Cut the Pie

We're back from vacation! And oh what a strange trip it's been.

Here are a few highlights from last week - as we bid farewell to another successful Stevens' family beach extravaganza:

• Maurie (my bro), in the first hour on the beach (before we even were able to check in to our cabin) sprained (and possibly broke) his wrist after getting wiped out by a wave. He and his wife Lisa spent about 5 hours in an Outer Banks urgent care center. His wrist eventually got better. And after a few days, was able to swim again. Yeah!
• The fish were biting more than usual. We caught a bunch, including spot, kingfish, and sheapshead. Michael (another bro) even caught a skate (he thought it was a flounder at first). Oh, and Patty caught her first fish! A spot (with grandpa's help). Course I didn't have a camera with me at the time so her accomplishment wasn't documented :-(
• Cornhole is a fun game. Yes Cornhole. Ever hear of it? It's basically a bean bag tossing game. My dad built and brought these two contraptions to the beach for us to play. He didn't think it would catch on, but we ended up playing the game all week. It was a blast (see pics below).
• Patty and Amanda were made for the beach. They spent hours playing in the waves, building sand castles, collecting sea shells, running along the beach and jumping off cliffs. They had so much fun!
• Crabs, crabs and more crabs. Just about every night we went crab hunting. Little (and sometimes not so little) ghost crabs emerge from their nests in the sand each night to feed and drink by the ocean. We like to chase them, catch them, and scream when one crawls across our feet or tries to climb up our leg. Patty was a little freaked out by them. But Amanda, on the other hand, LOVED every minute. She would even pick up the baby ones. One night she got hold of one, put it in a bucket, gave it a name (Freshie) and took it into her bedroom to live. I had to explain it to her that "Freshie" needs to go back to the beach to find it's mommy and daddy and would not be happy living in a bucket inside. She was heartbroken. She cried and cried and cried for her little Freshie. It was very sad. To make a long story short - we're now the proud owners of two hermit crabs - Freshie II and Orange Flower (Patty's hermit crab). They will live out their lives (possibly very short) in a small cage in our house. Patty and Amanda are alternating on who gets to sleep with the cage in their rooms at night. I can't wait for the cats to discover them...
  
• Oh and of course - we played cut the pie - a Stevens' family tradition. It's basically a game of tag, but you have to stay on the lines in the sand (the lines are drawn into the shape of a pie). Patty and Amanda caught on pretty quick. Below is a video of them playing with grandpa and their cousins, Jake and Will.
  

Here are a few more beach pics:

Patty and Amanda literally rolling around in the sand

Amanda is playing Frisbee with her cousin Summer

My brother Danny (Summer is in the background) playing a game of cornhole


Patty and Amanda on the last day of vacation :-(

Can't wait till next year!

5 More Days Until the Beach!

As we approach the weekend and our impending vacation, I'm finding it hard to concentrate at work. My thoughts keep drifting to the sun and the sand of the Outer Banks. We trek there on Sunday with the rest of my family - mom, dad, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews - for a week of swimming, surfing, fishing, drinking and lounging on the beach. I think there are 25 of us in all - sharing one house, eight bedrooms and four bathrooms. It's going to be sweet!

For a glimpse of what we're in store for, I found this short video from last year's vacation of the girls playing with a large pile of jellyfish (Yes. Jellyfish). Apparently Moon Jellyfish (what they are actually called) are abundant along the shoreline of Nags Head. As you can see, they had a ball!

(Don't worry. We made sure they washed their hands when they were finished!)

Party Foul

We went to a surprise party last night for Bryan, a friend who recently completed an Ironman competition (2.4 mile swim, 100+ mile bike ride and 26 mile marathon). And after all that he wants to do it AGAIN. He's pretty much messed up in the head.

Anywhoo...as parties go, it was fun. The beer was free flowing and the pizza was abundant. I schooled a bunch of party goers on the proper way to play flippie cups (a drinking game that involves flipping cups - its not very complicated) and pretty much drank my weight in beer.

Suffice it to say...I'm not feeling so hot today. OK. I've said it before. And I'm probably going to say it again. I'm NEVER EVER going to drink like that again...that is until next week, when we head to the beach for our annual Stevens-family binge-fest (ie - vacation).

The picture below is Bryan's brother-in-law. It's always hilarious to see a grown man passed out in a Hello Kitty bed, clutching a stuffed animal...