Cousins

Our girls had such a blast with all the cousins. Nora was a little rascal, she was loving on Niall Ryan while they were at our house, she just wanted to pick him up and hold him all the time. That all changed once we got to the beach. Then, she just wanted to smack him on the head all the time. Towards the end, she started trying to pretend she was going to be soft with him, and then at the last minute would raise her little arm up to  whack him. 

                             

Teresa and Colin used to be such cute little buddies when we were all living at my parents house. It was fun to see them together again.

Teresa fits in kind of an awkward spot right now - she's not quite old enough for the big girls all the time, and she's a little too old for Nora and the two-year-olds, but they still all had a lot of fun together. 

Meal time got a little crazy with 16 kids to feed.

These two are so cute! They're only a few days a part in age, and are the cutest little best friends.

Grandad did a good job entertaining the kiddos during the rare breaks from swimming.

They're all so cute squished on the couch together :).

Seriously one of my favorite pictures from the whole week. 

Teresa has been having major cousin with-drawls since we got home. She asks everyday if she can have her cousins come over, and when I tell her she can't she sighs and says "well, then can all my friends come over?". I guess our little family just isn't exciting enough for her anymore :). 

The one where we spend a week at the beach

So we went to the beach. For a week. And it was awesome, and now I need Marc to make a million dollars so we can own a beach house. 

My parents house is always bursting at the seams when all of us show up with the 16 (soon to be 17) grandchildren, so we decided that this year we would do a family reunion type vacation somewhere that had room for all of us. We went to the Outer Banks, in North Carolina, and it was so much fun. But, since I have over 3000 pictures on my computer from the trip, I'm gonna have to break this up into a couple of posts. This one is about the beach part!

The beach we stayed at was so nice. It was just a short walk from the house, and even though it rained a couple of the days we were there, we still had so much fun. The first day we went the girls absolutely loved it. Teresa found some little friends and was having so much fun frolicking in the surf, letting the waves knock her down and just hopping back up and giggling about it. Nora was having a blast, too.

The rest of the week? They hated it. Didn't want to get near the water. Loved the sand, though. 

Uncle Curtis got buried, along with baby Niall:

Distressed.

Happier on dry(er) ground:

All the kids loved these little sand castle molds. Nora especially loved destroying all the creations.

Colin, Erin, Rob, Grandad, and Granny

Daddy dug a hole...

Auntie Fiona shaded Niall Ryan

Uncle Zac and some kiddos:

Man, I think she's cute.

Teresa broke my heart the last day we were at the beach. She didn't want to go in the water, and when I asked what she was scared of she said "I'm scared of you!". Lol, I guess she didn't appreciate my methods of just tossing her in the water and thinking she would have fun once she got over it. Anyway, she agreed to get close to the water if she got to hold Grandad's hand instead, and it turned out to be a great success. I loved seeing her have so much fun with the ocean.

She loved trying to jump over the water as it came in.

                                           Aoife, Maeve, Nora, Nuala, Granny and Teresa

  

                                         

                                         

                                         

           Such a sweet, tired baby. Nora was a total punk to Niall all week, anytime she was loose around him she would walk up, cock her little arm and smack him on the head. 

                                         

                                               Some cute boys: Ciaran, Bran, and Colin.

                                         

                                         

                                         

It got a little chilly - Nuala, Brigit, Colin, Aoife, Maeve, Granny and Teresa:

The kids were excited to try some crabbing and fishing while we were there, so we walked down to the sound side of the island.

We got a sibling (and mom) shot on the pier: 

Some cousins. I love T's face in this picture. 

Granny and Grandad

All 16 of the grandkids. T is number 12 and Nora is 15, in case you were wondering :).

Uncle Rob set a good example for all the kids...

Cute Maire:

Somehow after all day at the beach, the kids still always wanted to get straight in the pool once we got home. Nora does love the pool, at least, so she had a blast. T is indiscriminate in her feelings towards water. 

The hot tub was a hit, too. Teresa didn't mind the hot tub, I guess it wasn't deep enough to scare her too much...

She was able to put aside her fears for a little bit and enjoyed getting pulled around the pool on a boogie board.

Up next: Cousins