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What's a trip to the beach without some putt putt golf. And this was no basic miniature golf. This was Professor Hacker's Lost Treasure Golf. First stop, the train ride to the first hole.

Here's the other half of the train car as we approach the tunnel.

The second hole started in a castle turret.

Some holes were inside of caves.

They had a hole on a pirate ship, though that was on a different course than the one we did.

It was lots of fun. We had two hole-in-ones: Molly and Jen. Jen and Scott had a serious battle for the lead going the entire time and ended up tying for the best score. If you're in the Outer Banks and looking for some putt putt fun, this place is pretty cool. I'd definitely go back.

We headed to Jockey’s Ridge State Park to check out the huge sand dunes. After a long hike through the sand, we broke out the kites for some fun. Well, Molly got hers out. Leah was tired from the hike and not in the mood.

After a while, Molly was ready for a break and Leah was ready to fly her kite.

Eventually, they started flying at the same time. It really was a fantastic place to fly kites.

After the heat of the sand dunes, it was time to cool off with a popsicle back at the house.

The main event - celebrating Grams’s 60th birthday. Aunt EA made sure Grams was fully adorned, and Aunt Caroline made some yummy red velvet cupcakes. I think Grams is excited.

What??? One gift from all her kids. What could this be?

It’s an iPad!

Happy birthday Grams! We love you!

That about covers the first couple days, but this is a week long trip so there's much more to come. Well, at least it was supposed to be a week long trip. More on that later.

After a morning on the hot beach, we spent a little time indoors in the cool watching World Cup. Molly thinks she can help Uncle Scott appreciate the World Cup game he’s watching by bonking him on the head repeatedly with her new toy unicorn.

Then it was time to stay cool in the pool. Molly showed off how she can swim down to the bottom to pick up diving rings.

Leah spent a long time just swimming from one person to another in the pool, with very little break between each trip. She can move pretty quickly now. Here she is coming at me.

Here’s Leah having fun with Aunt EA. Jen and I got to relax on the side of the pool for much of the swimming as Aunt EA and Uncle Scott swam with the girls. It’s nice to have aunts and an uncle around.

For Grams’s 60^th birthday, we all went to a beach house on the Outer Banks (Southern Shores, to be precise). It’s the one behind the girls. In fact, our room is the room on the top floor on the right (with the hot tub on the deck outside it). After arriving, the girls were anxious to hit the beach as quickly as possible.

The girls didn’t want to go far in the water, but Molly did get a little damp in the spray.

Next step - sitting in the water and letting the waves wash over their legs.

Leah enjoyed the light splash.

After sitting in the surf for a bit, a larger wave came in. It picked Leah up and moved her six feet up the beach, leaving her drenched. She wasn’t a fan, and so decided to sit in the sand for a while.

Molly was OK with getting all wet, though she still ran from the waves when she thought they might be too big.

The next day, it was time to hit the beach again. This method of burying Aunt Caroline may take a while.

Well, that was a failed attempt.

Leah opted to avoid the surf today, and instead played in the sand and shade.

After a fun day in Philadelphia, we spent the night in a nearby hotel along with four other families. We headed out the next morning to check out the Please Touch Museum. Leah was happy to see some familiar duck-billed faces there.

Molly learned how a lock works.

You can’t miss a chance to play a Big piano with your feet.

Molly’s cranking the lift to load bricks up to Leah.

They have a pretty large grocery store set up that the kids spent much of their time in. Keira spent much of her time playing the role of cashier.

Molly thought this baby (as well as all the others) needed an MRI in the hospital.

Eventually, Leah played the role of cashier while Keira was a customer.

In the space area, they had launch pads for launching foam rockets. Molly’s red rocket has just taken off, though she doesn’t know that since her eyes are shut.

Shooting rockets up toward the target rings is amazing.

Statue of Leahberty

Combining a couple of backhoes and a ball pit made for lots of fun.

No surprise that Leah quickly dressed as a princess when entering the fairytale corner.

Molly’s creating a book in the craft room. Note that the further out you stick your tongue, the harder you concentrate.

Leah takes a brief break from drawing to contemplate her artwork.

Keira’s excited to ride the museum’s carousel.

The girls love the carousel. Jen - not so much. But she took her dramamine so she was able to ride it one time (I had to take her place for the second time around).

It’s a very nice carousel.

We had to tear them away from their book making to ride the carousel with everyone else. To do so, we promised them we’d come back afterward. So, we headed back to the craft room to continue book making until it was time to go.

And thus our great Philadelphia adventure came to an end. We then hopped in the car and braved the traffic of I95 back to Maryland.

A couple of months ago, Jen got an email from her friend Kelly proposing something a bit crazy. Her daughters Keira (Molly's age) and Maya (Leah's age), who have been friends with our girls since they were infants, both have birthdays within a few weeks of one another. Kelly's brother works at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. Kelly wanted to see if people would come to a birthday party there.

This sounded crazy to drive to Philly for a kid's birthday party, but the circus school sounded like a lot of fun. Also, there was talk of staying the night and going to the Please Touch Museum the next day, which has been on our to-do list for some time. So, we said we'd love to join in the fun.

When we arrived at the circus school, they split the participants up into adults and kids. Jen participated, but I stuck to the role of photographer. Then it was time for the warm-up. Here the kids warm up the spring in their legs.

Molly and Leah are getting stretched out.

Balance is an important skill for tight-rope walking and other circus arts. The 4 and 5 year olds started off working on balancing on things much more narrow than a normal balance beam (such as this 2x6 on end).

Molly’s group started out on the silks. I think she’s having fun already.

Jen’s group of adults started on the trapeze. Getting your legs onto the bar in order to hang upside down is tough.

Sitting up onto the bar isn’t easy either.

Pretty soon after getting started, Molly was hanging around upside down.

Look, Ma… no hands.

After the groups switched locations, it was Jen’s turn to try her hand at the silks. The adults did fewer upside-down hanging from your arms tricks, and instead kept their feet under them.

Nice pose, Jen.

Leah’s group moved to the trapeze. She had an easier time getting her legs onto the bar than the adults. Must be all that gymnastics she does.

Looks like she’s on the swingset at the playground.

This picture needs no explanation. Jen and Kelly’s faces say it all.

I don’t think this pose is actually relaxing, but it looks like it is.

Climbing is another important skill. They showed the kids proper technique, but Molly mostly just pulled herself up with her arms alone.

I never quite understood this activity the little ones did, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Jen paid more attention to proper climbing technique than Molly.

I’m beginning to think Molly prefers being upside down to right-side up.

Here’s the gym we were in, complete with lots of things hanging from the ceiling.

After the fun, it was time for a little lunch, or dinner. What do you call it when you eat at 3:00? Let’s go with linner. Molly was happy to get to sit next to one of the birthday girls.

These birthday girls are having a good time.

After eating, a couple of our instructors put on a show for us. I got video of the first, Christine, having some fun up on the silks.

The second performance was performed by Jackie flying through the air on the hoop. She used Disney princess music (The Glow), which the girls loved.

All the kids and a couple of the instructors after a fun party.

After the party and some dinner out at the Trolley Car Diner, we stopped at Miles Park in Whitemarsh to have some playground fun before heading back to the hotel. For some reason, the kids loved this seesaw. They would have stayed on it the entire time if we had let them.

I don't think we'll make a habit of road trips for birthday parties, but this was a lot of fun.

After the large family celebration, we headed back to Aunt 'Chelle and Uncle J's house. Shortly after arriving there, the power went out. But that didn’t stop G’Mom from reading a story to her granddaughters before bed. Molly and Leah were happy to provide a little light from their iPhones.

The next morning, Molly switched from listener to reader, reading to G'Mom from her new Amelia Bedelia book.

That day included church, a relaxing afternoon, and celebrating Christmas with Jen's Uncle Ted and Aunt Jeannie (sorry, no pictures).

The next morning began with beignets for breakfast. Leah, I think you’ve got some powdered sugar on your nose. Either that or we need to start looking into rehab facilities.

JJ loved the beignets, and ate a bunch. That is, until Emmie showed him how to pick up the powdered sugar with his fingers. Then he was happy to stick to the sugar and avoid the beignet itself.

I call this the Juncle gym. Get it - a cross between “Uncle J” and “jungle gym”. OK, I’ll stop.

One more celebration - Grampa’s birthday (a day early). Happy birthday, Grampa.

Then we headed to the airport to fly back home, thus ending the week of celebrations. They were lots of fun, but I was happy to sleep in the next morning.

After a busy morning, we headed to Uncle Rick and Aunt Roxanne’s house for the extended Batson family Christmas celebration. Here’s everyone in attendance.

Per tradition, we had to take a silly one as well.

Dot decided to start a conga line.

We draw names for gift exchange. Maggie drew Leah, and her gifts included a few books. She may not have expected that Leah would require an immediate reading of them.

Leah also got a monkey hat with some mittens. She enjoyed wearing them, but she also enjoyed trying to put them on cousin Mike.

Here she is wearing her monkey hat herself.

Mike also got a hug from that monkey.

Update: I’ve been informed that this was not a hug at all. This is actually an attack, in which Leah’s monkey gloves are eating Mike’s shirt.

Uncle J and Leah played a duet on the piano.

Leah had an accident requiring an outfit change, but we had no clothes for her to change into. Thankfully, I'd gotten a t-shirt for one of my gifts, which made a nice dress for Leah.

It was great to see everyone. Being so far away, we don't get to see them very often. Thanks so much to Rick and Roxanne for hosting.

The next morning, we moved on to opening presents with Jen’s parents and their descendants. We got to it pretty quickly as the day was packed with things to do.

As the youngest, JJ got to be first in the rotation.

Jen made JJ a dinosaur sweatshirt. He loved it, and just kept saying “dinosaur” over and over. He also loved that it had pockets, though he needed a little help getting in and out of them.

Jen made her mom some lovely napkins.

The girls love opening presents.

Leah wanted to hug G'Mom and Grampa to thank them. I'm not sure about her face here. She really was happy to hug Grampa.

Jen also made JJ a car play mat. After taking the cars for a spin, JJ is intently putting them back in the garage.

JJ loved this wooden toolbox, as did the girls. They all played with it a bunch over the course of the trip.

We've been in Alabama for less than 24 hours, but it's been action packed and will continue to be. So, Leah decided to go down to the basement to watch a movie by herself for a little down time. As an introvert myself, I can relate.

While Leah watched, the others played with their new toys. Meanwhile, the adults got ready for the next gathering...