Harbertson Family Reunion

I know I could just skip the rest of the summer and fill you in on current items, but there were significant events that occurred this summer that I don't want to skip. So take a stroll with me back to June, where our blog left off.

June 11-18 was our first Harbertson Family Reunion, and it was a huge success. We rented a beach house in Corolla, NC (the Outer Banks) for a week. My entire family--my parents, their 6 kids and spouses, and 13 grandchildren ranging from 5 months to 7 years old, were in the same house. It was a GREAT beach house as each couple/family had their own bathroom and everyone had a place to sleep. Plus a great kitchen, common room, pool, outdoor shower, balconies, grill, pool table, multiple washers and dryers, sand pit with horseshoes and 3 minutes from the beach. We spent the week catching up with each other, completing puzzles, playing Minute to Win It games, chasing kids, playing on the beach or pool, taking day trips to sand dunes, the Wright Brothers Museum and a light house, playing Words with Friends (in the same room), celebrating Rory's birthday, watching our kids enjoy playing with their cousins as well as an unforgettable walk on the beach at night with the older kids. It was so much fun and we're all very much looking forward to another one in two years.

Puzzle time!

Of course the kids were watching TV while the adults talked. We also had two portable DVD players set up for the little kids to watch whatever we had when we needed them to be distracted.

Playing Minute to Win It games with the oldest grandkids. They were much better at some of the games than the adults were.

Rory loved playing in the sand and finding sea shells--until the sand got in her eyes.

She ventured into the water a little bit but it was COLD.

One of the Outer Banks lighthouses. It was a long walk to the top, so Greg and I stayed behind with Aurora and took pictures when everyone else got to the top.

There were crabs EVERYWHERE. Ranging from little ones that looked like spiders to ones this size. My brother found this one and it got quite mad when he picked it up. It hung on to this tube for a long time. Most of the crabs could fit in the palm of a kid's hand and the kids loved searching for them at the beach.

A rare smile now that she's out of the sun. It absolutely exhausted her. She's just not used to be outside for such long lengths of time.

Quite possibly Aurora's favorite part was having cousins around. She was still perfecting walking at this stage and her cousin Lonna was willing to help her walk whenever Aurora wanted.

The monster sand dunes we visited. After a very long climb to the top, all the kids raced or rolled down the hill several times.

This picture of my brother, sister and their kids is more for you to see the background. See the giant hill? That's the sand dune everyone went down.

A replica of an early airplane at the Wright Brothers Museum.

The older kids and some of the adults went on a walk on the beach the last night we were there. First the kids got decked out in glow sticks, so most of the pictures are just blurs of light. This is my niece and nephew Lonna and Ethan showing off their glow sticks. As we started walking, we realized that the crabs we found during the day were minimal compared to the thousands of crabs on the beach at night. It was amazing but a little creepy to accidentally step on some. I always had a flashlight and was walking very carefully.

We had a professional photo shoot done and at the end, all the kids got to run through the water.

Aurora wasn't too keen on having her picture taken, or smiling, or staying still when there was much more fun to be had with the shells and sand. Still, I think we got a few pictures that are as good as it gets with a one year old.

All the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa Harbertson.