Brigantine 2013

Just one week after our Annapolis trip, we were Brigantine-bound for vacation #2, this time with the G-willie side of the family.  In honor of Nana and Grandpa's 40th wedding anniversary, we rented a big house near the beach where 17 of us, ranging in ages from 4 months to 91 years old, could all be under one roof for the week.  And just a few blocks away, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jim had rented a house with 12 more G-willies to join in the festivities.  In short, it was awesome.

Our house on 33rd St.

While we were without a doubt looking forward to our many celebrations that week, we were most excited for one thing in particular: finally meeting our new niece Genevieve!

Genevieve Rose, 4 months

Isn't she just the cutest?!

Her Uncle Anthony couldn't wait to get his baby fix, and Genevieve greeted him with the biggest and best smiles!

Liam was also excited to meet his newest little cousin and called dibs on holding her right away.

Pierre, Genevieve, Liam, Dad, Joergen, and Sarah

Our beautiful nieces, the next generation of G-willie girls:

It didn't take long after we arrived for everyone to hit the beach, which is where we spent most of our time that week.

Uncle Thomas off to the beach with a herd of kids

Sunglasses? Check.  Beach toys? Check.  This guy is ready.

One of the best parts of this vacation was having GG there with us.  Since it isn't exactly easy to walk on sand in the first place, let alone when you're recovering from a hip replacement, Grandpa rented a cool beach-ready wheelchair for her so she could enjoy the beach and surf too.  GG wanted so badly to jump outta that chair and go swimming for real!

Four generations in the surf: Liam, me, Grandpa, and GG

This trip marked Joergen's first time swimming in the ocean.  He was so amazed by the ocean when we visited Brigantine last March, but a little freaked out by the notion of actually swimming in it this time around!  It didn't take him long to warm up to it, though, and before we knew it, he was fearlessly running in and out of the water, having the time of his little life.

Now Liam hadn't been swimming in the ocean since he was a baby, so we weren't sure how he would make out either... but see for yourself!

When not swimming or boogie-boarding, we could usually be found building giant drip-castles...

Sarah, Pierre, and Liam

digging ditches...

Eric, Lena, Dillon, and Liam

burying Dillon...

having water fights...

relaxing and catching up...

Aunt Erin, GG, me

or flying kites.

This was Liam's first time flying a kite, and Grandpa was a great teacher!

When it would get late in the day, it was time to pack it up and walk back to our beach house.  It was great being so close!

Hantzes in full force

On one strangely chilly day, we headed over to Atlantic City to play at Steel Pier, where we had so much fun riding rides and playing games!  I just love this pic of the men outside the pier entrance with their 2-year-olds in tow and the "big kids" along the side.

Liam, Uncle Tim, Colin, Dad, Joergen, Uncle Thomas, Augustin, Pierre, and Sarah

A random family was leaving right when we arrived and handed us a big booklet of their unused ride tickets.  Thank you, whoever you were! 

Liam on the ferris wheel

Dad just can't help himself around those basketball games on the boardwalk, and that day was no exception.  He did awesome, though, and won a prize for each of the kids!

The toddlers were too short to ride most of the rides on the pier, so Joergen did his next most-favorite thing:

Yep, Joergen loves him a hotdog.  The more condiments, the better.

Liam and Sarah had so much fun that I promised I'd bring them back to the AC boardwalk for an hour or so the following day.  We were greeted at the pier entrance by a couple of Atlantic City "showgirls"-- oh heavens!

After a quick lunch, we hit up some games.  Liam and Sarah were determined to win prizes, and win they did!  Sarah won the first game, and without batting an eye, she asked Liam what prize he wanted and handed it right to him.  It was the sweetest gesture!  And a contagious one at that-- Liam won their second game all on his own and returned her kindness by asking her what prize she wanted and giving it right to her without so much as a nudge from me.  Love these two!

Sarah and Liam with the prizes they'd won for each other

Other than the beach and the boardwalk, there was lots of fun to be had indoors, too, where at any given moment, you could find us hanging out with family...

Uncle Tim, Colin, and Sarah

listening to stories...

Aunt Jayne sharing the story of Epaminondas and his Auntie. They were captivated!

Nana telling bedtime stories

Aunt Jackie reading books at naptime

getting to know little Genevieve (and loving every minute of her happy smiles!)...

spending time with "the guys"...

Dad, Uncle Thomas, and Uncle Tim

And the next generation! Joergen, Pierre, and Colin

playing make-believe with Aunt Jackie...

She's like the pied piper of kids! They had so much fun!

preparing family dinners...

Men in the kitchen; Aunt Jayne keeping them in line!

... or sharing a drink (or two, or...)!

And with all that excitement, sometimes we even needed to rest.

We felt so blessed to be together for so many events and milestones that happened to fall on or around our vacation week-- all of which we enthusiastically celebrated.

Such as Aunt Erin's birthday...

Cousin Melissa's birthday...

Cousin Gilbey's birthday...

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Tim's 4th Anniversary...

and of course, Grandpa and Nana's 40th Anniversary.

Their milestone event warrants a post of its own... to be continued!

July 4th (Farewell) Party

Whenever we're in town for the 4th of July, we love to have a big party at our house.  We have a great view of the fireworks from our front yard, and the empty lot next door is the perfect spot to set off a few fireworks of our own!  When planning this year's party, though, we had no idea at the time that we would be putting our house on the market the very next day... so what was intended to be our usual July 4th Cookout ended up actually being our last party on Jean Drive.  Who would have thought?!

Uncle Andy, Aunt Beth, Toni, Aidan, Abby, and Kate had arrived that day (thank the Lord, because they were all huge helps in the midst of a whole lot of chaos!), and it was a hot one.  So we set up the pool in the backyard and let them go nuts.

Joergen, Kate, Aidan, Liam, and Toni

I love this next photo-- it's just so... Liam!

Now, Grandpa was also in that pool at one point, but I sadly have no photos to prove it...

We were so excited that GG was able to join us.  This was her first road trip after her hip replacement a few months ago.

Aunt Jayne, GG, Grandpa, Pete, and Aunt Beth

The 4th of July is also Nana's birthday, and we were so happy to be able to be together to celebrate.  Good thing Liam was there to help blow out those candles!

One of our favorite party guests was without a doubt little Ian, Marc and Cathleen's new baby boy.  He is just the cutest little guy!!

Cathleen, baby Ian, Bridget, and Katie

While some folks were content to wait on the deck for fireworks to start...

Jen, Pete, Grandpa, Aunt Beth, Kira, Ed, and Abby

... others decided to take matters into their own hands!

One reason to love the random empty lot behind our house... what's left of the concrete makes a great firework launching pad!

Team Fireworks: Kate, Uncle Andy, Aidan, Liam, Dad, and Toni

Joergen was terrified of those fireworks, more for the sound than the sight of them.  Definitely not a fan of noise, this one!  So I hung with him in quieter quarters inside.

Kira, Me, Joergen

Toddlers, unite!

Kira, Joergen, Julianne, and Marc

Finally, it was time for the (legit) fireworks, and this year's were especially cool in celebration of Upper Merion's Tricentennial.

Marc took this sweet pic from inside our front door (the No Fear Zone for toddler firework viewing!) of Toni and Liam sharing a sparkler outside.

We had so much fun that night and were glad to have one last, fitting "hurrah" in our home.

Early the next morning, the clean-up effort began as our house was officially going on the market that afternoon.  Uncle Andrew grabbed a broom and a shovel and got to work disposing of the evidence from the previous night's festivities :)

The Peoria gang was a HUGE help in getting that house show-ready-- and we can't thank them enough! Looking forward now to our first party in the new house!