Our trip to the beach

Last weekend, we made the trip to Pine Knoll Shores, NC for a long beach weekend with our good friends Jason & Michelle. Drew had a great weekend and he did not want to sit still for a second (he likes keeping us on our toes these days). He was crawing on this, climbing on that, opening doors, opening cabinets, wanting to go out the back door, wanting to go out the front door, running, falling, climbing up the stairs, climbing down the stairs, pressing buttons, pulling plugs... he even crawled out of the playpen for the first time ever - I was quite shocked when I opened the bedroom door to find Drew walking around the room long past his bedtime. He didn't want to miss a thing! He wasn't all that interested in the water this year, but he really enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach.

On the 4th of July, Drew stayed awake long passed his typical bedtime for the fireworks (on the beach where we were staying you could see a couple of "offical" fireworks shows in the distance as well as individuals around shooting off their own firworks around us). We laid out a blanket on the beach and the 5 of us watched the various displays - Drew was not scared of them and alternated between choruses of "ohhhhs" and "uh-ohs". We think we even heard a "pretty" and "nice" come out of his mouth after a couple of them. =) It was a great evening - the temperature was so comfortable, the ocean breeze was blowing. During the middle of the fireworks Drew got so comfy that he fell asleep on my lap (this never happens - he really only sleeps in his bed and very occasionally in the car) and it is a precious moment forever in my mind with my little one on a great night on the beach with friends & family.

A big thank you to "Uncle" Jason & "Aunt" Michelle for letting us join them at the beach, for some wonderful meals, and mostly putting up with an active toddler and parents that are still somewhat new to this game. We had a great weekend with you.

Daddy and Drew head down to check out the surf Drew enjoyed the sand this year - he didn't try to eat it near as much as this time last year =) And he's off... This is what Drew thinks about sunscreen getting into his eye "This is the life" Little beach feet We made a trip to the NC Aquarium & Drew loved the fish. He especially liked the playful otters! Playing with "Aunt" Michelle This is the closest we got to everyone actually looking at the same time