Back to the Beach

Now that all of us kids are married and settled, my family is trying to set up a more official reunion schedule. Since we're split evenly between the East and West, our plan is to alternate back and forth every other year. We kicked off in the East by spending a week at the beach in Garden City, SC.

Adam and Courtney working on a sand castle with Grandpa and Uncle Ben

Courtney with her wild ocean hair enjoying some boogie boarding

The Brueck cousins - the last time they were all together was five years ago! Luckily, it didn't take them long to get to know each other again, and they all got along great!

Jordan and Jacob on the beach (looking innocent but probably planning their next Nerf gun assault)

Adam the merman

My two silly sisters posing in the surf

Jason catching a wave

The beach had shells everywhere! Here's Alyssa with just a few of the MANY she collected all week.

Alyssa with her uncles Craig and Ben - ready to hit the waves

Hey Jordan - there's something under your chair...

I love this picture! Dave's coming out of the surf ready to attack.

The pool had a cool night feature - when you turned on the pool light, it changed colors!

And Craig brought a cool underwater camera for daytime fun

South Carolina is a lot more lax on its fireworks regulations than North Carolina, so Ben and Craig were able to put on a real fireworks show. And they're legal on the beach, so we watched the show in the sand.

Julie and Ken using sparklers (and Melanie's camera tricks) to express their love =)

The tooth fairy visited four times! Alyssa and Jacob lost one the same night early in the week, and Courtney lost hers mid week. When it was time to pose for this picture, Nathan decided to work on his sorta-loose tooth just so he could he could be in the picture, too. He was in the bathroom for awhile, but he emerged victorious.

When Jennie came down for church Sunday morning, we noticed she matched the beach house!

And here's Ben with "Shelly." The beach house had this creepy bust of a woman with shells for hair. She quickly became a source of fun as we left her in people's beds, at the top of the stairs, etc. You never knew where she might surface next...

Jacob, Jordan, Courtney, Alyssa, and Rachael

The Brueck gang!

Thanks to Joanna (a.k.a. "family president") for finding a great beach house and organizing a fantastic week. Now the mantle falls on someone out West (shall we say Jennie?) =) as we look forward to Bear Lake 2011.