Snow Family Reunion

It seems like June was completely dominated by our trip to the beach. Nana's side of the family, the Snows, had a reunion in Atlantic Beach over the weekend of the 12th. We caravaned down with Bebe and Pop pop, stopping at the outlets in Smithfield for new Crocs, Cars Jibbitz for Hudson and princess Jibbitz for Alden. Of course, when you are in Smithfield, you must eat at Smithfield BBQ.

We got to the hotel and had about an hour for the kids to get in the pool before we went to a cookout at my dad's cousin Glenn's house. He and his wife, Connie, just built this great house a couple years ago, right on the sound. It was a lovely location, and they put on quite a BBQ for everyone. BBQ twice in one day...does it get better? Alden was a little leary about seeing the whole pig on the smoker, though.

Everyone had a great time visiting, playing cornhole, and running around the yard. Glenn pulled up some of his crab traps, and the kids got to see some crabs, shrimp, and fish, and Cousin Ron kindly instructed us on differentiating between male and female crabs.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and went to the beach. Our animal adventures continued when we found a pretty big hermit crab just hanging out in the shallow water. Both of the kids were so excited about the ocean, and they had a great time out in the "deep waves" with us. Vickie and her boys came out for a while, and my cousin Lori and her son and daughter. Alden and Kate had fun running around together. The last time we had seen them, they were not even one yet!

We had a little bit of time at the pool, and we all tried to take naps. Alden and Hudson sharing a bed didn't quite work out as planned. Alden and I ended up together and Hudson and Matt bunked up.

The kids were enthralled with the golf course outside the hotel...and the geese in the pond. Glenn and Connie had arranged for all of us to have dinner at a restaurant on the sound, which was a perfect place. There was a lawn outside for the kids to run around, and a dock they could walk on and look at the boats. The food was outstanding, and the pastry chef had made us a fantastic cake for the occasion.

Sunday morning, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and some good visiting time with Nana, Kitty Scott and Dickie before packing up and going to the aquarium. Alden had been excited about going FOREVER. Basically since she knew what a shark was and that there were some in the aquarium. We spent the morning at the aquarium with Dillon, Vickie and Mario. Hudson decided that Dillon was his new best friend and would not let him out of his sight. Dillon and Matt had a great time goofing around and checking out all the creatures. Hudson was really brave and wanted to touch the rays and skates, and horseshoe crabs in the tanks. Alden was a little more cautious and preferred to climb on the gigantic frogs. Both kids enjoyed seeing the sharks and otters.

Do crabs have passys?
Hudson enjoyed playing a game with Vickie's glasses.From the aquarium, we left the beach and stopped for lunch at McDonalds (or "Old McDonalds" as Alden calls it) and headed south to Ocean Isle Beach where we were going to spend the next week with my parents and sisters. Luckily, both kids slept most of the way.