Beach Week 2019

Our summer has officially begun and we've been busy! Sebastian graduated from pre-K! Here he is with his fabulous teachers Lauren and Toni.

It was a bittersweet day since Ms. Toni taught all three kids. She's the best and we're sad that that chapter in our children's lives is over.

We spent Memorial Day weekend saying, "Hello!" to our favorite community pool...

and "Good bye" to Uzay and Sarp. :-( We wished them all the best since they were moving to San Francisco earlier this month. We miss them already!

When Tony and I started looking at our summer calendar a while back, we quickly determined that we had very few weeks of summer free for visiting family. In fact, if we didn't visit Virginia Beach at the beginning of summer, we wouldn't be able to get in any beach time at all. We were on it!

Tony has been busy with work travel, experiments and other professional development lately, so we made the not-so-fun decision for me to drive to VB without him in hopes that he would join us later in the week.

The kids are total pros at the long drive by now. They read (A LOT), watched the movie Clue and a few "Max and Ruby" episodes (to appease Sebastian), and napped a bit. I was most worried that I would get tired on the nearly 10-hour drive, but I felt great (Thank you, coffee and Dr. Pepper). Packing a lunch and watching the traffic on my GPS made the trip go faster, too. Phew!

We really lucked out on great weather. We enjoyed lots of beach time, tennis, pool trips, golf and mini golf, too.

 

Beth and I had a girls' night out at Press--amazing charcuterie and wine--which exceeded my already high expectations. It was DELICIOUS.

The sign outside looked like every sign in Virginia Beach. The week definitely had a solemn undertone after the sad events at the Municipal Center.

The kids did cool science experiments with Skittles, M&Ms and Gammy! I'm sure you're not surprised!

 

One huge perk of my parents living right by the Cavalier Hotel is that we get to enjoy all of the events at the hotel. Like swimming at the beach club...

And a barbecue buffet by the water! (Sebastian ate and passed out!)

Later that evening, the Virginia Beach Symphony came to perform on the lawn. We sat on the upstairs balcony and enjoyed a beautiful show!

 

Here's a quick video of the soundtrack from E.T.!

Broadway star Tiffany Haas (and Virginia Beach native/University of Cincinnati grad!!) sang along to the symphony. She even sang "Popular" from Wicked (which she starred in)...Beth and I were thrilled. She was wonderful!

The show went into the evening...

The next morning we hit the pool!

 

And 7-11, OF COURSE!

Then back to the beach! Brie learned to boogie board!

 

 

 

Lucky for us, Tony was able to fly in a few days before we headed home, so we got to enjoy some family fun with him, too. We headed to Jungle Golf...

Which we all love, but poor Sebastian...he wanted a hole-in-one every time (since he got one in Florida during Spring Break). If only...

He made a comeback at the arcade, though.

The kids discovered rolling down the hotel lawn this visit.

Hilarious.

Beach time again!

 Mole crabs!

Tony enjoyed some boogie boarding, too! (And here's proof that I swam in the ocean...it was pretty mild for early June!)

The kids took a golf lesson with Granddaddy Rob!

And cousin time is ALWAYS fun!

And silly!

With scooters!

And tennis!

We also enjoyed lots of walks after dinner...

And we celebrated Sebastian's birthday a little early*, too!

Nearly 5 years old!

Bas was a little bummed that his new goggles don't cover his nose, but he'll figure out how to hold his breath under water soon enough!

Then it was time to head home. We felt so lucky to get nine days in Virginia Beach. What a great end to the school year and start to the summer. Can't wait for our next beach week!!

*Sebastian turned five TODAY!! He celebrated with a great swim lesson. We can't wait for his party next weekend!