Thanksgiving - Part 1

Since we knew there would be a new baby in the family by Thanksgiving this year, we planned to spend the holiday in (or near) Wilmington so Jason and Jenn wouldn't have to travel far. My mom came up with the idea to rent a house at the beach and all stay together rather than get hotel rooms. Let's face it--several days in a house with your entire family can be stressful, and ours is no different--but we did enjoy the time together and everyone came out alive :).

The house was awesome. It was in Kure Beach, and across the street from the beach, but there were ocean views from the front balconies, and every room opened to an outdoor space, which was really nice.

We all arrived on Tuesday, and didn't do much except get settled in and made a trip to the grocery store to stock up for the week.

Emily and Cody had a good time exploring the house, especially since there was a huge toy cabinet with this little princess chair, along with some other cool stuff that (of course) was better than anything either of them brought with them.

Everybody got to meet sweet little Chase, who was less than two weeks old!

Wednesday morning, everyone was up early and Cody and Emily were back at it--racing through the house with their new discoveries!

Emily loves pushing and pulling things with wheels, so this little shopping cart was right up her alley.

We decided to go to the Fort Fisher Aquarium later that morning, which was a big hit, especially with Cody and Emily.

Emily had to give kisses to the crocodile,

touched a starfish,

and loved checking out the turtles with Aunt Julie.

On our way out, Cody and Emily both got excited about the frog big enough for them to sit on together.

Wednesday afternoon, a friend of Jenn's who is also a photographer came down to do some family pictures for us--I caught a few of Emily after the official shoot was over.

I just love these--she looks like she belongs at the beach :).

More to come!