Beach Week

To celebrate Steve and Harriet's 50th wedding anniversary, the entire Koplan clan (along with the Cweibers) headed out to a beautiful vacation home called the Bella Vita in Sandbridge, near Virginia Beach.  Gwen summed up the trip in her journal entry:

"At Harriet and Steve's Anniversary, we went to the beach.  I boogie boarded.  It was fun.  We saw a rainbow.  A double one.  We watched Wizard of Oz and Shrek and Video Games.  We were with our cousins.  We flew our first kites.  I played shuffleboard with Laila, Jake and her dad.  I went out in the big waves.  We slept in bunk beds and Paige slept in the bathroom.  We went to the Boardwalk.  We bike-rided.  I played with Dorothy.  We caught ghost crabs together."

Lots of time was spent in the pool, hot tub and on the beach which was right on the other side of the fence.

And the highlight of the trip might have been these great family photos!

Cousins from oldest to youngest.  Look at how cute Henry and Whitney are holding hands.

Aunt Julie helped the girls fly kites for the first time - they loved it.  Gwen's kite got super high and I spent about 20 minutes reeling that puppy in!

Every night was movie night in theater room (or huddled around a laptop).  Even little Paige sat and watched while munching on popcorn.

Meals on the large deck were also a big event every day. Families took turns handling dinner - we had catered fajitas, crab feasts and steaks from the grill.  What did our family contribute?  Ordering pizza!

Dorothy feeding Paige.

Our one excursion outside of the house (we had to make use of our rental car!) was to the Virginia Beach boardwalk.

 

One evening, the Cweibers tried releasing lanterns on the beach ala Rapunzel for Harriet and Steve to make a wish on.  It didn't quite work out with the wind blowing out the flame.  After lots of trying to get the lantern lit enough to float upwards, the wind caught it and carried it down the beach sideways, with John shouting "Make your damn wish!"

And one of the highlights of the trip was boogie boarding!  Gwen and Whitney were both able to catch waves and loved it!