Reunion in VA Beach

We spent the week after the 4th of July down in Virginia Beach at the ChangDeKids Reunion. Maddie had a great time playing with her ChangDe friends - and that is what she called them. Either that or her "best friend". She now has alot of best friends....This is the 4th ChangDeKids Reunion, they have one every 2 years, and this is the first one we've attended. Somehow, I got to be one of the co-chairs for this one - odd that a first-timer was a co-chair, but maybe it wasn't so odd as I was so naieve? ;) After several months of planning, and TONS of emails back and forth with the co-chairs, I do have to say that it seemed to have gone pretty well. We had 28 families attend from the US and Canada. Families travelled from AK, ME, FL, NH, VA, IL, NJ, PA, DE, OH, etc... Shall we say there was a pretty good turnout. The kids ranged in age from 12 to 3 so the beach turned out to be a good place...what more do you need beyond sand and surf to entertain? It was wonderful to meet all of the families and kids - especially those that I had been emailing with for so long. We look forward to the next reunion where ever it will be!


Here is Maddie with her baby turtle hatchling checking out the beach from our patio in our hotel room. As you can see, we were right on the beach, at the north end of the boardwalk which made it nice and quiet.


The first day was overcast and we did get rained on for just a little bit, more of a sprinkle than actual rain though. It didn't dampen the fun of being on the beach. Maddie wanted to boogie board just like all of the other kids. So she stood waiting for the waves to come to her *grin* She wore her wetsuit the first day in the ocean (from the cold water experience in NJ it made sense) but the water was MUCH warmer in VA Beach. Maddie is also obsessed with getting a bikini. Apparently all her her friends had bikinis and now she wants one too.


One morning we went to the Virginia Marine Science Center where the kids got to explore some of the critters of the area. Here is Maddie at the touch tank with the rays.


Another morning we chartered our own boat to go on a dolphin watch. We definitely saw them! Getting them on film was much, much, much more difficult. So, you'll have to trust me that we saw them...or perhaps Paul (official reunion photographer) was able to get them on film...we will have to wait and see!


Lots of fun was had on the beach and in the pools, both the outdoor pools and the lazy river pool that had waterfalls and caves. You'll also note I'm trying to not put full face photos of the other kids on the blog for privacy reasons.


After a yummy dinner at Waterman's on the boardwalk, the kids couldn't resist the call of the sand and they set off to bury each other! Another obsession that Maddie had during this trip was braids. She wanted to have her hair in braids every single day. Now, I'm not the best at braiding hair...heck, I still have trouble getting a straight part to put her hair in pigtails...but I did my best, and to her, there were GREAT!


The group also had a good ole Chesapeake Bay Crabfeast at First Landing State Park. It was a great location. We had a pavillion to ourselves along with a playground, fire pit and huge area with trees for the kids to run around and play in. One of the moms organized some games for the kids which was alot of fun. After picking crabs, hamburgers and hotdogs (and corn!) there were smores and singing around the campfire. Good times.

As I said, we had a good time at the Reunion and I know Maddie enjoyed spending time with her friends from ChangDe...