Mountains Speak

For the first time since Crick and Kate’s wedding (October 2007) the whole family was in one place at one time (including the two newest additions to the family!) and we had some non-family members but still fabulous people join us as well. As our family knows very well, a full house is a fun house and this week was no different. One week on the beach of Topsail Island in North Carolina was exactly the break we needed. It is hard not knowing when we are going to see the whole family again, but we made great use of the few days we all had together:

Surfing. Skin boarding. Shell collecting. Sand castle making. Deep sea fishing. Greased-up-watermelon playing. Birthday (Carrie) and anniversary (Tim and Beth) celebrating. Beach reading. Crab eating. Michael Jackson memorializing. Dolphin watching. Ladder ball competing. Frozen drink consuming. Outburst screaming. Barefoot soccer-ing. Champagne toasting. Baby bump watching. Occasional short term babysitting. Iced coffee drinking. Relaxing. And lots and lots of family loving.







Sean and the green surfboard were inseperable for most of the trip. At least in the early am hours anyway. That beautiful yellow-green fish Sean caught is a Mahi Mahi and we ate it the night he caught it!




Each night of the week one couple (or the group of singles) were assigned dinner duties. It was a lot of fun and we ate like kings all week. Tim and Beth's make-your-own Kabob night was a fun way to get everyone interacting around the food. We followed their cue and brought the Strong Family tradition of fresh crabs on beach vacations to the Helfrich family dinner table. Sean cooked his first busshel of crabs and then taught all the novices the best wAy to get the most meat out of one crab. It was the only night we ate outside and with Jack Johnson playing in the background I couldn't imagine a more perfect beach night.









Seeing the adults is always fun, but we will definitely treasure getting to spend a whole week with all of these adorable nieces and nephews. It's amazing how quickly they develop their own personalities...








And would it be a Helfrich Family Vacation without at least some competition? Never. OUTBURST resulted in two rounds of the guys beating the girls. An intense laderball tournament had Timmy and Danny crowned champions. But the most important competition of the week was greased up watermelon. Just like it sounds, a watermelon is covered in Crisco and rolled into the pool by Kaitlyn and/or Matty. The object of the game is then to get the watermelon past the other team and out of the water for one point. Sean, B, Spencer and Curtis were victorious over Danny, Timmy, Keith and Crick.






Kaitlyn and Beth treated us to an all-star recital in tribute to Michael Jackson. Carrie joined inon the fun before it turned into an all out dance party.








And a big thanks to the two beautiful people who made it all possible!