WARNING: Picture overload.
This year was the first year that Ben and I said we were going to do a "real" vacation. We've never done anything more than just going out of town for a couple of days because every year we are thrown some huge expense (usually medical bills). We started looking into beach houses and I just had this uneasy feeling about it. Then I ended up in the hospital twice this year and after the thousands of dollars worth of medical bills started rolling in, I was so relieved that we didn't go that route.
But by fate, I found somewhere else that we could camp in a cabin on the beach with A/C, a small kitchen, its own bathroom, and enough beds to fit our family. You would think that the price would be ridiculous and that summer would be prime season for being at the beach. Unlike most other beach rentals, this one wasn't the case. Most people camp here during spring and fall to fish, and that's when it's also most expensive. So it's cheapest during the summer -- the off season. I'm still laughing over it. So we paid $200 and spent 3 days there. Not too shabby for having a 22 mile island in the Outer Banks practically to yourself.
We were there during the week and so hardly anyone was camping there. It's far more popular during the weekends. This meant that most of the time we had the beach to ourselves for as far as we could see.
Before we came we bought all the kids new life jackets. It put my mind at ease knowing that they were fine the whole time. Plus Thad's a really independent swimmer and he didn't always let us hold him in the water. Those life jackets were an awesome investment.
Don't let the face fool you. We had to pull out of our driveway at 5 AM to catch our ferry to the island and she was sick the whole way. She had a tummy bug and refused to eat and was pale the entire morning. She had little interest in anything until after she took an afternoon nap and then she was as happy as her usual self for the rest of the trip. Thad also caught a cold from nursery which he passed on to Skyler. Fortunately, nobody got terribly sick.
Our cabin was the one on the right.
We ate all our meals on the cabin deck. From this view you can see the ocean...
... and from this view you can see the sound.
(This is a much more accurate picture of how Ella was feeling)
Since two of the kids were sick and we were all sharing one room to sleep in, it was only expected that we would all wake up really early. Ben left at 5:45 to go for a walk and I was on the deck 10 minutes later with the kids waiting for the sun to rise. If you've got to wake up early, you might as well do it when you're at the beach to see the sunrise.
P.S. It was so amazing being on such a narrow island. We were able to watch the sunrise and the sunset on the water in either direction.
When Skyler woke up, we met up with Ben on the beach and went for a mile long stroll. We did it the next morning, too.
And yes, they were still in their jammies.
Skyler still had sleepy eyes.
Mine and Lily's shadows.
She holds my hand even when I take pictures.
Skyler and I had a blast looking for hermit crabs at the sound.
Skyler is our collection kid. At first it was just seeds because he wanted to be a farmer (still does). Then he started collecting bones that he'd find around the yard because he was convinced they were all dinosaur bones. How he finds so many bones is beyond me, but we started calling him The Bone Collector. #parentsoftheyear
But while we were at the beach he started a crab claw collection. He had quite the stash before we left and I'm not exactly sure what happened to them...
When it's a hot sunny day and you're only 2 years-old, what do you do to cool off? Stretch your mom's swimsuit cover up over your head, of course.
This taught me that though kids and teens feel like their parents make them feel awkward, the truth is that they make us feel awkward first, so they kind of bring it upon themselves...
Either a hermit crab colony or a snail colony. I couldn't tell because they use the same shells.
After the ferry ride back to the mainland we headed over to Pine Knolls aquarium. Thad is obsessed with frogs and as soon as he saw this he yelled, "It's a huge-normous ribbit, Mom-Mom!"
He has a stuffed frog named Ribbit that he sleeps with every night. It's the cutest thing in the world.
We walked along a boardwalk outside where I noticed all these huge insects were crawling around on the ground below. Then I took a closer look and realized they were actually hundreds of crabs. Skyler was in crab heaven.
I was so proud of the kids. All of them pet the stingrays and Skyler even got up the courage to pet a shark too.
It was a great trip minus the sickness and those dadgum horseflies that attacked us. The ocean was amazing. Ben and I took turns watching the kids so that we could boogie board or swim in the deeper areas. The kids had a blast sleeping in the same room as everyone else. And we were neighbors with some retirees who we talked with for hours after we put the kids in bed. We shared awesome stories while watching the stars come out and listening to the ocean roar. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.
I'm so grateful we were able to make this happen. I'm so grateful that the kids consider a simple trip like this as such a fun and exciting thing. And I'm thankful that we had no access to the rest of the world while we were out there. It was so refreshing not to have to see all the terrible things that are happening in the world for a few days. It was just the kind of break we needed.
