1st Official Hockenjos Reunion

My parents pulled it off! We just returned from a family reunion from the Outer Banks in NC and had an absolute blast. It had been almost 2 years since we had all been together under one roof. My parents rented a gorgeous beach house for the week and all my siblings with their families from different states traveled in. Together we may have set a new record for the amount of pictures taken on one trip. Cameras were constantly clicking and now we are all awaiting each others results. What will we do with them all? Good question, but hopefully we will remember every great memory and all the laughs. Nothing much sweeter than being together as family at the BEACH! You all know how much we love it there. This area was full of childhood memories as we vacationed there a lot growing up and haven't been back for years. So here are a few highlights. I narrowed my 100 pictures down for now.How High can they go? We had perfect swimming conditions most of the week and Kylee couldn't get enough of the ocean. The cousins went back and forth among grandparents and aunts and uncles arms swimming as much as they could.Uncle Taylor was a definite highlight as he was always full of energy and ready to tease us all. The older ones had a blast burrying him while some of the younger ones were a little concerned. We finally made it through without too much sand in his eyes. They all had a blast building sand castles, catching jelly fish and we can't forget bachi ball. Skylar and I will still claim being the paddleball champs! Sky and Lexi hanging out in our own personal hot tub! Lexi finally warmed up to the crew by the end of the week!
We successfully pulled off crabbing. Grandpa took the grandkids crabbing and after waiting "patiently" for a short while they began pintching and enjoying those chicken necks. We caught quite a few and of course Kylee wasn't shy to hold one at all. She even helped put them to sleep by rubbing them between the eyes. We didn't lose any kids in the water but there was plenty of jumping in to fetch lost nets, scissors, and rope!!!The sand dunes were a ton of fun. I was worried Kylee may get worn out but I was definitely wrong. She absolutely loved running up and down them and even Lexi did great! This sure put me down memory lane as I remember running up and down the same ones when I was a kid. It was crazy being back in the same area with now my own family creating new memories with our kids.My parents willingly kept the grandkids one evening for all of us to head out for dinner. It was awesome to sit around a table with my siblings and their spouses eating and chatting. We racked up one fun bill that night as you all know how much this crew loves food!We splurged towards the end of the week and took Kylee out for her first waverunner ride. We had a great time out on the Bay and Kylee sure warmed up to the event as she quickly moved to the driver seat.

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids! Pretty sweet! Even if they aren't all looking which is close to impossible. We did attempt the dreaded family pictures on the beach including every pose you can think of. My brothers camera probably has close to 1000 attempts among all of us so we will see what results we have later. The kids were absolutely done but we pulled out all kinds of tricks to get as many looks as we could at the camera.

All in all it was an amazing trip and I definitely want to say thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible. Despite the elephants pounding above my head at night we loved every minute of it. Kylee was off in her world the entire week playing with her cousins and is still talking about them daily.