WPWTW 2012

I've been working on this post for a long time, and it still isn't done yet, so bear with me. I'll probably be adding to it over the next week or so as I get some time! 

Here are some of the almost 3,000 pictures that we took at our WPWTW 2012 trip.  What does WPWTW stand for, you ask?  Wedding Party Without The Wedding.  It's this group of 5 guys that have been friends since... well, forever.  They were all in each others' weddings what seems like forever ago.  They live all over the country, literally, the east coast to the west coast.  They've gone from 5 guys to 5 guys, 5 wives, and 11 kids!  So, in an effort to stay connected and see each other every so often, they started a tradition called WPWTW.  Every other summer we go on vacation together.  We've been to the Wisconsin Dells, Indiana Dunes State Park, and now Ocean Isle Beach.  We had absolutely beautiful weather with plenty of sunshine, so much fun, and a *little* alcohol.  Ok, a lot of alcohol.  Seriously, my liver is probably in detox mode still!

The kids ranged in age from 19 months old to 10 years old - cram 11 kids in that time frame and woah boy, it was a little wild and crazy!

Kate, checking out the beach our first night there.

In order to feed ALL 21 people, each family takes specific meals.  This was Todd on Sunday morning, our first morning at the house, making German pancakes with bacon.  Yum!

First sand castle of the trip

Playing the waves... we got really lucky because the water was really calm almost every day - perfect for the kiddos!

Lugging her own bucket of water this year - yay!

Some of the little girls - Gaby, Kate, and Reagan

Brett & Todd - surfs up!

Our 7 bedroom house also came with a pool membership down the street, so we checked it out one day.

Catching critters and showing them off

Some of the big kids - AJ, Abree, Stella, & Layla

More time in the waves

With 10 adults there was always some adult supervision close by!

The biggest kids played hard too - Jeff & Kerry

Sweet little Greta, taking it all in

I love this, daddy and daughter

And another daddy and daughters pic

Stella practicing some gymnastics and making funny marks in the sand

Stella put all the boys to work to dig her a hole!

AJ seemed to really enjoy digging

Where'd she go?!

Kate loved hopping into the big holes in the ground

And so did Brett

Once the tide came in, the hole filled up pretty quickly, but Stella & Kate didn't seem to mind

Brett, digging in the sand, making a mote

They finally decided to join forces and protect the "city" from the waves

Working hard!

Reagan & Owen have the right idea!  Relaxation!

Sweet friends, Gaby & Reagan, making sand castles

Reagan LOVED this night - she got to go out to the beach with the big girls!

Shocker - Brett, playing in the sand with trucks ;)

New BFFs!

Look at him go!  Go, Jon!

Abree figured it out pretty quickly!

Jeff & Reagan

Sisters, Layla & Abree

All 11 kids in one picture - success!

Our mini umbrella city that we set up every day.  By the end of the week, we were pros!

Potater, loving the beach!

Devon took a turn too!

And he's up!

Stella wanted to join in the fun too :)

Layla finally agreed to try it out, and loved it!

Our view for the week - I could certainly get used to this!

Brett, waiting on a wave... it was a *little* calm that day!

Silly girls... they did this over and over and over again.  The sandbar and very shallow water with no waves (because of the sand bar) made for great fun for the kids :)

Brett & Kate, chillin!  Look how calm that water was :)

Watching the waves... it's also Todd's "must have" picture every year at the beach!

And they're off - I knew they couldn't stand still for long!

Greta has the right idea... take me for a ride, Dad!