Can You Spell E.N.E.R.G.Y.???

What a week! Some dear friends who traveled to Liberia at the same time as us to pick up 3 of their children were in town, and it was a blessing beyond description. One of the days, we connected with another local family who also adopted from Liberia, and all SIXTEEN of us (6 parents, 10 kids) stormed the coast! Let me tell you, we were a force to be reckoned with.

Here we are:

The M Family

The G Family

us!

After lunch at Mo's on the bay, we hit the boardwalk area in Old Town:

Then we were off for a wee hike! It was just 3/4 mile each way, but you add lots of pounds of kids and diaper bags and such to your hips and back, and figure in the sand floor, and it = lots of E.N.E.R.G.Y. required! Thankfully, our crew was up to the task. From here at the trail head, you can see an overview of the hike: It starts on the dunes, passes through a bit of foliage, and pops you out at the beach.

All methods of descent were employed. The slow and steady method:

The airborne method:

And my personal favorite; the stop, drop, and roll:

And then for some, it was right back up again:

After that first hill was out of everybody's system, we got on our way.

If you think the E.N.E.R.G.Y. ran out by the time we hit the beach, you are wrong. So, so very wrong. ;0)

I did get everyone to pause long enough for snacks before we headed back. We carved out a little spot in the beach grass, and a nice woman passing by said, "You guys need a picture! Do any of you have a camera?" Music to my ears, of course. ;0)

Just a random pic I caught on the way back, when little M paused for a moment:

Were we all tuckered out when we got back? Nope! It was as if the kids wanted to eat the sand, they were so in love with it. Oh wait; they kind of did...

And the M Fam was still raring to go the following morning, so we headed out for a photo session! I'll be posting some of my favs real soon. ;0)