More of the beach bullet list.

 8.  I can always remember that my Uncle Butch loved waking up early on one of the mornings that we were at the beach so that he could drive over to sit in the sand and watch as the sun rose.  And he would always recruit us to come with him.  So maybe I was channeling my inner Uncle Butch, or maybe I'm just learning to stop and notice when there is something that can just take your breath away.  With a hot cup of coffee in my hands, this sunrise was one of my favorites.

 

 

 

 9.  Being in a few pictures.  I can't tell you how much I despise the idea of putting pictures of my in a bathing suit anywhere close to the internet.  However, I don't often find myself in too many pictures when we go places because I'm always the one taking them.  Jason snapped a few pictures while I was in the pool with the kids one of the afternoons, and I love that there is actual photographic evidence that I was along for this trip.

 

 

10.  The kids ended up decked out in OBX gear one day because their little shoulders and cheeks had seen a little too much sun the day before, despite my best efforts to keep them adequately slathered with sunscreen.  There are very few things that I am super crazy about with the kids-- I don't freak about germs or sugar or tv time or a lot of those other things-- but don't get me going about sunscreen.  We had gone with about half a case of it, and left with very little in our stash.  But that hot beach sun got the best of us anyway.  So we found a few hats to protect little faces, and some swim shirts to keep their shoulders covered, and away we went to the beach (with an inch of sunscreen under the shirts, of course.)

 



11.  The kids had ice cream cones pretty much every night, but we got a little wild one of the nights when all of the kids accompanied Libby and I to the Food Lion to get supplies for the "best ice cream sundae party ever".  See above how I don't get too worked up about sugar when you consider the list of toppings they chose--- waffle bowls, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, chocolate chips, marshmallows and whipped cream.  I wonder why they had a hard time going to sleep. 

12.  There is a great little shopping center that was right across the street from the entrance to our neighborhood called Timbuck II.  And in that area are wonderful things like the Brew Thru, 8 million clothing shops, ice cream shops and restaurants.  But what the kids were really interested in was driving the Go Karts.  They had waited all week- and on Friday we finally took them to drive.  Josh was old enough and tall enough to drive his own car, and he was seriously in his glory.  I think it was like MarioKart in real life for him.  His faces were cracking us up.  Also, Libby and I nearly peed our pants when he wrecked into the car in front of him (clearly marked "NO BUMPING") when it was time to park.  Evidently, the way the story goes, his stopping pedal wasn't functioning correctly.  Sure.

Lauren and Brooke wanted to ride, as well, but weren't big enough to drive on their own, so Jason and Zig did the driving.  I think everyone had a great time.  We did this at around 9:30 am and I believe it was close to 102 degrees at that point.  We very quickly returned to the house and got ready to swim.  No screwing around in temps like those.

13. The basement game room was a huge hit with the kids.  They loved playing pool, and thought about it as their own little club house.  We were very pleased that there were door alarms that made a horrible racket if they were opened, because the door in the game room led directly to the pool.  So that alarm gave us some peace of mind since we were three floors up from there most of the time.

14.  Friday evening, we headed to the beach to attempt to fly our kite.  Lots of people seem to do that on the beaches there, and we enjoyed it last year.  While we were there, we looked up the beach and saw black smoke rolling toward the water.  Jason immediately knew that it had to be a house fire.  He yelled for Zig and then we all went to the house to see if we could find their scanner app to find out what was going on.  Oddly enough, just the previous morning, we had been to the Corolla Fire Department for the guys to buy a new tshirt there.  The person they talked to, when she found out they were volunteers here, said that they have a terrible time getting enough help when something happens.  So the guys were concerned and wondered if they could help.

 

 

 

Before long, they decided to go and see if there was anything they could do.  They were there for a few hours, but didn't end up working directly with the fire.  But I was super proud of them both for being willing to help when people were in need.  One of Jason's fellow fire fighter friends from Warrior Run was also there the same week, and the house he was staying in was a lot closer to the fire, so he ended up getting there in time to be able to help evacuate houses.  8 houses ended up being involved-- such a tragedy for so many.

 

 

15.  This was the sunrise on the morning we left.  Everyone was a little sad-- and frankly, Lauren was breaking my heart because she was a puddle of tears about the trip being over.  But we looked outside and saw this most beautiful sunrise.  And I somehow felt like God had put it there just for us.

 





Until next year, Corolla.  We're already looking forward to our return.

Throw Back

I just thought I ought to provide proof that we did climb the lighthouse on our Outer Banks trip in 2000. We were terrified, as you can see!

Because a full recap just isn't likely.

So I think I am finally back into the right pace of life for normal people.  I spent some time in the office on Monday, was back in full swing Tuesday and have adjusted pretty well.  I can't say enough good things about my team at the office who had everything taken care of so that there was very little carry over for me when I returned.  They are truly the best.

I have tons and tons of pictures that I want to share-- all of which I think I'll always treasure.  I had so much fun playing with my camera, and had finally bitten the bullet to purchase a different lens for the camera that allowed me to take much better pictures at a distance.

In order to share lots of pictures, I thought I better handle this recap in little snippets.  And so, I give to you, my favorite memories from our trip!

1.  The beach was literally 100 yards from our house, and we had a walkway that we shared with the house next door.  I'm fairly certain we were more of an annoyance to them than they were to us.  They were an all adult group, much quieter than we were by a long shot.  But to be able to wake up and enjoy a cup of coffee while looking at the ocean, and to be able to walk out the door and have your toes in the sand in a matter of minutes....what a blessing that was.

We generally started our mornings at the beach since it didn't interfere with Hayden's nap time, and also allowed us to be back at the house by the time anyone needed to eat anything.  Because if you ask me, eating anything on the beach with all of that sand is just....ewwwww.  We opted, most days, for lunch "Barb Bowersox" style (only Emily will understand what I mean) where I delivered it to the kids around the pool on individual plates with all of the food groups represented.  HA!  I have distinct memories of Barb's lunches that she brought outside for the kids during the summers when we were growing up, and every time I manage to put a plate together that looks well rounded, I think of her.

2.  SWIMMING--  Within an hour of getting to the house, the kids were already in their suits, ready to jump into the pool.  Since our kids don't get tons of time at a swimming pool during the summer months due to us working, this is a real treat for them.  Joshua's swimming skills were a lot stronger this year, and he was jumping into the shallow and deep ends without much worry.  Lauren was the one that I was really impressed with.  Little Miss Cautious, last year, wore a life vest, an inner tube and arm floaties, but this year ended up in the pool without anything at all by the time we left on Saturday.  She was jumping in, going under the water, and really doing a great job getting over being afraid.  Mara doesn't seem to have much fear of anything.  If we would have been willing to catch her non stop she would have never stopped jumping into the water from the pool's edge.

Our house had some wonderful shaded areas for the non-sunbathers (um...that would be ME!) in our group.  It was close to the action, but you could protect yourself from the hot sun that way.  It was perfect for me.  I did manage a bit of a suntan, but only the little bit that would get through the many layers of SPF 100+ that I had on.  

3.  The Outer Banks is made up of little towns up and down the shoreline, but then each of those little towns is separated into distinct neighborhoods, for lack of a better term.  Last year we stayed in a little area called Pine Island and loved it.  When we made the major mistake of not locking in our week in the house we rented last year, thinking we could find other options we'd like just as much, we ended up needing to move to a different area for this year.  Buck Island was the area we stayed in this year- and it was a gated community with a few extra little perks (like a gorgeous community pool for those houses without a private one, and also the great playground for the kids.  Needless to say, we spent a little time there pretty much every evening.

Then we bribed the kids back to the house with the promise of ice cream.  Hey...whatever works.  Don't judge.

4.  Bright and early Tuesday morning, Josh, Jason, my Dad and I were up before the sunrise to meet Captain Justin on the sound for a morning fishing trip.  This was one of the highlights of Joshua's trip last year, so we were all looking forward to going out again.  Up until last year, I had fished exactly zero times in my whole life, but I really loved watching Joshua enjoy something as much as he loved fishing last year.  We talked Pap into coming along since he DOES like fishing and this would be something special for Josh to share with him.  

I think Pap was a little concerned when Captain Justin handed Joshua a fishing rod and told him to cast in a specific area.  I believe by the end of the trip, my Dad knew for sure that it was, in fact, MY casting that he needed to be concerned about, and not Joshua's.  HA!

The fish weren't biting like we'd hoped, but we did catch a few things.

Joshua asked if he could drive the boat into the pier when we returned at the end of our trip.  God bless Captain Justin because he said sure.  Believe it or not, Josh did a decent job.  We kept joking with him and asking him if he would let Josh stay and be an apprentice with him over the summer. 



5.  The silliness of little girls.

The beach house was absolutely filled with giggles just about the entire week.  At home, we can always tell where the kids are in the house because there is generally some form of unrest or injustice that is being protested, usually by Mara.  But at the beach, we could follow the giggles to find a room full of happy kids.  It was awesome.

For years, I have worried about poor Lauren because it always seemed like Brooke and Josh were the dynamic cousin duo.  Lauren, the littler of the bunch (before Mara and Hayden factored into the mix) always seemed to be lagging behind, trying to keep up.  Well, this was the first time that I have seen the girls as tightly connected as they were.  Lauren, Brooke and Mara were just about inseparable.  They wanted to sleep in the same room, get dressed at the same time, watch TV together, have private "girl time" and do all the things that little girls do.  It left Josh on the outside a bit, but he was fine with it.  Jason did a great job of making sure he was getting lots of attention too.



 

6.  Singing with Pap!  I was thrilled to see that one of the items that made the trek from Lewistown was Pap's ukulele.  The kids absolutely loved getting a chance to sing with Pap on the deck.  One of the nights that they were outside singing was Tuesday, when I was unfortunately laying on the couch sick with a stomach bug.  I wasn't able to get up and enjoy listening to it, but Jason said that one of the neighbors was watching from their deck and seemed to be quite enjoying the shenanigans.  Their favorite song to sing was, "Hole in the Bottom of the Sea".  Pappy Fred was smiling, I am certain. 

I was so glad that the ukulele made a repeat appearance the next night when I was at least vertical again so that I could take some pictures and enjoy it.  I just love the looks that Mara is giving to my Dad. 

7.  One of the things we wanted to do on this trip was to climb the Currituck Lighthouse.  And by "we", I mean "me".  The last thing that Jason wanted to do was to climb 200+ feet into the air with the kids.  He doesn't like heights at all.  But he was an excellent sport.  Frankly, I think he went up the lighthouse with me because he was a bit afraid that I might be the one who needed rescued.  Just coming off of the stomach bug and having not eaten anything for a few days (and having cleared the contents of my system from weeks and weeks prior...sorry if that's way too much info).  Libby and Brooke also climbed, with the rest of our contingent waiting safely on the ground.

The kids did a great job!  Even Mara climbed the whole way by herself.  She only requested to be carried on the last set of steps going down.

I distinctly remember climbing this lighthouse with Dad, Uncle Butch, Libby, Steph and Stacie when we were at the Outer Banks 15+ years ago.  So this was fun.  And the views were incredible.

I have one more post with the remaining photos from the trip.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the day to get that one up!  And then blog posts will resume the normal, mundane, not-very-interesting quality that you're accustomed to.

 

Beach!

This will likely be post #1 of who knows how many until I get all of the good pictures loaded onto the blog that I hope to share.  We are in official beach hangover mode--- where we adjust to moving at the pace of the real world again after a week of "No Hurries & No Worries" pace.  There's something about the Outer Banks that makes it pretty easy for even me to settle into the pace of a vacation week there.

As of Friday afternoon last week, I wasn't sure we were going to get packed up in time to leave for the beach at all.  I had lists upon lists of things that needed to be done, but the time to actually cross any of those things off was running waaaaay thin.  You can imagine my stress when, on Friday morning at Joshua's last day of school festivities, I had not yet packed a single item for the trip we were leaving on in less than 24 hours.  After dropping Josh off at home to enjoy the beginning of his summer break, I quickly packed my clothes and the kids' and then headed off to deliver Toby to his puppy vacation spot.  When we ended up with a new puppy who wasn't welcome at our beach house that we had contracted a year prior, we had to do some fancy stepping to find a spot for him during this period of time.  The breeder where we got him said that she would allow him to come back to her home for the week to play with his Mom while we were away.  Ginger also runs a kennel, but she said she would keep Toby with her the whole time.  I was a little sad to drop him off there-- I was pretty sure he would think that we were taking him back to her, never to return home again.  All reports during the week were that he did very well, got along with Ginger's other dogs, and loved playing there.  She said she would be sorry to see him go.

Somehow, we managed to get all of the bags packed and all of the lists crossed off in order to leave the house around 10 on Saturday morning.  It felt great to be on the road!

We drove as far as Short Pump, VA (about 6 hours away) on Saturday.  Jason had researched a hotel in that general vicinity that had a Red Robin closeby since it is a safe option for us to eat at with Joshua.  We were more than pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to the beautiful hotel, and the gorgeous Towne Center shopping/restaurant area just beside it.  After sitting in the car for so long we were all thrilled to be able to walk around and stretch our legs.  We took the kids out for supper, to their first Build A Bear experience and even managed to find a shoe store where I was able to get Joshua a new pair of sneakers.  I won't even get started on the headaches that sneakers for that child presented for me in the week leading up to our trip.  It is a blog post all on its own that I will hope to spare you from.  But let's just sum it up with a big "UGH!"

When we woke up on Sunday morning, we filled up our bellies and then hit the road for the Outer Banks.  Check in time at our house was 4:00, but it became quickly apparent that we were going to get there much sooner than 4:00.  Lucky for us (and by that I mean Jason and I...because the kids might have eaten us alive if we were THAT close to the beach but stuck waiting somewhere other than our house), the house was ready for us sooner than expected.  When we pulled up at the driveway, our friend Russell (from the Delivery Genie grocery service) was busy unloading our groceries and putting them away.  Best business idea EVER!

Once we got inside, Aunt Libby and Uncle Zig pulled into the driveway and we got busy unloading their goodies as well.  It wasn't long before all of the kids were suited up and in the pool!  The first day was pretty chilly- probably low 80's with a cool breeze off of the ocean, so the heated pool helped a lot.



Nana and Pap arrived a few hours later after a very long ride for them.  Poor Nana hadn't been feeling well the day before, but she was a  trooper to endure the long ride from home with a touchy stomach.  I think all of us were thrilled to be together, and to not have to get back into our vehicles for a while!  We had some pizza for supper and then took a walk down to the beach.

I think this picture is one of my favorites from the whole trip.  This was the first time that Hayden got to see the ocean.  As soon as we crested the top of the staircase that led down to the beach, her eyes got so wide and she said, "Ooooooooh!  That's a BIIIIIIIIG water!"  I just adore her.

The theme of our beach week was:  Beach.  Pool.  Beach.  Pool.  Repeat.  As far as exciting blog material goes, I'm not sure I have a lot.  But I do have some super sweet pictures of the kids as they had a blast together.  I'll post some more tomorrow when I can upload more from the camera files.