Cape May with the fam

My poor, neglected blog! Since we have been back from our trip to Maryland and New Jersey, I have been using up all of my spare time in sleeping, so there has been no time for blogging. =) I am now 14 weeks, and though the nausea is gone, I have not received that much-anticipated, second-trimester boost of energy. The mornings are great, the afternoons are slow, and then early evening I crash. But I am thankful for the little life that is growing inside of me, and the very active, much-bigger life that I am playing with all day, so the tiredness is ok.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship with my family in Cape May! The weather was about the worst we have ever had during a vacation time in September, but that did not stop us. The water was warmer than the air, so we still braved the beach a few days. Nate loved the ocean, and the sand, and the seagulls, and watching the kites that my little brothers flew. It was neat for me to think that he was playing in the same places that I played when I was little, that my Dad played in when he was little, and that my Nana played in when she was little!! 

We saw some gorgeous sunsets!

And a beautiful rainbow that covered the whole sky...

Ella likes to try to fit into small spaces...

 We tried to get a picture of Ella giving Nate hugs and kisses, but they would always stop when they saw a camera. The picture below includes Isaac and Rebekah Trudeau's baby, Oliver. They came for an overnight visit. 

We also cooked lots of yummy food, including our signature Cape May breakfast that I remember my Nana making...waffles and creamed chip beef! I think this is the only picture that documents Kathryn's visit! She was able to come down for the weekend and that was fun. Hopefully she enjoyed herself even though she had the stomach bug for part of the time. 

This breakfast actually took place the morning after all 9 of my siblings ran in the 2-mile Annual Cape May Beachfront Run. I was so sad that I left my camera behind and did not get any pictures of this event! Mom and I had great fun cheering. Everyone did great! John (13) was the first of our family across the finish line and finished 12th overall, out of over a hundred runners! William (9) finished second in his age group, beating the twins (7). And Patience was second in her age group too. Most of them had not trained for this race, so they were running off of sheer adrenaline and competitiveness. This was best exemplified by the twins. They ran the whole time together, and close to the finish line were looking very tired. Right behind them was another little boy, obviously about their age, who was being coached by his dad. Mom and I heard the boy's dad say, "Ok, now's the time to run fast!" and he took off for the finish line. The twins had been watching him over their shoulder and when he started running they said, "Don't let him pass us!!" and took off! They ran hard and did not let the poor boy pass them. They were determined to win their age group, but it was probably good that they didn't because then they got a good lesson in how to lose gracefully. =) I was kinda sad to not be running with everyone, as I have run this race in the past, but did not feel up to it. Maybe next year!


All in all, we had a relaxing time of fellowship. We spent a lot of time talking on the porch. Mom finished her first sock and I knitted a project that will not be discussed further because it may end up being someone's Christmas gift! I will go so far as to say that I really, really want to post about it because it has been lots of fun so far....but I suppose I can wait until after Christmas. =) 


We flew rather than drove this time and Nate was a great little traveler! He slept on both flights, and despite some attempts at random shrieking, brought joy rather than pain to his fellow passengers. 


Even though we enjoyed seeing everyone it is nice to be home, getting settled back into our routine....well, trying to anyway. =)