What better way to spend a nice summer evening than having dinner on the beach and watching the "tall" ships line up for the night?
Every June, Norfolk has its HarborFest to celebrate all things boat. Usually, its a weekend festival where local boaters camp out on the Elizabeth River and enjoy the weekend. This year however, there was an extra part, OpSail 2012. Every decade or so, "tall ships" from all over the world organize to tour around the various ports. They hit Baltimore, Boston, New York and even Norfolk. To kickoff HarborFest on Friday, the tall ships were going to do a sail parade. This required all of them to stage themselves off the Lesner Bridge in VA Beach (Chesapeake Bay side). We decided this would be a great evening to head up, let the girls play, have a dinner picnic, and enjoy the view.
Few foreign sails
US Coast Guard Cutter EAGLE (training ship for the cadets)
We wanted to try this again (we went camping with Lily when she was just a year and didn't make it through the night due to a storm) close to home. We went to First Landing on Shore Drive not too far from where we got married. We love this beach and before kids would go there a lot and take Maci with us. *note- bay water and dogs not a good combo*
We also wanted to try this before it got too hot and too many people were there. The weekends are already booked so going on a weekday is the key. We got a site with electric and water, both a great thing and we were also right across the road from the bathrooms which is also very key.
We checked-in and got busy setting up camp.
Did NOT realize the amount of people that really set up for weeks at a time!
Wow.
We only did one night, I really think two nights would be much more worth the time and effort but it definitely gave us an insight that this family could definitely handle roughn' it for a couple of nights.
After a quick dinner and a quick change into bathing suits we headed up to the bay.
So much fun being on an empty beach and having it all to ourselves.
We went for a long walk looking for shells, chased little sand crabs and enjoyed the sunset.
Our First Family Sunset
Back for jammies and s'mores :)
We decided to not put the cover on our tent in hopes that it would keep us cooler but it was awesome since our tent was in a clearing. The sky was so clear that we were able to lay and look at the stars while in our tent. We were directly under the Big Dipper! The girl's eyes could not have gotten any bigger! It was so much fun and the girls slept! They really slept well!
After packing up camp, we had one more beach day in us :)
My Mother's Day Weekend began Friday evening when the girls brought me flowers and dessert after their nap. So sweet and they were so excited to give me presents :)
Saturday, it was my choice of what to do and of course, we went to the beach. Our first family day at the beach and we stayed pretty much the entire day. The girls did awesome, we brought plenty of good food and snacks, drank plenty of water, took walks, played in the sand, even tried to take a few cat naps. We are looking forward to this summer!
Sunday morning, the girls were up early. Early like 630 and 7, not sure if they got the memo that we don't do that in this house especially on Mother's Day but they were soooo excited.
The coffee was quickly followed by the most amazingly huge card that was decorated for me. They colored, drew pictures and wrote I Love You Mom on it. And, the surprises continued. An outdoor clock, garden accessories, gorgeous necklace, coffee mug and my most favorite; Lily's Cafe. Lily and Daddy created a menu for Lily's Cafe that I got to choose my breakfast from. It was so great! I loved every second of it!
We then took an unplanned trip to Williamsburg to their Pottery place and outlets. Another all day even that went so smoothly and we all had so much fun!
And, no Mother's Day would be complete without dinner and a movie.
This is a long little dance clip, so no need to watch entire thing, just cracks us up to no end!
Love you Lil, you made my Mother's Day the best ever!
We've had this marked on the calendar but you never know whether or not the weather or colds or whatever will work out. This year, it finally did!
It was a gorgeous day.
It was actually a summer beach day! That we were ill-prepared for.
We had a great time regardless.
We watched kites, tried to fly our own kites, played frisbee and ran with the crowds.
Seriously, watching Emma run on the beach is the cutest thing and looked as though she was running with the bulls in Spain! A little daredevil she is but lucky for us, we never ever go to the oceanfront in the summer so her "crowd running" has ended faster than it even began.
Today we hung out with the Bonfiglios on Fort Story near the Cape Henry Lighthouse for our annual Christmas card picture shoot.
We had so much fun until the the very end when Lily took a tumble down at least eight wooden steps. First we saw her, then we didn't and then heard her scream. Yikes. Found her lying face down at the bottom of the steps with a nice rosy, scraped up cheek and a skinned knuckle. Luckily we had the best two daddies there to help with distraction and we were done with taking pictures too :)
Very blessed that we didn't have to make another trip to CHKD with Miss Lily today.
This morning we headed to Pungo to pick some more blueberries and blackberries, Yum!
The morning clouds kept it cool so we could stay a bit longer picking our huge basket of berries. And, since they had just opened the back of the fields this morning we got the best berries ever! The girls had a blast and Emma actually decided to put some of the berries she picked in the bin instead of eating all of them.
After finishing we headed to Sandbridge, the closest beach to Pungo which also fulfilled our fun can adventure of; Go to a New Beach. Sandbridge reminded us of a more commercialized OBX with lots of summer rentals. The waves were very strong, the lifeguards had the red no swimming flags posted, it was extremely crowded and we lost a binky with strap :(. We had a great time but realized we are much more a Chic's Beach or North End kinda family.
We also have to say that we love being able to go into the county to gather berries, go to great produce stands to get fresh veggies and then go to the beach. Loving our summer, beachy kinda life.
Saturday we spent our day on Chic's Beach again. We loved every second of playing in the sand, jumping waves and taking walks. But, I do have to say that I loved my first 20 minutes of this beach morning. Emma passed out on the drive and stayed asleep on my shoulder :). How wonderful sitting in the shade, watching Mike and Lily and enjoying my sleepy baby. Happy Happy.
Sunday evening was spent on the oceanfront on 85th Street, love love love this spot! We had portraits taken by Kathy, or Mrs. Baksa Lily's asst teacher from this past year. She is also a photographer and is absolutely wonderful!! Here's her site and hope to have pictures by the weekend to share :)
We spent most of the day on the beach and in the water.
The girls are becoming quite the beach bunnies and enjoying the water more and more. Today Lily got her face wet which usually results in crying and needing a towel but today she looked us and said, "I'm OK, it's just a little water. I'm fine."
We love you Daddy!
And, Happy Father's Day to Pa, Poppy and all the other amazing Dads we know.
So despite the sometimes rancid fishy smell of the bay, I believe we have found our go to spot for the summer. Chick's Beach. Mike and I went there pretty often before kids just because it's so peaceful and we could take Maci with us and Lily's first trip to the beach was here but now it's because the waves or lack there of are so less intimidating than the ocean waves.
Lily and Emma were very brave today and loved going into the water. They sat on the edge and let the water come up on their legs, they wanted to run after the little schools of minnow fish (yuk.) and loved being spun around by daddy.
Today we became one step closer to our "spot" for the summer, 50th Street. It was perfect and not too crowded. Plus, we were able to gaze at all of the huge houses that line the oceanfront!
Today was much like yesterday where the girls weren't ready to run into the water but Lily was very into shell collecting. Luckily we were right in front of a sandbar that had tons of shells. Mike and I would shovel some sand into a pail so that Lily could sift through and find shells. This occupied the girls for a looong time!
The second biggie...Mike and I waded out to the huge, shallow sandbar with the girls in hand. Emma dug her little fingernails into our shoulders while Lily acted as though she was a koala bear hugging a tree. We traded kids on our four trips out and when I had Lily I would put her down in between waves. I have never heard such screams from this little girl! As soon as we would get back to shore, put her down, she would run to the towel yelling, "I DID IT!" Ha Ha....quite the beach girls we have on our hands :)
The official start to summer for the Check Family.
Today we went to the beach for the first time!
We went back to the spot we have been going to for the past few years on 32nd Street. The girls loved the morning we spent there but we quickly found out that they are not huge fans of the waves or the water for that matter.
They sat and played in the sand most of the time. Mike and I took turns filling up buckets with water that they would immidiately dump but it was worth it. We now know that we need a second beach chair since they are more than likely to stay close and Mike and I may be able to sit and relax :). Yay.
