A week at the beach

My beautiful Teddy

Jackson being Jackson

Brad and the boys at the Whalehead Club

I still can't figure out how to move these pictures to the bottom of this post where I wanted them to be. I've been told it's easy as pie, but clearly I'm a cake person. So I'll start with three of my favorite pictures from the beach.

We just got back from a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina; Corolla specifically for those who know the area. On the way down south as is our new tradition (2nd year) we stopped in Williamsburg to go to Water Country USA, which is an amazing water park. Lots of fun things for kids and adults alike, though Brad thinks there's an awful lot of 'ink', but since I fit right in, I guess I don't see it.

The water park was it's own adventure. We decided to take the 'back way' certain it would be quicker, but... uh.. not so much. It took about an extra 45 minutes or so, but no worries we eventually got there and much to our delight the parking people got confused and somehow thought we'd paid for the super deluxe parking and made us turn into this cushy lot pretty darn close to the entrance. We didn't realize their mistake until we were parking, so bully for us. We got there and met up with our friends and headed out to find some fun. Three long rides later; including the wave pool and 'Hubba Bubba Highway' (who can't love that) the skies opened up and it looked like the end of the world was near. It went from 80 beautiful, sunny degrees to 65 windy, dark and stormy degrees in the blink of an eye.

All the men pulled out their phones which had miraculously stayed dry amidst all that water and rain, and looked at radar pictures. At first we believed it would be a quick storm that blew over in a few minutes, but soon it became clear that no such luck. The storms, they were a-stayin'. So we made a run for it, only I couldn't come up with a reason to run because we were going to be soaked to the bone no matter what, so the boys and I took a leisurly stroll to the car; jumping in as many puddles along the way as we could. In the car we all changed into dry clothes (and I appologize to the family who I inadvertantly flashed) and headed to the hotel. Later when we headed out to dinner we were shocked by how spoiled we've truly become that smoking isn't allowed in bars and restaraunts where we live, we turned and left the first place we tried as their smoking 'section' was separated by a half wall from the rest of the place... uh.. no thanks. Finally we ended up with really bad food and service at some chain, but the kids had fun rolling crayons down the slanty table so it wasn't a total loss.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast at a local IHOP before heading down to NC. When we arrived at the go-cart place, our first stop, the first people we see are our neighbors who live four doors down the street from us. Brennon and Teddy were in the same class last year (this year too). Too funny. I don't think we've seen then all summer and here they are hanging out in Corolla just waiting for us to pull up.

We've always been really lucky and had terrific weather in the Outer Banks, but I think this year was the best ever. It was low 80s and sunny every day. The surf was mostly not too crazy except for the last couple of days when we got a bit of an effect with surf and wind from Tropical Storm Faye, but that just made it more exciting. For the first time ever the boys really, really liked playing in the surf. I don't know if it was the fact that Jackson really learned how to swim this year or not, but whatever it was - daredevil Jackson was all over being knocked down by the waves; he was in hog heaven. One after the other he positioned himself, much to my dismay, to get pummeled by wave after wave. He'd go down and disappear under the foam and I'd watch nervously until seconds later his cute little face would pop grinning from ear to ear before he'd yell 'AWESOME!' or 'SWEET!' and get ready to do it again. Teddy enjoyed it as well, but I think he enjoyed playing with the waves even more; thowing balls and toy boats into them and then retrieving them.

The adults did our traditional things; golfing for the men, spa and lunch at the Blue Point Grille for the women. This year the men took the older two boys out golfing as well one afternoon which I think all 4 of them enjoyed immensely. For the second year in a row our friends brought their South African au pair, Mandi with them. What a decadent treat for us adults to be able to go out to dinner all together. And once again we went to Meridian 42 which was just as amazing as it's always been. As is one of our favorite traditions we ended the week at the outdoor concert at the Whalehead Club where we enjoyed wonderful music, mediocre wine and an amazing sunset.

My kids have no idea how lucky they are, hopefully we'll be able to convey that to them in some way. Now it's back to school time, but that's for another post.

Camela