The Assateague Stampedes 2012

Well this may have been

the best vacation... ever. 

We just loved it. 

So much fun and family time all wrapped in together. 

Mike and I both said as we were leaving, we feel like we really know William and Christopher now; and that they know us.  And they are hilarious.  One of our favorite things about the week was all the questions they asked.  I read recently that the average 4 year old asks approximately 427 questions per day... and we all agree that that is certainly an underestimate for Christopher Daniel.  For example: one particular question must have been about why the horses poop so much, and wise ole Aunt Mary told him "the bigger the animal, the more it poops".  And, that is defintely one of those things I wish I wouldn't have said!  About the eightieth time he repeated it, I realized it was really stupid.  ;-)  Clearly I'm an amateur with the school age child questioning... and I need to work on it - quick.  Lukas learned so much from his cousins this week.  And his list of words skyrocketed too, now including Pop, Joe bug, bus, bike, and some high pitched noises that mildly resemble bird and horse.  All in all, except for a few minor issues with the camper, it was a great vacation. 

As you can see here, the horses came right out to greet us as we arrived.  They were more present and visible on this trip than any previous in my memory.  It was a welcome change though, the boys loved seeing them and all the wildlife.  We also saw three different baby horses, ranging from a few days to a few weeks old. 

The Nature Center had a very nice park attached to it with a variety of fun things for the boys!

 For some reason, Luke really doesn't like sitting between Will and Chris for pictures. 

But, I thought this picture turned out pretty funny anyway.

Family QT at its best.

                        I love you, Catherine.

In true toddler fashion, Lukas likes to do the same exact thing over and over again.  His favorite beach activity was dumping buckets of water on himself or the rest of us.  But, someone had to fetch him those buckets of water.  Here is Grandma at work.

Here are Joe and Chris, using the binoculars to see the dolphins and sailboats at the horizon.  Christopher is just so curious and smart.  I love that about him!

Joseph and William

This boy is so brave.  He just held on tight and smiled every single second.  Oh, and Aunt Catherine and I have voted him the 'Most Photogenic' Estevez ever.

POP

I just had to add this one in.  The picture of Christopher with the pirate gear on is just not as good because the photographer couldn't keep up with his rapid movements.  But, these boys get their Dad to do some pretty funny stuff, and I love that.

For those of you who may not know baby-sign-language, "more" is moving your two hands back and forth together in a cupped fashion, as you see here by LFP.  Lukas Franklin is asking 'Dad' for "More Birds" (this went on for about fifteen minutes).  It's hard to explain to a toddler why they run away when you chase them, but we did our best! :)

So I can hear you asking, if it was such a great vacation, why have the title referring to Stampedes?  Welp... it's a bit of an Estevez inside joke.  And I guess we'll keep it that way.  But, suffice it to say, one night the horses were grazing and then neighing just outside our tent and let me tell you, it's a little erie to hear them chomping next to your toddlers pack-n-play.  And the (s) on Stampedes refers to an undocumented tornado, I'm pretty sure.  Crazy winds and serious rain, albiet fairly briefly, almost took Grandma and Pop's camper.  I guess I could have just as accurately named this blog post "Caulking the Wagon" ;-)!  Anyways, we weathered the storm okay thanks to the big strong ones of the crew (Catherine, Joe, Mike and Danny) saving the day.  Grandma was also calm, cool and collected reading the boys stories... while I paced nervously in the camper with Lukas.  As Christopher told me, "there's nothing to worry about, it's just rain."  He is such a smart boy. 

Well, I guess in the end all I can say is,

I love you people.

And, I have a feeling these are some memories

that will be lasting a lifetime!

P.S.: Be ready for blog post number 2 when the professional pictures come out; they should be about two weeks!! :)