Our Last Month...

Another catch up…

In August we were thrilled to have my cousin Meredith and her family come visit us all the way from New Hampshire.  We had not yet met Dominick in person and we could not wait to get all the cousins together. We had a wonderful time that passed entirely too fast. The little ones enjoyed their time together playing and checking each other out. Avery was enamored by her little cousin, always wanting to pat him and give him toys. We were able to get off to downtown Annapolis for lunch and some sightseeing and even had some time to show Dominick our neighborhood beach. We can’t wait for our next reunion!

 

At the end of September we went to Virginia to celebrate our favorite Aunt Suzie’s birthday…

I couldn’t wait to get the kiddos to the National zoo now that they are so into animals. I have SO many fond memories of going there myself when I was growing up.  I was waiting for the weather to cool down a little and school to be back in so the crowds wouldn’t be as large. We found the perfect day in September to go on a Friday with our friend Reece and her mommy Abbey. The dads were able to pop over and meet us after work on Friday afternoon.

 

Next up was my birthday weekend…

I had been training for weeks to run my very first Half Marathon.  On September 14^th (why not do it on my birthday) I ran the Navy/ Air Force Half Marathon in Washington D.C. with my very best friend Ren and my co-worker Jennifer. 13 miles on my 31^st birthday! I’m not gonna lie, the training was pretty rough considering I had never really pushed myself beyond my comfort zone of running about 4 or so miles. Not to mention I was training in the months of July and August…ugh (H-O-T and H-U-M-I-D), but I did it. My long runs leading up to the race were pretty rough but the actual half really wasn’t so bad. The weather was amazing, a nice 70ish degree day, no humidity and the adrenaline of all the racers coupled with running alongside my best friend made for an awesome first half. I definitely got the itch and cannot wait to sign up for my next race…and maybe a full marathon someday…maybe! After the race we all met for brunch followed by a quiet afternoon of resting and hanging out with my family. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

 

So, that about sums up the last month in the crazy life of the Hatchers. It doesn’t look like we will be slowing down anytime soon, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Oak Island 2013

We've been back from our 2013 Oak Island family beach trip for over a month and I am forcing myself to take the time to post about it. I feel like a broken record, but oh my lord how busy life has gotten with two toddlers. This is by far my favorite and most tiring stage we've reached. I am trying desperately to keep up with two incredibly active, spunky toddlers all while keeping up with working two jobs, house duties, family duties, etc. You name it and I'm probably behind on it! That being said, this blog has become my form of documentation aka baby book for Avery and Grayson so I'm trying my best to keep up with the bigger events in our lives, one of which was our yearly trip to Oak Island, North Carolina.

I treasure this week every year as it rolls around because it is our only week in the entire year that we truly get to spend every moment together as a family with little outside interruption. This year we were lucky enough to have my sister join us and oh how she helped with two little crazy monkeys! It was the second year with Avery and Grayson in tow but the first year they were really able to partake in the fun. They LOVED the beach, which I pretty much knew they would from their experience at our neighborhood beach.  We made sand castles, sand pools, chased a sand crab, played in the water, ate watermelon and ices on the beach, went on runs, ate yummy food, spent time with lots of visitors and just plain enjoyed our time in paradise. Oak Island is absolutely beautiful and I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to go every year to such an amazing place for our family vacation. 

The day we arrived we got an extra special visit from Linds as she was leaving a nearby beach from her family vacation!

On our first day we decided to drive the boat to an island and let the kiddos run around and play.

Captain and her first mate!

 

He loves his shovels!

Nana and Grayson on the boat

Ellie became enamored by a sand crab and would not leave it alone. A & G thought it was pretty cool too!

They loved setting up the baby pool to keep cool and away from the crashing waves.

Mommy & Avery!

Suzanne and Grayson (best buds all week)

Aunt Devin made sure she spoiled A & G rotten!

I absolutely love this picture! We went to Provision Co. for dinner...Yum!

Aunt Devin bought A & G a kite. Grayson was obsessed to say the least. I think he would have stared at the kite all day if he could have

.

Smashing someones hard work!

Bury the babies!

European style baby!

My parents were able to shoot over for a few days to visit!

A flying the kite

...and eating lots and lots of watermelon!!!!!!

Yoga!

and night night time (her new favorite game)

Breakfast on the porch

Ices!!!!

Beautiful sun kissed kiddos!

Taking Aunt Devin's ice cream!

The girls! (cousins)

Granddady and his grandaughter!

Aunt Devin and G!