A week at the beach!

 All packed up and beach bound...

 

A very full van

{with a Riley photo-bomb}

 

Many hours later, almost there...

 

Finally, crossing the bridge onto the island of

The OuterBanks, NC

 

This is the reason we prefer to drive 8 hours south for some beach time...

we LOVE the view from the deck of our beach front house!

 

Sure, there are plenty of beaches must closer to home that we could visit,

but you get so much more for your money down south.

And when I spend a week at the beach I want to be ON the beach !!

 

The whole crew:

 Sean and I and our 4 kids near the middle,

My sister Kristy, her husband Tony and their kiddies Tatum and Teagan on the right,

My brother Steve and his wife Brandie on the left with 3 of their girls spread out

 

The day we arrived might have been someone's birthday...

 {me with my sis and my sis-in-law}

 

And it just might have been a BIG one !!

 

Another reason we love this place...

 ...our morning view !

 

Day #1 at the beach

Aidan, Audra, Riley and Maura

 



 All the cousins except one (Baby Teagan)

It was a difficult task actually getting all 9 cousins in one picture at once.

 



 Boogie Boarding...

 

Skim Boarding...

 

 

After a few hours at the beach it was pool time!

Heading to the beach on day #2

 Some of the girl cousins 

 

 

Then, back to the pool again.

Aidan helped Audra jump in the deep end...

 ...with multiple floatation devices !

 

We had lots of fun outside of the beach and pool too...

Mini Golf

 



 Go-karts

 

The local YMCA had a skate park,

Aidan must have researched and known,

because he insisted on packing his scooter.

 Evening walks to Sonic

 

 ...for milkshakes !

More beach fun...

 

 Maura buried Tatum in the sand,

she LOVED it !!

 

Baby cousin Teagan



 

Sister sweetness: 

 

More pool fun...

FINALLY...

all 9 cousins in ONE picture !!

 

 We even had fun inside the house...

 sleeping in

 

 eating ice cream for breakfast

 



 sharing screen time with cousins

 

One evening we attempted to get some nice beach pictures of the little girls in their matching monogrammed dresses...

 3 girls was somewhat manageable...

Individual pics were fairly easy...

 

But all 4 at once was NOT going to happen !!

 

the out-takes are cute though :)

 

Sweetness...

 

 Audra spent Wednesday at the beach like this...

 

 and later that night...

 We took her in to the ER because she had a temp of 104.

We all know that Audra means serious business when she has a high fever.

Luckily her labs didn't look too bad,

and since she was acting exactly like she has with her other kidney infections...

they gave her an injection of an antibiotic and a prescription for an oral antibiotic and we were outta there!

 

Thursday

 We managed to get Audra up and down the beach,

even got a quick picture in,

then she was back to napping...

 She spent pretty much the next 48 hour like this,

sleeping on a beach chair or the couch!

 

 Sean and Uncle Tony took Aidan fishing one evening...

He was pretty excited that he caught a fish!

 

Meanwhile,

Audra continued to sleep off the sickies...

 Thank God for her G-tube!!
I was able to get her medicines and antibiotics in her while she slept the days away.
And I am certain it prevented her from having to be admitted to the hospital because I could keep her hydrated by giving her an ounce or two of pedialyte every hour.
This is the first time Audra has not been admitted to the hospital when she has had a high fever/infection.  Usually with IV antibiotics she bounces back within 24-36 hours. 
But this time she felt terrible for DAYS!
I think because the oral antibiotics just didn't kick the germies to the curb as quickly.
Next time I think I would push for her to stay in the hospital for just one night for IV antibiotics if it means she would feel better sooner.
 

 Our last day...

 That's a wrap of our 2016 at the beach!

 

 Good-bye OuterBanks,

hope to see you again next year!