Keep the good times rolling.

It is easier coming back from vacation when the next day you have a party to go to. Our friends put on quite the rainbow party for Miss Kenzie's Bday, such a fun afternoon! 
I wish I had thought of some of the things Lisa added to her party back when we gave the trio a rainbow party...well done Lisa!
The kiddos had a blast, of course Lily and Jericho started off with food as soon as we got there LOL.

Everyone got right down to playing.

Jason had a great time hanging out with some long time friends that we don't get to see very often, we ended up getting a sitter and going out for the night after the party. I love when super fun family time can turn into, totally unplanned, super fun adult time!

All the littles had a blast.

Athena begs with class and sophistication :)

Too cute!

The birthday girl and her amazing cake!

The adults started a fire, which of course signals to Xander that he needs to roast something. He grabbed stuff off the table, broccoli, bell peppers...you know all the usuals. He wished he had marshmallows...which our fabulous hosts handed out too.

Love the goodie bags...and so did the kids, hopefully they will share :) Lily got cranky on the way home...it is never fun to leave a party, in fact it is down right "unfunable" according to an angry little Bug LOL.

A deer came by to see what all the fuss was about.

Happy Birthday Kenzie...we love you!

Why do vacations have to end?

The beautiful weather held out for us once more...thanks Mother Nature, you helped make our wonderful getaway that much better. We checked out of our room late this morning, but had a fun day planned so we got to it.
A look at the places we had been exploring.

It was pretty windy up here this morning.

This is the other side that we didn't get to explore too much this time. This is where the seals were hanging out during most of our trip. Next time we will have to get over to this side more.

A brief stop at the playground to burn off some morning energy before we hop in the car for a couple hours. Nice job Haddie!

Of course my 3 1/2 year old has to do everything the big kids do, just sliding down the fireman pole all by himself. He is pretty amazing!

Little stud muffin LOL.

Xan hitching a ride.

They had a lot of fun playing on this little ship. They even made up imaginary games that it was about to explode and they all had to escape before it did ....I have no idea where they got that idea LOL.

Smooch smooch.

Xander said he was in his camouflage.

The kiddos were having fun, but the parents knew lunch time would be hitting us soon...and Jason was cold, since he let me wear the sweater he brought for himself LOL.

After a two hour drive, and a lot of listening to "I'm hungry" "I'm bored of this driving" "Are we there yet" we stopped at a beach side Mo's for lunch.

We actually aren't big Mo's fans, we were looking for something less chainy, but the kids couldn't wait anymore so we stopped. It was not bad food, just not what I was really wanting. Guess Jason will have to make me homemade crab fettuccine when we get home.

After lunch we headed out to the beach. This beach was much more windy, perfect for flying kites, but not so perfect for kids that don't like getting pelted with flying sand. Thankfully this is one of the few beaches you can drive on, so we were able to drive out and the kids could stay in the car or use the car to help block some of the wind and blowing sand.
Haddie and Xan were troopers for the most part, Lily left the car a bit...Jericho only got out of the car a couple times, and very briefly LOL. I shouldn't laugh, because that is what I did too.

The kites got going really well today.

Xander dropped an empty bottle he was playing with...he had fun chasing it down after the wind blew it all over the place. Something blew out of our car and Jason actually fell in the sand a couple times chasing it down...I WISH I had my camera at the time, it was so funny.

Sunglasses helped keep the blowing sand out of the kids eyes...funny how eye irritation leads to kid irritation LOL. Looking fabulous Lily!

I got put on kite holding duty...this kite was going crazy. I don't think I had ever really flown a kite before, just never been my thing, it was pretty fun I guess...for a few minutes. It was especially fun because this kite was nutso, it kept dive bombing everyone.

We talked Jericho out of the car for a couple minutes to fly his kite.

Jericho raced back to the safety of the car as soon as he could...while the big kids braved a little water fun.

Stop waves and wind.

Ready, set, goooo!

Dad joined the crazy kids, I snapped a few pics and beat feet back to the car....and perhaps my only sane child Hahaha.

This is one smart kid, he buckled himself up and started snacking on a cracker.

That is 100 lbs easy...but how else do you keep the kids feet from getting all sandy on the way to the car.

Now as for the following pictures I will preface this with I can not confirm nor deny the kids are actually doing what it may or may not look like they are doing. I will say the beach was empty, and if they were doing anything, like just steering, I would guess the adults kept the speed to like 5 MPH and were totally on top of the situation.
Ok this was so fun...my kids will need drivers ed. I think LOL.

Lily was our second best student...she only rarely aimed in the direction of the water LOL.

She had a lot of back seat drivers "helping" her out.

She reminded me of a funny meme I saw on Facebook.
"When people talk about my driving.....BUT DID YOU DIE?" LMAO!

Xan was up next...what does he do first?
"Look Mom, no hands" good grief.

He had too much fun!

He was a fan of more 4X4 action in the dry sand...of course, boys sheesh LOL.

We didn't plan on giving Jericho a turn...but he convinced us otherwise.

Short round was a true wild man behind the wheel, his turn was VERY short Hahaha.

He didn't want any other hands on the wheel.

When Jason told him his turn was over and put us in park...without a seconds hesitation or thought Jericho was like the hell it is, reached down grabbed the shifter and shifted the car out of park. He missed drive by one and put it into manual drive. We laughed so hard Jason was tearing up. This boy, I swear.

Yeah dude...you, PITA for sure :)

Haddie wanted to go last, and she took this turn very seriously. Of course she did, she is Hayden after all.

Our best, and more conservative student.

Such a grown up Miss.

Lily decided to grab my phone and take pictures of her sister...I have created picture monsters I think.

Not too shabby Bug.

Nice job Haddie...you will be ready for your license before the others I think LOL.

After this fun we popped in a movie on the DVD player and the kids let us have a peaceful drive home. What a fun, but busy, 3 days...can't wait to do it again!