Roberts Family Beach Trip 2008

Earlier this month my family spent more than a week at my in-laws' wonderful beach house in Delaware. It was a wonderful time to gather, and all of our family was able to be there, even including Stephen's new fiancee Lindsey for the last half of the week. Here's a rare whole-family photo that we took our last hour together. You can click the photo to see it larger.

(l-r: My dad Jeff; sister-in-law Sharon, brother Jason, and 15-month-old niece Ali; brother Mike; brother Daniel; 4-year-old nephew Andrew (Sharon and Jason's son); Katie and John; future sister-in-law Lindsey and brother Stephen; mom Debbie; and me)

You may remember that Katie's cousin Ali is only 3 weeks older than her. Here's a photo of the two close cousins with their respective mommies. Their grandma is hiding behind us.

Here's Katie goofing off with her cousin Andrew. Katie and her cousins bonded immensely over the week, so much so that they were regularly exchanging hugs and kisses as they played.

We had a wonderful time, and so did Katie. Her favorite activities were enjoying the beach, the kiddie pool, and her cousins. My favorite activities were spending time with family, watching the Olympics till at least midnight every night, and being able to catch up on sleep a bit.

Here's a cute photo of Katie modeling one of her new fall outfits (thanks Anna!) and "reading" Little Red Riding Hood. I love how, more often than not, she "reads" books upside-down.

Beach photos
Katie ran up to a group of kids building a huge mound of sand and chatted nonstop at them. They were a bit bewildered by her, not knowing what to do with her because she was obviously too young to help them. But she wasn't too young to help them knock down the mound afterwards!

Sandy-faced Katie! You don't suppose that's because she likes to put her entire face in the sand, do you?

Katie's new favorite pose: sticking her rear end up in the air. Why? So we can help her do a somersault, of course!

Katie decided this trip that she LOVES the ocean. She was quite the Kamikaze Katie, running full-speed ahead toward the waves every chance she could. John and I would stand with her at the edge of the waves, holding her safely. But if she saw a wave that didn't quite make it to her, she'd get mad at the wave and try to run further into the ocean. It was exhausting to restrain her! But of course a lot of fun to watch as well.

Kiddie Pool

Katie also loved the kiddie pool in the beach house community. Here's a video of her enjoying the water, the pool signs, and Mommy and Daddy.