mtg

notice the book title : )

making crab cakes with Nana

Trying to piece the plane together after a crash. Doesn't look good.

Happy Hour at the Harmon's

Then it was off to Duck, NC for the bi-annual family beach vacation. It was so good to have everyone under one roof and catch up. All the kids are getting so big and I think Morgan and Dean were old enough to forge a deeper bond with their cousins this trip. Dean always had an arm around Luke or Ethan and Morgan liked playing older-boy games like Wii and even 31 with the adults! While they weren't great fans of the beach, they hung out at the pool and Morgan finally got the swimming thing down. We ate great food and just took it easy. Ed and I even squeezed in some tennis and also managed to convince Donna to play Cards Against Humanity - which turns out she's pretty good at. One night, Darren and Annie and Ed and I had a nice night at a local beer garden and succeeded in convincing Darren to make a stop on the way home to attempt karaoke. Now I know he's not one for performing onstage, but his rendition of "Jump Around" was serious -- he didn't even have to look at the lyrics! Annie and I tried to do back up, but couldn't keep up. We did one song, and then it was peace out : ) All in all, it was a fun week complete with fishing, rides on the golf cart, go-karting, ice cream runs, pool games, and some really good Maryland crabs! Thanks mom for coordinating everything!

 

Marco Polo

Ice Cream run

Props to you, Darren

 

Nothing like oyster shooters to commemorate another family beach week

And a beach week wouldn't be complete without all the family photos: