Christmas Coast Trip - Day 2

Day 2 at the coast was fun - super fun. The day started out low-key. We had lots of lounging and playing going on.

Then before lunch we all pulled ourselves together a little for a family picture. I can't believe our family is this big! I LOVE it. We have the coolest 18 people in our family ever :).

 Here are Grandma and Grandpa and their 6 grandkids!

This one is just me wrestling a big happy ball of Teagen. 

The Casqueiros

Bryan and Candy took this lovely picture. I wish we had went out and taken one!

After all our pictures, people headed out in little groups for lunch. Dan went out an picked up an amazing burger for me with loads of blue cheese on it - oh man - mouth-watering again. I stayed home with some of the kids, and we worked on our craft - Duct tape rings! We had lots of fun making them with cousin girls of all ages.

Another fun activity on Day 2 was Gingerbread Houses. Candy & Bryan brought all the supplies - and check out this spread!! The kids had a blast making them.

After dinner, more lounging :). I think these pictures were taken when I was babysitting Dad's computer for him.

I don't know the story behind this picture, but I LOVE IT :).

Before bed, the kids had one more fun activity. Grandma & Grandpa had gotten them rocks... I forget what they're called, but you break them and they have crystals inside. Here are a few pictures of that fun.

Once the little kids were settled, it was time for the big kids to set of on some shenanigans. Every adult in the house that doesn't consider themselves an adult yet (that would be everyone from Zach to Dan) headed out on a 'teenage' adventure :).

Here we are piling down the stairs - about to run out into crazy pouring rain and head to the beach!!

Candy's camera took awesome pictures of how the rain and wind were hitting - completely sideways - no up or down at all - just a constant flow of huge raindrops hitting you everywhere.

This picture gives a little bit of an idea of how wet it was.

Visibility was low - I counted heads multiple times. It was crazy fun, but I didn't want to go home with less siblings/cousins than we came with!!

We were playing the most hilarious games - running and frolicking like school children. We would race eachother full-effort at a snails pace into the wind, and then turn around and leap with the wind on the way back - gaining so much momentum that it was scary to stop!

We sang songs and yelled, even just to communicate with people right next to us! Some of us also spent a few minutes running in a circle and yelling, "BEST DAY EVER!!!!" ... At least that's what I was yelling - I really have no idea if everyone else was yelling that or not :).We stayed down on the beach for a lot longer than I thought we would because it was just so crazy fun... slightly perilous at times (like the blind trip down and then back up the slippery rocks)... but SO fun.

Once we were too soaked to tell the difference, we all piled into the hot tub at the house where Grandma Bonnie & Grandpa Dale were staying. Dan and I were the only ones who brought swimsuits, so we had all kinds of hilarious wardrobe in there - including mustard sweats, of course :).

More hilarious games ensued in the hot tub.

When we got back to our beach house we busted out some hot chocolate and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. It was a fabulous adventure. I was so excited that each one of my siblings could be there together. AND I was so glad that Zach could join us - we talked about how he was there in proxy for Ali and Nikki too - who wouldn't have hesitated for a second to join us on our escapade.