Happy Birthday Riley

My big guy, Ry, turned 13 years old today!

I really, really can't believe he is a teenager.

He'll always be my first baby boy.

Family pictures on the beach

Our family

My 4 sweet blessings

Brothers

Sisters

Riley

Aidan

Maura

Audra

Cousins mania!

The whole gang

Audra's 1st beach portraits

other fun in OBX

Yesterday was National Aviation Day, and there is no better place to be but OBX...home of the Wright Brothers' Museum.

Admission to the museum was free for the day and there were many fun activities for the kids...
make your own plane,
a flight simulator,
a hang gliding simulator,
and even a quick flight over the sound!

Maura on the hang gliding simulator

Aidan (with Uncle Steve) waiting for his turn to fly

Here is Aidan's plane landing

Jockey's Ridge State Park has the tallest natural sand dunes in the Eastern US.  And it's famous for hang gliding and flying kites.  We didn't do either, but we did enjoy to beautiful panoramic views from the top!

endless sand dunes...

The kids enjoyed running and jumping down the sand cliffs...

and Audra enjoyed jumping in place :)

She also loved getting a ride from her big girl cousin, Hanah

The guys went on a fishing trip early one morning.  Nothing they caught would have been enough to feed all the hungry mouths in our house this week, so no fish came home.

The biggest guy caught the littlest fish :)

Dolphins swam along side their boat, so cool!

beach fun for everyone

The weather here in OBX has been perfect so far!  Not too hot, just warm and pleasant...which has made for lots of fun on the beach so far.

How could you not relax and enjoy yourself when this is your view everyday when you wake up...

Our house is the one all the way on the right,

we are just a few steps away from the beach!

The skim boarding cousins:
Hanah, Aidan, Tyler and Dylan

and the ever-traditional boogie boarding:

Aidan tried a new beach activity this year...

Surfing!

It's definitely not as easy as all those surfers make it look.  But Aidan persisted and eventually he was able to stand up and ride over some small waves.

Audra was like a fish in the water.
She loved to kick and splash, which made it difficult to keep a tight grip on her once she was wet and slippery.  

Problem solved...Aunt Kristy let us use baby Tatum's pool float!

Audra loved riding the waves with everyone. 

Audra, Daddy and Riley loved letting the waves crash on them!

Maura the mermaid

We had a nighttime bonfire on the beach

with yummy s'mores,

 creepy ghost crab hunting,

and glow in the dark ring toss!