My family vacations in royal style every other year. We rough it by staying in some gorgeous giant rental home directly on the beach on an ocean somewhere. This year it was a 10 bedroom home with 2 pools and a theater room in Virginia Beach. Yup, life is rough. Kudos to my nieces, Bella and Sophie, for all of their research in finding the place and to Nana for creating and maintaining the tradition and never settling. I mean, seriously, check this place out.
The first day, we checked out Williamsburg for a bit, but other than that, the only time our little foursome left the house was to go get fresh seafood and get together with Dan's cousins. Anja lived and breathed the beach and the indoor pool. Yup, indoor. It was that kind of a house. Auntie Kimmie brought Anja one of the Coast Guard approved floatation devices that allows you to still swim. They're goofy lookin', but I highly recommend them if you have a toddler or young kid as independent as ours. It was a life saver. Pun intended.
So here are a few pictures of our 'Ginia trip (as Anja calls it).
Williamsburg:
Anja and Uncle Mike
Anja in jail
Like my hat?
At the beach house:
Cousin Liam holding Ian for the first time
Ian's first dip in the pool (It was a bit humid in the pool room, so the lens fogged up quickly.)
Anja swimming with her goofy floatation device
Headin' to the beach. Anja still loves the swim diaper we bought her in Germany last year.
Photo shoot with my whole fam
Ian discovering grass. Gotta love the gnats. They wanted in on the photo shoot, too.
The four siblings
Anja and Cousin Liam were two peas in a pod. Their favorite room in the house was the theater.
Anja's first trip to the beach. At least the first time she was old enough to remember. She loved the waves!
Anja diggin' in the sand with Liam and Uncle Won. Playing in the sand was probably her favorite activity.
Still lovin' the suit
Pizza night. Auntie Kimmie and Uncle Mark helped the kiddos make their own pizzas. Anja put mushrooms and pineapple on hers. And then ate the rest of the bowl of pineapple.
Mmmmm...dinner. 
Or it would've been if we hadn't let Anja see it while it was still alive. Once the cooked version made it to my plate, Anja immediately teared up and proclaimed "No, Mommy! You can't eat the crab! No eatin' the crab!" Oh well. Hopefully she won't make the connection with pig and cow anytime soon. Apparently she doesn't care about chicken.
Ian with one of his Godparents: Auntie Kimmie. Ian is lucky to have all 3 of my siblings as Godparents!
We did have to come home to 'Sota a day earlier than everyone else. Here's why:
My folks and friend, Andy, joined us for the festivities. I think Dan was excited to have back-up since the ceremony didn't start until 7:30pm and the doctoral degrees weren't awarded until around 9:15.
Andy, Ian and I
A view of the back. I don't think the hood was designed for short folk like myself. It stopped about a foot above the hem of the (incredibly hot) robe.
My advisor and program directors
Immediately upon finding me after the ceremony, Anja ran up to me, squealing, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! Look at YOOOUU!" Apparently she thought I looked funny. Then she told me that she saw me on the big screen and that I had been playing hide and seek with her on the big screen. But then they put a big scarf on me and she found me. Nana reported that she was jumping up and down, yelling "Mommy!" over and over. I'm very glad she was there (and still awake!)
And to add to the list of accomplishments from this weekend, Ian rolled over for the first time! And I caught it on video! Go, little man, go!
