obx

I should be far better at naming these... like this one could be obx: the one with the photoshoot. Or, obx: the one with the first bonfire. Either way today was a really good and fun day! We got a lot done and just made a ton of memories. 

Of course we were at the beach for the majority of the day. My dad got take out again for lunch and I of course true to form got a burger, another yum. I am still recovering from all the food I had this week! Matt "needed" a boogie board so he took the boys to the shop and they came back with matching hats... so then Letty also wanted a hat to match me of course. The clouds looked a bit ominous in the afternoon but it went right by us thankfully!

It was my brother and Sadie's turn for dinner tonight and they did all things Mexican. Rob took care of the margaritas and man you have one or two of those and yikes. But we did, have one or two. Which  made the aforementioned photoshoot even more fun! Beth and I even got to play photographer for a bit which was different! Thanks to Ash for taking them for us! Those will come tomorrow!

And then we all got into our comfy clothes and headed down to the beach for the first bonfire. We should have had one of these every night honestly. All beaches should allow this! We just hung out and our phones were down (other than taking photos of course) and we just got to be. All to the tune of a gorgeous sunset and then stunning starts. 

It was a good day. A great day.

obx

This day started promising but quickly changed to rain for a few hours in the morning. The kids were of course up early as per the usual to play with their screens... and Uncle Robbie brought back Duck Donuts! Because, when in Rome! Me and the beach on a rainy day does not bode well. I get twitchy. As soon as the local souvenir shop opened I took the kids over there and got myself a hat because rookie move Laur, you need a hat and the kids all got OBX t-shirts and then magic upon magic the sun came out! To the beach we went!  Down for more beaching in all our OBX finest! My dad got pizza for lunch which was so yum and then back we went for a few more hours before pool time! The night's dinner was once more by our chef, bbq chicken and potatoes, another big hit! Then we just relaxed around the house and watched the beautiful sunset, from two sides! No matter where you look down there it is just gorgeous!

obx

I decided if I was going to be woken up for Matt to fish I  might as well go and see the sunrise. And it did not disappoint. The weather this day was just sun sun sun! It was more of the same as far as beach and dig and squeal and then swim before dinner. After dinner we walked (some drove) over to the Dairy Queen three tenths of a mile away for some ice cream as if we weren't full enough from my sister's honey siracha chicken! When we got back my sister came up with the bright idea to take the kids for sunset walk which was such a great idea! My children added to their already extensive sea shell collection with Dom practically taking home every single one.

obx

Maybe there will be just a post a day of nothing but family, the beach, sand, waves, etc... Maybe that is just how it will be. My kids don't sleep in on vacation, as a rule. And with Matt and Colton heading to surf fish each morning at 5 am, neither did I. Coffee on the deck overlooking the ocean is a great way to start the day! The kids on their screens... Tenley letting the entire house know she is there and hungry... The things vacations are made of! 

the moments in between...

There are just too many moments in between since I haven't done this in forever... but here are some of the things we have been doing in between all of the other things. The day-to-day things....like cat cuddles and flowers, birthday celebrations and sleepovers, family time and swims, going out for lunch and wrapping up sports and end of school things…. All the things in a big giant photo heavy post!

OBX, an intro

After many years of suggesting a big ole Trovato family beach vacation we finally did it! Eighteen Trovatos all in one beach house in the Outerbanks. Right on the water. With a pool too! Some of us left at 5:30 that Saturday morning and felt quite cocky for having been in zero traffic around Baltimore and DC only to make up for it in spades around Richmond and then the OBX themselves. That drive sucked so bad. At one point I thought about just leaving the vehicle and running... it would have been faster than we were driving. But I digress. We got there! Home for the week!

My parents paid for a chef for as many of the nights as she was available and let me tell you, so so so nice! Made with Love: Hatteras Island Chef Services if you want to check her out on Facebook... Our first night she just swooped in with delicious fare, cleaned up and packed up and swooped out! It was the perfect way to start the week!

strawberries on the farm!

After leaving the park we headed to York county for a quick bite before going to the farm. Toniel’s man friend’s farm. He has all the things. Chickens and chicks, a mean rooster, all sorts of fruit trees and most importantly for today’s plans: strawberries! We quickly filled up a few quarts and then headed on our way! And they were the most delicious of berries! 

hersheypark on a thursday...

Just playing a bit of catch up on the blog now… will I ever just quit it one day? Maybe… but for now I’ll just keep on with my little online diary as it were.

A few weeks ago a friend and I took our kids up to Hersheypark for a few hours. It was so nice having someone who a) has older children to ride with Letty and 2) loves thrill rides too. So it was a completely different experience for us Olsens. Lots of roller coasters and some that have never been done before, like Candymonium. And she is gangster because she takes her phone out during the rides and gets some fun photos! We got quite a few rides in before heading off to our next adventure with Toniel and crew!

tenley rose turned one!

And her birthday party was on a Saturday night! We made it there by the skin of our teeth and promptly tried to make ourselves presentable. Baby wipes used everywhere to get the dust of the baseball field off of us. My sister had out delicious food and had the place decorated so beautifully! We ate and then Tenley opened gifts which she had a lot of help with... And then we sang to that sweet sweet girl and she just smiled throughout it all, looking each one of us in the eye. 

Any photos worth their salt are Ashley's. Of course.

a capitol tour

In the midst of the busiest weekend of the year Letty's Girl Scout troop had planned to go to the capitol for a tour. Which I had agreed to go to. Luckily there was a break in David's games so we didn't miss any. The building itself was just so gorgeous with so much history! So detailed! It was a 45 minute tour and honestly it kept my interest which is saying something!

the hottest baseball tournament. ever.

There is a big reason why I am so far behind on all my blogging. Well, quite a few. I have pretty much been going non-stop for a week and a half as I am writing this and one of the reasons why was David's baseball tournament. This season has been no joke and this tournament was more of the same. His first game was at 8 pm Friday night. As in the last night of school. They pulled a win out of that one to play again the following day at 3. Which they then also won. And were back again on Sunday for a game at 9. Which they won to go on to a championship game. Which they did not win. But they played their hearts out and grew so much this season and there were a lot of statistic type things that I could say but I'm not really baseball savvy even after four seasons of ball playing. It was hot. They were troopers. I am proud. Also a big shout out to the siblings who spent their entire weekend sweating in the name of baseball. Huge thank you to the coaches (looking at you Matt) who spent such a great deal of their spring with these boys! You were awesome!

And a big thank you to Shauna for taking these first four awesome photos of David! I will frame each and every one!

the time i had thirteen girls in my pool

Letty didn't want the fourth grade celebrating to end so she asked if she could have a pool party on the last day of school as the girls had a half day. So I naturally invited every fourth grade girl I could think of and pretty much all the ones I reached out to could make it. It was quite the deal! They swam for over three hours straight. They ate 24 cupcakes (thanks Mel!). They ate countless bags of chips and popsicles. It rained for a few minutes and they didn't even seem to notice. They played dibbels. Matt got McDonald's last minute and within three minutes 60 nuggets were devoured. So I guess they were hungry? They all seemed to have such a nice time just all being together and playing and swimming. And best of all to this mama heart? Zero drama. You just never know with all these different personalities and friendships so it was awesome to see. Congrats to you all! 

fourth grade graduation

In our district elementary school only goes to fourth grade. Then she moves on up to the middle school for fifth to eighth grade. Ask me how much I love that? I don't. But I don't have a choice. On the final day of school the PTO moms (myself included this time) put together a celebration-graduation if you will. It was supposed to rain so they thankfully got permission to allow us in the building. First all the students in the whole school line the halls and us parents too as the entire fourth grade walks around the halls for a clap out. Which I hate. Loathe. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. But I made it through that and it was all good from there on!

The first station was awards in the gym. Letty got the Library award (I mean I can't with the pride there) and the STEM award which wasn't as surprising because that girl loves her some coding! Over 250 hours of coding logged. Which is a lot of screen time, I know. I got photos of her with her super hero team, her learning support teacher who has been a huge advocate of Letty's for years and years... her aide who helped her daily in the classroom and of course her classroom teacher. We have been so blessed with the staff at this school I cannot say that enough. Then the kids all went to the photo booth area which was absolute chaos but fun! Then they got their diplomas after a short speech from the principals (to middle school and beyond!) and then it was outside for ice cream and pretzels! To end it all the kids all got to have a countdown and throw biodegradable confetti as sort of a proverbial hat toss. It was such a nice way to celebrate their accomplishments as they move on to middle school. They were all so happy and excited it was hard to feel nostalgic and sad. Congrats to all you fourth graders! You'll move mountains!

the last day of school

Looking back on the second most oddest school year of all time I really didn't think we would make it here. I mean remember last August? There was such a flurry of activity and scrambling to get the kids back that picturing their final day of school I  just never thought it would actually get there. But we did! With a few closures and quarantines here and there, but we made it! And it flew by! These kids just rocked this year! They rolled with it and just showed me how resilient kids can be! Sure, they want to have a mask burning party but don't we all?? The last day of third grade, kindergarten, and fourth grade! 

guess what's back? field day!

Normally field day and I have a love hate relationship depending on what volunteer position I get. But this year with so many of the school's events cancelled or pushed back and drastically changed I was so thrilled that the kids got to still have a field day! And I got to be there! In an official capacity of course. Working! My last day working in the building for the year and man does that sure feel like a long time ago but in reality it was not... The kids were all separate by grade and by class but I was able to get around to see them all! They all had different stations within their classes and they all had the best time! Those kindergarteners are just the cutest! Dom's first field day... and Letty's last. Not that I dwell on such things mind you... no.

our memorial day

I was recapping the holiday weekend and then just went on living my life... but I'm back! First up: a parade! The first one in two years! Woohoo! And even more exciting?! David and Matt were walking in it with their baseball team! Matt was equally as thrilled as I. But it was so nice and normal and of course to be able to remember those who have sacrificed their all for us.... clapping for those vets gets me every time! 

memorial day weekend, a saturday tradition!

The weather just was not on our side this weekend. Normally on the Saturday of the weekend we take the kids to the park where they play and then feed the ducks and then we move on to the more fun stuff for the adults, The Bulls. And we get Colton a drink because he just had a birthday. It is tradition! But it was so so cold and rainy. Like almost winter coat weather. So we went to The Bulls first for lunch and a drink. Then we walked over to the park and fed the ducks and then we went home and turned the fireplace on. But we did it! Last year none of this could go on so I suppose I shouldn't let a little rain rain on my parade!

hersheypark happy

Going to Hersheypark on Memorial Day weekend has always been a tradition of mine, so on that Friday when the kids had a half day that is just what I did. Even though it was calling for rain. I just needed to get those kiddos into the park for the first time this year! Bad weather or not! We measured ourselves and proceeded maskless into the park... and how weird that felt! Like old times except... not. Letty was a little nervous about going without one, more because she thought she was breaking a rule than fear of getting ill.... but we did it! We rode the rides and had the very best time!

a quick pop in to pineview

But first! We had to go watch my niece play soccer. Because that is what one does. One supports one's nieces. And nephews. So we did that. And I bribed my kids by saying we would swing by Pineview Dairy for some ice cream after. And that is just what we did. The first ice cream run of sort of summer! With baby cows!

wtc

This is always a tough place. And with young children it becomes even tougher... Letty learned all about it when we visited two years ago of course... David had read about it in an 'I Survived' book and Dom just had no idea. We spoke a little about it and about what that day was like for us personally and where we were... just at a loss for words for the most part.