The kids and I recently took a trip down to Avon, NC for the weekend. My uncle going to visit my cousin Jesse morphed into a small little family reunion of my mom and her siblings, so we were excited to be close enough to come join! I hadn't seen a lot of these family members in a long time, and most of them had never met the kids.
We were fortunate the weather was still nice enough to enjoy the beach. We built sand castles, flew kites, and Bonnie inevitably got buried in the sand (as usual) and Riser wanted no part of that (as usual).
The siblings (minus Janet). Always so fun seeing them together.
Each night, cooking was the main event. I love that this side of the family is so passionate about cooking together and making it something everyone can be involved in. Bonnie was thrilled at this, and felt so grateful to be a part of the action.
We walked down to the nearby playground one morning.
We got to meet Jesse's neighbor who is an oyster farmer, and he was so nice to tell us all about it. We visited multiple times. The kids were not brave enough to try one.
Bonnie took a special interest in Jesse's longboard.
The second night of dinner was homemade wontons. There were three teams, each planned and grocery shopped for their wontons separately. It was such a fun night and Bonnie LOVED it. I think we might need to start incorporating this type of tradition when we have family visit.
I'm pretty sure Bonnie made more wontons than anyone. She was so happy to be included, and even taught me how to make them. I didn't get a picture of the finished product but they were all delicious!
After dinner, Jesse had the sweetest idea to do a treasure hunt for the kids. He enlisted a lot of the adults' help to put it together and it was honestly amazing. There was an elaborate story about the ghost of Blackbeard visiting Uncle Danny, an old treasure map, a nighttime hunt with flashlights, and buried treasure. It was a memory Bonnie will have forever.
X marks the spot!
There's always an adventure to be had with these two.
They admired their treasure nonstop the rest of the trip.
We had some really wonderful long conversations, and had a great visit. It was lovely to reconnect and spend some good time together. I left with a full heart!