Summer Begins! Trip #1

School ended on June 10th and my first trip scheduled was June 12th. I didn't waste any time :) I went to Beaufort, NC with the Gaskin's and the Orr's. That would be 4 adults and 6 children and then me. It was a co-worker's beach house that we rented on the Bogue Sound. We left on Friday afternoon. The Orr's were scheduled to arrive before us and get everything ready. It was a four hour trip that went smoothly for the most part. We made one stop to get gas, drinks, and use the potty. Ha Lien is fascinated with every potty now that she uses it. She also was very impressed with the automatic paper towel dispenser. She just loves to say automatic. Then we were off! Within 10 minutes John was freaking out. When he left the gas station a man bumped into him and now he can't find his wallet.(Losing his wallet is pretty routine but he is convinced he was pick pocketed.) So Hao is calm and turns the mini van around. We pull off and John gets out to look more carefully. Low and behold it is in the center compartment where he always puts it. While we are driving the owner of the beach house calls and informs us that the Orr's just got there. 6 hours from when they left! Let's say they are not the best with directions. Let's hope they are happy when we arrive. 20 minutes from reaching the beach house my phone rings. Esther has made dinner for us but there is one big problem! It is an old oven with a latch that you only use when you do the self cleaning mode. Well she didn't know that and locked the oven with two chickens inside. This trip was going to be an adventure...
After an hour or two of trying to get the chickens out we called it quits and ate sandwiches. A huge storm rolled in and we prayed for the electricity to stay on. It did but it sure flickered a lot. We played Bananagrams and chased the kids around. Then it was bed time.
Sleeping arrangements were not my favorite. I had a pull out couch that I was sharing with Hallie, nine year old Orr girl. Then Marlee, seven year old decided she wanted to sleep with me too. I was freezing all night long with no covers.
Saturday-I was first up so I got my guide books (heading back to Europe at the end of the summer) and went to the dock. I swung and read my book and saw a dolphin. It was quite peaceful. About an hour later the gang woke up and the chaos began. Once all five kids were ready for the beach it was me and them. Hoang Linh was sleeping so Hao stayed up with him, Esther was cleaning, and John and Kym went to the store. So it was me and the non swimming girls. I pulled them on floats and carried them around the water. I broke up arguments about sand toys and we had a blast until the jellyfish freaked them out. Luckily jellyfish are slow and dumb so we could easily get away. At 10:00 I requested a beer! It felt like I had been out playing for 5 hours! Soon after my beer Hao informed me that her high school friend was stopping by. This meant two more adults and two more kids. Bring it on! This is also the same time the microwave stopped working. We had now broken the oven and microwave, not to mention we had to hide tons of stuff to kid proof the house.
The men returned with food and Lida, Alex, Sabrina, and Marcos joined us. We played on the beach all day. I ended up with a burnt back from leaning over and playing all day but it was fun! We grilled for dinner and had everything cleaned up just before the nightly storm blew in. The four extra guests decided to stay the night. Good thing Hao brought an air mattress.
Sunday-A leisurely breakfast was had by all and then the dolphins returned. We saw 2 more swim by. The kids loved it! Then it was back to the beach for everyone but Kayla. She was stung by a jellyfish (we think) and was terrified to get back in the sound. By this time all the kids were grouchy from too much fun, sun, and little sleep. Maya, Kayla, and Ha Lien had fun purposely leaving Sabrina out. Girls,are just so catty even at a young age. But we managed to have fun anyways. Originally we planned to stay through Monday but since we were so far from civilization with no cell phone service and definitely no Internet John could not work remotely. We decided to pack up and head home. I entertained the kids as the other adults cleaned. We left around 4. The big pain was we had to take all of our trash with us. This was yucky! It ended up getting strapped to the roof of the van and we were off. We tried to drop it off at a gas station but the owner came out and fussed at us. We had to dig a bag out of the trash. Luckily the local dump was about 200 feet from the gas station. All the man had to do was tell us that but of course he didn't. 4 hours later I was home and repacking to leave the following day for my next trip which was to Michigan.

Here are a few videos from the beach. I forgot to pull out my camera.