The most overloadiest of all photo overload posts of all time

Good morning! Hello Monday morning! I hope you are sitting down with a big cup of coffee to relax and enjoy this post because there are a LOT of pictures.




I am posting so many photos I am so insanely proud of this collection. This was THE BEST vacation we've had with the boys, and I feel like the photos captured the essence of our week at the beach. I feel like these pictures also best represent me and how I see the world, whether I took them with a big fancy camera or a little point and shoot.

And how I see the world is filled with joy.

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First up, the candids.

Again this year we stayed in a triplex right on the Atlantic Ocean in North Topsail Beach. Since all four of us love the beach, we tried to spend as much time there as possible while also being sun-smart. This meant lots of dinners eaten on the beach when the sun was not too strong (and early morning walks in PJs).




As predicted, Alex "aired out" quite a bit, running around. Throwing sand. Chasing birds. Screaming and yelling. Doing cartwheels while ALSO throwing sand.




The boys graduated to the big boogie boards this year, and a tropical storm provided some huge waves for boarding. (They also provided the road rash that is under Nate's band-aids on his chest.)




Nate slept in a few days. Not Alex, nope, not ever Alex. That kid wakes up early at 100% every day.




We collected a lot of shells and the tropical storm brought in tons of sea glass. Since sea glass is foreign to the Florida Gulf beaches where I grew up, I love love love collecting it. I just love that the sea turns trash into something so beautiful.




We also experienced some new things. I've seen TONS of dolphins in my lifetime but this trip, we saw an entire school jumping and jumping in the air. It was amazing.

What was not new: the boys fighting. The people down the beach really enjoyed watching this as their two completely calm granddaughters played quietly in the sand.




Because we are awesome parents we made a lot of sand castles and pools and buried the kids. Okay fine, we did it to stop the whining.




We had one day of crazy rain from the storm, so we headed out for a day trip for some time at the aquarium...




and a battleship. We learned our family will never cruise because all four of us were panicked inside the battleship, wanting to get out. The boys were OF COURSE most fascinated with the guns and pretending to shoot down helicopters. They were big guns. Really big guns.




There was also lots of general tomfoolery.




We took the ferry from the island for some ice cream (my baby is so big now!!).




And we got some fresh peel and eat shrimp and hush puppies. The boys stuffed themselves on hush puppies.




Now... for the portraits. I had this super amazing awesome kickass idea for a photo of Nate and Alex on the boardwalk that led to the beach from our beach house. They did not cooperate.




Nate did agree to take a photo of me and Jon...




if we would pretend to be robots first.




What can I say? The kid is obsessed with robots right now.




You may have noticed a theme, that Nate was not the least bit cooperative for photos. Alex, on the other hand, was super cooperative. He does a close mouthed smile, which I do not understand. Smile like your face hurts peoples!




If I only had one kid, this would have been perfect!




Fortunately the kids are almost always cooperative for photos with Jon.




Don't worry. I still managed to get the shots I wanted. Favorite picture of Nate. BOOM.




And... favorite picture of Alex. BOOM.




Fortunately despite the out takes from last week and the general craziness, I still got the perfect picture I wanted of Nate and Alex. The beach does that to them. Also threats and bribes. (This is definitely going on our walls.)




2011 beach trip vacation = BEST EVER. (Nate wrote the letters. Makes it perfect to me.)