ocean isle survives another venable trip. barely.

OK, here we go! The Venables have been going to the same island in North Carolina for many many years (20 or so I think). I went with them once before (Matt had to work) and this year Lottie Sue and I (um, Matt had to work - again) vacationed with them. We had a blast! There were 20 of us in two houses, with the beach right across the street. One of the houses had a pool, so you can see how we were living the high life for seven glorious days. I am currently in withdrawal. Wah.

this is our crazee group shot (my apologies to megan, i did not get her in the shot but she's the one strangling dear suzy on the bottom right)

this is greg and jennifer (parents to andy and spencer), they are newlyweds and had dinner out the night of group photos (next year we'll plan better)

here we are "normal"
(someone forgot to tell andy this wasn't the crazy photo)

And so you know the names of everyone...

top row: ronny, shon, lottie sue, tony, chris, becky and tommy

couch people: andy, jim, sam, spencer, mary ann with lucy and kim

floor people: clay with max, moi, suzy and megan

And so you know how everyone relates, let me give a brief overview. Ronny, Suzy and Sam are siblings. Ronny's wife, Lianne, was unable to attend (boo, because she's AWESOME). She's an actress in NYC and her play opens tonight (break a leg!). Maybe next year! OK, back to it - Sam is married to Mary Ann and they are parents to Clay and Megan. Clay is married to Kim and they have two kiddies, Lucy and Max. As you probably know, Megan is married to Tommy. Suzy is married to Tony, the Greg is Suzy's son and he is recently married to Jennifer. They are parents to Spencer and Andy. Becky is Ronny/Suzy/Sam's cousin and her husband is Jim. Shon and Chris are friends of the family, just like LS and myself. Phew, hope that helps.

Oh right, before I start please take a look at Sam's column from Monday, it's about our trip: Lessons Learned by the Sea and it's pretty neat. He's falling into his new beach duties quite well.

To give you an idea of what we did all week I've written out my typical day. Wake up, feed LS and walk down to the other house for coffee. Maybe stay around and chit or maybe go for a walk. LS goes down for her morning nap mid morning, or we would skip it and go to the beach until lunch. Lunch was around noon and then it was pool time until LS went down for her afternoon nap. I would then pool it and then go home to shower, but I would come right back as it was storytelling time. Dinner was a few hours later followed by a stroll on the beach. LS then goes to bed and we stay up playing games and spinning yarns. It was awesome.

And now, a photo essay...these are in no particular order and there are so many! I wanted to entertain you with my rapier-like wit but my brain is not complying. So accept my apologies if I don't write much and you only have photos to see.

Beach time! Lottie Sue liked to play in the sand and she also loved to be right where the water washes on the shore. I would walk across the boardwalk to the beach and once she saw it she would start squealing with delight. It was super cute.

lottie sue enjoyed moving her feet in the sand

Here is a quick video I took with my little camera, it's raw (and I still know of my promise to edit and post videos - I haven't forgotten). I took the video camera but I couldn't find the charger (story of my life). I still don't know where it is. But let me warn you this clip isn't exciting but you can see LS's chub legs kicking sand.

chubba wubba

what a belly

sam and spencer build a manly sand castle (neighborhood)

tommy and megan play with lottie sue

These are on the beach right before sunset, we took a stroll every night after dinner...

tommy was lottie sue's surrogate dad this week

i'm taking a photo of tony taking a photo, how artsy of me

the gilmores take a stroll down the beach, all together now: awhhhh

mr. and mrs. smith, bring on more awhhhs

lottie sue loved for the water to hit her toes

sam and ronny came over to see lottie sue

i miss the gilmores already, wah - but don't they look super cute?

andy in mid-run, he's about to jump over some water

here we are "normal" at the beach

and now we are crazee at the beach, this better represents everyone if you ask me

Every day around 4pm Sam, Tony and Ronny start smoking/grilling the meat for dinner. They DO NOT mess around when it comes to meat. It's a ritual. It is sacred. You'll laugh your b*tt off, guaranteed.

sam and tony "working" on the meat

ronny striking a pose

mary ann comes back with lucy after her nap

megan holding baby lucy

lottie sue wants to know why megan isn't holding her

i took this shot right before tony mooned me

lottie sue looking crazed

check out these scallops (wrapped in bacon) - they were the bomb

You'll see some people wearing tie-dye items. They are the fruit of our labor completed earlier in the week. Megan brought all the stuff to tie-dye and I LOVED it. It was so much fun! Mary Ann, Megan, Andy, Shon, Suzy and myself participated and we had so much fun. I really loved it. It's a bit messy though but oh so worth it...

mary ann gets down and dirty, and colorful

OK, here are some shots from dinner one evening.

good food, good conversation

And after dinner, social hour(s)...


I took a few photos of Andy and Spencer playing with Lottie Sue, it was so cute. The boys are very impressive kids, they took their allowance money and bought LS a stuffed shark.


And now on to random photos... You may or may not know, but Megan collects Santas. She spotted this one at a flea market.

a $7 deal

tommy and spencer are in a figure-four leg lock

shonnie bear and lottie sue during lunch one day

snackin it up

mary ann and megan double the fun with patty cake

I haven't gotten into it on the blog yet, but the Mowrers and Smiths have a project going on that required us to render our own salt. More to come on that later. But check it out! Megan did all the work and I just watched and gave moral support. She filled a milk jug and bucket with ocean water and boiled it down.

we were giddy over all the salt we were able to get

the bag looks suspect but it's all legal we swear

And I hate to leave this post on a sour note, but all I can say is no amount of beach camaraderie can make up for poor taste.

spencer and andy have been lead astray

We already have our houses for next year and I hope Matt can make it. I've been told that I'm out of the mix if my spouse misses one more year. Yikes.

And let me give a GIANT shout out to Suzy - she made all of this happen and has the best organization skillz I have ever witnessed. She is the Queen of Ocean Isle. Long live the Queen!