Virginia Beach

Two years ago we had an Eckerson family reunion at Virginia Beach and we were able to have a repeat again this year. Last time I had just had King and I couldn't get in the water, so this time around I was really excited to just be pregnant and at least be able to get in the pool. Hopefully someday we can go when I am neither pregnant nor postpartum and I can really join in all the fun. The funny thing is my mom keeps getting rear ended and with the settlement money she is able to rent the beach house. I really want these reunions to keep happening, but I am not sure I want it to happen if that means my mom has to keep getting injured. ;)

Traveling with kids is always an adventure. Of course King, who is usually our best sleeper, refused to sleep in the room we had. He was staying up till midnight and waking up at 5 am. Then he just wanted to watch tv all day and that was fine by me, because we had no energy left to deal with him. So here is a pic of what he did most of the time at the beach.

He also got away with having his binky all the time. We are usually really strict and only let him have it for nap and bed time, but again he sucked all the fight out of us and we gave in. Here he is hanging out by the pool with his binky. He refused to get in the pool and spent the whole time just throwing things in. What a stinker. 

It was an exciting week for EZ. He lost his first tooth! When he turned six we told him he may start loosing teeth soon and sure enough within a day or two he had a loose one. He was happy to know that the tooth fairy could visit him in Virginia Beach. We were discussing how much things cost and what he could get with his tooth fairy money and he told us "I wish the tooth fairy gave me a credit card." That's one smart kid. He was full of one liners this trip. We were watching a preview for a movie about a girls high school basketball team and EZ yelled out "Girls don't do that." It was such a proud moment as a mother. Apparently we have not watched enough women's sports. 

I don't have a picture to go with this, but the beach trip got really exciting when my sister Meghan gave birth!! She thought she was 36 weeks along and safe to make the trip down from Pittsburgh, but after just 2 days at the beach she started having contractions. She tried to keep them on the down low, because we were all getting ready to go to the church for my sister Sarah's son's baby blessing. Well they got so bad that her and her husband skipped the blessing and went straight to the hospital. She had been in labor for about 2 1/2 hours when they checked in and she still wasn't 100% convinced that the baby was coming. Well then they checked her and she was already at 9 1/2 cm and her son Timothy was born 30 minutes later! He was 9 lbs 12 oz and they later determined that he was actually 38 weeks along. We thought she was kidding when we got the text saying he was born. Everyone was just in shock. It definitely made for a very unforgettable reunion. 

Just like last time, John was only able to stay for half the week. Of course 2 of those days were rainy. Poor John. One of the rainy days we headed out to the aquarium. The kids loved it. It was really big, which is great, except that I was waddling by the end. Here are the kids at one of the photo-op spots.

We spent a lot of nights out on the deck hanging out playing music and having our own sing along. Here is Netta with her cousins Sarah and Ellie. Netta was in heaven with all these older girls to play with. 

My brother-in-law Robert is awesome at the guitar and he and my dad brought a bunch of instruments and even printed out song books for everyone. 

EZ was really into the sing alongs. He decided that we had our own rock band called the "Rockers" and he had t-shirt ideas and everything. 

Of course I have to include some beach pictures. Going along with him being a stinker, King was not a big fan of the beach. He wasn't really interested in the sand or the water. He seemed content to just sit on my towel and dump water all over it. 

 EZ was timid by the water at first but eventually warmed up to it a bit. However he was allover playing in the sand. One day he became obsessed with digging the deepest hole he could. Once he couldn't reach any further his cousins helped take over and eventually they got the hole so deep that EZ could fit inside of it and barely see out the edge. It was awesome!

Netta loved the water and the sand, which was no surprise to me. The next day the girls had to dig a hole too. It wasn't as deep, but I am sure they had just as much fun. Netta and her cousin Grace were best buds. I don't have a picture but they even put on a dance show one night. It was stinking cute.

My brother Ben lives in Seattle and we don't get to see him very often to it was great that he could come. We actually haven't seen him in 2 years and when I showed Netta a picture of him she asked who he was and when I told her he was her uncle she asked "Did he die?" So it was pretty important we get to spend some time with him. Haha. 

Between the lack of sleep and all the time in the sun, I kept finding my kids passed out around the house. 

We were also really excited that my Grandpa made the trip down from New York. I hate how hard it is to get to see him and the rest of my extended family. We wanted to get a picture of all of us together, but of course King wouldn't cooperate. Please excuse how gross we all look. This was the morning we were leaving and none of us exactly got dressed up for the 9 hour car ride ahead. 

   

Since we were already on the east coast the kids and I headed up to Pittsburgh after the beach. I got a rental car and to my amazement survived being the sole driver for 9 hours. I am not going to lie, it was hard on my body, but thanks to my niece Sarah being willing to read me books, we made it in one piece. Stay tuned for a post about our adventures in Pittsburgh.