On Tuesday, June 21, we headed out to North Carolina to visit Steve, April, and Brantley! Brantley turned 1 so we were going to celebrate her birthday and spend time with family on the beach. The kids were excited to go on a plane again. As we were flying, Marc and I thought about the number of times the kids have flown already and it puts our childhood traveling experiences to shame! Not that a good car ride across America isn't fun, but it sure is easier to fly. Anyway, we were on our way to North Carolina for a week long vacation.
Once we arrived, the kids didn't hesitate to start playing with Brantley and all of her toys. They all played so well together the whole time. We found out very quickly that Brantley gives the sweetest hugs and will hug everybody! At one point, it looked like she was trying to tackle Joseph (he may have deserved it) but it turned out she was going in for a big bear hug!
Uncle Buda (Steve) and Auntie April had so many fun things at their house for the kids to play with. The kids loved swinging on the swing set, laying in the hammock, and playing in the little pool. They didn't even mind the heat outside.
We hadn't seen Steve, April, and Brantley since earlier in the spring, so we celebrated all 3 kids' birthdays at once. Joseph loves his new space shuttle, rockets, and bowling set! Brantley got her own pink airplane that sings and lights up! Anna was in heaven with a princess hair and make-up set! I'm pretty sure they all played with each other's new toys all week.
After a couple days in Goldsboro at Steve and April's house, we headed to the beach. It was a pretty long drive so we were thankful we brought the portable DVD player with the car adapter! Anna and Joseph also spent a majority of the ride coloring. Almost as soon as we could get their luggage in the door of the beach house, the kids were in the suits ready to hit the water! They both would get close to the water, wait for it to come up to them, and run away from it while giggling. So cute! Then they figured out how much fun it is to pick up the muddy wet sand and throw it. Luckily, they only threw it into the water and not on each other... that may happen on a future beach trip, right?
On day 2 of being at the beach, we had to force them to sit still for a few minutes to eat breakfast before we could go to the beach again. They were so antsy to get out there! This day was filled with sand toys, bubbles, floats, and sand castles. Joseph loved the water on day 1, but that was because it wasn't taking his toys away from him (we didn't take the toys to the shore the first day). However, once he saw that the water would pick up his toys and carry them a few feet away, he flipped out and wanted nothing to do with the water anymore... uugghh! We finally got him to go back in it, but he would only go with Marc or myself. He was fine with staying as far from the water as he could get for that day. Day 3 got better... more about that in a bit. 
See the panic in his eyes that he might lose Anna's float in the water??
Marc and Anna stayed busy building a castle!
Grandpa kept Joseph company while the rest of us played by the water
That evening, we ate a delicious dinner and had Dirt Cup for Brantley's birthday dessert! The birthday girl clapped along to the family singing "Happy Birthday" for the 3rd or 4th time :) And then it was time to dig in! After birthday celebrations, we headed outside once more for a nice stroll along the shore.
Day 3 at the beach started with family pictures. I'm pretty sure we took a picture of every possible combination of family members. Don't worry, I only picked a couple for the blog. Notice the Championship Mavericks gear? We're pretty proud of the Mavs!! There were plans to change into nicer clothes for less casual pictures, but the kids (and some adults) weren't having it, so we headed out to the beach after these pictures instead.
Grandmommy and Grandpa with their grandkids
The whole Bofferding family together at the beach house
As mentioned earlier, Day 3 on the beach was much better for Joseph. Not only did he hold Marc's hand to get in the water, but this day he was actually smiling about it! :)
Marc had mentioned the previous 2 days that he wanted to bury someone in the sand. There was no way I was volunteering and I knew the kids wouldn't stay long enough to get them completely covered, so Marc was the lucky one to be buried. The kids got a huge kick out of it! They even helped me, very enthusiastically, with covering him up with sand. Haha!
After a long afternoon on the beach and somewhat short naps, we took the grandparents and kids to see Cars 2. It was a cute movie and a nice way to relax after being on the beach. That evening, we had yet another fantastic dinner and decided to give pictures one more try. This time, we went to the beach and dressed a little nicer. I thought all these pictures turned out really nice and the kids were much happier during this photo shoot than the morning photo shoot. It may have had something to do with the fact that they were missing out on beach time that morning while we were all snapping our cameras at them. Anyway, we got some great pictures and enjoyed our last sunset on the beach before heading back to Goldsboro the next morning.
The next morning in Goldsboro, we headed to the Air Force Base to see Uncle Buda's jets! There's no doubt in my mind that Joseph loved the jets more than the beach! :) He just kept staring at them and saying "Jet! Jet!" Uncle Buda even let Marc climb up to the cockpit. Joseph looked up at me and said, "me too" so we passed him up to Marc to sit in the jet too. He was definitely a happy boy! Meanwhile, Anna was equally as happy to be riding in Brantley's stroller and couldn't have cared less about the jets. In all fairness, she did get to see the jets last summer when we visited.
Many thanks to Steve and April for allowing us to come visit and for putting together such a fun beach excursion! We can't wait to go back again sometime!!
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