The Outer Banks

We had a fabulous trip to the Outer Banks with Andrew's parents last week. It was our first visit. Here's the re-cap.

HIGHLIGHTS

*Fun activities with Grandma in the van

like Wikki stix, mosaics, drawing cartoons,
playing "Name That Tune" and telling stories.

*catching our first glimpse of the ocean

We went down in our clothes just to walk along the shore.

Ha! Should've known that never works with B.

*Boogie boarding

It was overcast for most of the trip,
but the water was still warm.

Woo hoo!

The sea was angry.
There were some pretty big waves.
It was a workout just to walk into the ocean.

*Quality time with Dad

*Getting buried in the sand

Once wasn't enough for W.

*The shark tank at the aquarium

*Also enjoyed the touch tank

Feeling the sting rays made Andrew and I
reminiscent for our cruise.

*Digging for fossils

I think Andrew was the only one who
found shark teeth.
(BTW--My camera lens did NOT like that
salty sea air. Sorry for the foggy pics.)

*Eating crab legs

*Enjoying a sunset on the sound

*Visiting our first lighthouse ever--Bodie Island

*The cool stained glass window on our beach house

*Bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa

*Visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial
(Whit was having a rough morning!)

Took a nice little hike to get to the top.

The kids made kites.
Whit could actually fly hers.
B got really frustrated with his.

*Saw tons of birds and airplanes--
two of Caroline's very favorite things

She makes this sign whenever
she hears a plane.

*Jockey's Ridge
I think this was my favorite part.
After church on Sunday, we had a
picnic lunch and then walked out to
the sand dunes. It was heavenly.

The sand was so fine and powdery.
Felt wonderful between my toes.

It's a popular hang-gliding spot.
(That's just a stranger, but watching him did
make me think about trying it sometime.)

Instead we flew kites.

Brandon found that the store-bought
kind work much better than the one he made.
He got all the way to the end of his string.

I felt like we had walked into the middle of the Sahara.
(With a little oasis behind us.)

It was a great place to play catch with a football.

DOWNSIDES

*There is very little beach to speak of.
It is a short distance from water to sea grass.

*Andrew and B got caught in a rip current.
It was scary.
Thank goodness Andrew is so tall.
Even though they were pretty far out,
he was able to touch the bottom and bring
them back in to shore.

*Caroline did not like the water OR the sand.

She was happy to sit on my lap.

Hopefully next summer she'll enjoy the beach more.

And, thankfully, she took some great naps while we played.

Although we had a great trip and I'm so glad we went, we all decided we'd rather go back to our usual Carolina/Kure Beaches in the future. Shorter drive, more beach, smaller waves.