Sun and Sand: Warning, this post is long and contains many pictures.

We just got back from a family trip to beautiful Corolla, North Carolina. FABULOUS!!! My cousins the Wahlquists were having a family reunion and so we the Dehners decided to crash the party. Good times were had by all and my kids were in heaven.

We decided to break up the drive and so we stopped the first night in Staunton, Virginia. This was one cool little town. Very historic. I would definitely go back and visit just for fun one day. Here is grandpa and two cute kids having dinner in Staunton.

In Corolla, we stayed in a big house with a pool right on the beach. Once you have beached this way, there really is no other way. I think that my kids loved the pool just as much as the beach. The first couple of days were gorgeous. So nice in fact that Dillon and Kelsey got absolutely fried and so we had to spend some time out of the sun. This was quite a bit of torture for my little beach bums, but we tried to have fun in other ways. We visited the lighthouse in Corolla and then spent a little time in the Wildlife Education Center before we headed off for ice cream.

Back on the beach, here's Dillon and his cousin Tanner. They were unseperable all week long and had a blast together. I hardly saw Dillon because he was always off playing with Tanner.

Kelsey spent most of her time with Morgan. These two are the cutest. They played and played and pretended their little brains off. I loved overhearing their conversations.

Here's my Kelsey Super Model. I couldn't keep her out of the water all week. She truly is a fish.

Kelsey also had fun playing on the boogie boards. Hang ten baby.

I had to put this picture in to remind me that I do like this child. If there was a downside to the week it was this child. He became so clingy that I couldn't make move without him throwing a fit and having to be with me. I felt strangled and I have to admit that this made me very, very cranky and I wasn't always my pleasant self. Fortunately my little family has forgiven me and hopefully now that we are home the clinging will come to an end, or at least subside to a bearable degree.

Me and the little one.

Some hot mamas hanging on the beach. Can you tell I don't like to be in the sun very much? I am almost blinded by looking at my white skin.

Here's the Dehner family. We went out for dinner one night. The food was a bust, but we had fun regardless.

More fun on the beach. After the sunburns, rash guards were required.

Dillon spent most of his time on the beach digging in the sand and building castles. I don't know exactly what he was pretending but he and his cousins were often running around and yelling "The British are coming. The British are coming" as they built their castles.

I thought that this was a cute picture of some cousins and Taryn's husband Jason. Good job Taryn in finding this great catch.

Doug spent his time at the beach body surfing, digging in the sand and playing a little frisbee. Being a California boy, he was in heaven.

I could post a million pictures of Tyler in the sand. I have never seen a boy so happy and we often had to drag him away kicking and screaming. He particularly liked the dunes.

In a nut shell, this was a great vacation. Aside from hanging out at the beach, I loved just being with my cousins. We ate, shopped, and played lots of Speed Scrabble. Then, on the way home, we stopped and stayed the night with our dear friends the Stansels. They are wonderful and we never get to spend enough time with them. Sigh. Next up, a week on a lake in Michigan.