Beach Cottage '11

WE had another wonderful week at North Captiva Island over Spring Break! We swam in the pool, waded in the ocean and dug in the sand all week long. As tradition, we had to pose Reef by the weathered log/branch that has been close to the house since Reef's first visit, and I hope I can find the pictures from his first and second visits by it just to see the changes! It's always interesting to see if the beach has worn away or if the ocean has replenished the sand from the previous year!



We also got creative and took a family picture that turned out amazing! Rick manned my camera which was set to black and white while Cyndi had hers on regular setting. You can't beat the colors of the ocean, so I think color wins out on these photos!
You can see the color ones from a previous post and the heading of the blog!

Fun at the beach cottage

Just a few fun name and date photos with Reef for future browsing!

CU girls annual get together

My college girls and I always try to get together during our breaks as many of them are in different states now! :( It was a GORGEOUS day and we actually got to play outside for awhile! We got the younger boys to take a nap at the same time and the older girls got to watch Hannah Montana or iCarly or some other Disney show while us mommies chatted it up and drank some vino!

It's always a good time when we can get the girls together!

Christmas in Crete

Sad to say this was my ONLY picture from Christmas in Crete with the Mundt's and Becwar's! We had such a good time and Reef had an amazing time hanging out with his cousins Scoie & Cooper. We played dominoes and ate yummy food (too many sweets!) and again enjoyed the company of family!

Christmas Eve at the Cabin.

Another new tradition was going out to the cabin to have Christmas! This was crazy, but also a fun time. Reef, of course, enjoyed opening presents and eating lots of Christmas goodies, while we enjoyed just kicking back and enjoying each other!

Thanksgiving

Reef is playing with his Christmas present from Uncle Dave & Aunt Amy...PLAYDOUGH!


We hosted Thanksgiving this year at our house with my side of the family. It was my first year hosting and making the turkey (although dad mainly made it...) Mom and dad came down and helped me super clean the house and cook the turkey. It was a nice time with Aunt Amy and Uncle Dave, both grandmas, Uncle Mark and Brother & Stacey.

Again, another tradition in the making with having a big enough house to host family events!

Boo at the Zoo & Halloween

We went to Boo at the Zoo with Rick and Cyndi again this year and Reef had a super time being a Reef Shark! I could not pass this outfit up and he looked so darn cute!

On Halloween my mom came up to hang out with us for a little bit and then she went to HyVee with us while Reef trick or treated around the store. We also walked around the neighborhood a little bit to trick or treat with the neighbors. A new tradition in the making!