A Few Final Photos From Our Vacation

I have a couple more photos to share from our trip. There really is no story to them, it's just the boys with a couple of their friends, and I just think they happen to be cute pictures.

Here are Colin and Amelia, who became fast friends and "super-spies" on this trip:

Conversation overheard by myself and Rita:

Amelia: "Hey cutie pie!"

Colin: "Don't call me cutie pie! Just call me handsome."

Amelia: "Okay, handsome!"

Colin: "Or, you can just call me Waldo."

This next photo is Grace and Aidan. I don't know what we would have done on this vacation without Grace and Emma. They spent SO much time with my boys and made SURE they were always entertained. They were so good with them, always patient, always fun.

Needless to say, I think my boys are in love.

Here is what I think our "logo" for this vacation should be:

I think I'm going to make some t-shirts on CafePress with this one!

(Grin!)

Lost Teeth and Moon Jellies

Yesterday was another rainy day here in OBX...We decided to venture down to Hatteras with Ross, Rita and Amelia to see the Graveyard of the Atlantic Shipwreck Museum. It was about an hour and 15 minute drive with beautiful scenery, even in the rain. We were surprised by how small the museum was...it was literally two rooms and a gift shop. Not quite what we were expecting, but it was such a nice drive that it didn't really matter...

We stayed in Hatteras for a while longer and had appetizers at Teach's Lair to tide us over until dinnertime. Then we headed back north to Nag's Head.

Here are Fred and Aidan walking out to check out the beach in Hatteras before we had our appetizers.
Aidan spent half the day torturing me with his loose top front tooth. He kept pushing it so it was sticking out of his mouth when his mouth was closed or wiggling it and telling me to look. I am amazed at how squeamish I am about something as normal as a loose tooth, but it's weird when it's on YOUR kid! He decided he was going to let it fall out on its own, though, and he did.


Aidan woke me up at 7:30 this morning, shouting, "Mom, look what happened during the night!" carrying his tooth in hand. I asked him if he pulled it out, and he said that, no, it was laying on his mattress when he woke up this morning.


So, here is Aidan's new smile from first thing this morning, bedhead and all!

THEN, our day at the beach began with AMELIA losing a tooth after biting into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Boy, is the tooth fairy EVER going to be BUSY tonight!


Today was the most beautiful beach day we've had yet. Hurricane Bertha was giving us her best, although from quite far off. The waves were HUGE, and too scary to let the boys boogie board. But we had fun jumping around in them and looking for shells and other interesting things on the beach.


Boy, did we find some interesting things! Here is a jellyfish we found. It had tentacles attached, so Fred carried it off somewhere and buried it. I'm not sure that's what you're SUPPOSED to do with a jellyfish, but who am I to argue? Then, we found some MORE jellyfish, this time without tentacles...it was starting to look as though a few women had lost their silicone implants!
See what I mean?

Anyway, we were starting to get worried that the kids shouldn't be in the water at all, until a woman came walking over with her kids, who had a whole net FULL of these weird jellyfish. She told us they were called Moon Jellies and could not sting you because they do not have tentacles like the other jellyfish. Aidan and Colin had lots of fun carrying their invisible pets around in a bucket of water for the afternoon!


Right after I snapped the following picture, I saw two dolphins jump out of the water, pretty close to shore! It was amazing! Apparently they enjoyed playing in the big waves Bertha was bringing in, too! I wish I could have gotten a picture of them, but they were only up for a split second and then they were gone.
Even the crabs were out in force! The big ones kept getting washed ashore, and were running all over the place. Here is a very angry one that some other boys were teasing:
We've had a really fun vacation, and we have a long drive home tomorrow, but we're looking forward to getting home.

An Evening at the Beach

Last night after dinner, the weather was still just too nice to stay home. We are walking distance from the beach here, so we took a walk over to see what the beach was like in the evening, and to see if we could find any crabs for the boys. Here are some images from our evening on the beach.

We were all amazed at how quiet and empty the beach was during the evening hours.

Colin and Amelia walking hand in hand toward the ocean...

The beautiful, pre-sunset sky...
Don't you wonder what Aidan and Fred are talking about in this photo?

Sarah looking for the perfect shot...

Jim as I usually see him on vacaction, whether here or in Paris (I'm talking about the camera in front of his face!)

Colin feeling peaceful, thanks to the lulling sound of the waves...

Aidan practicing to be a movie star resisting paparazzi...

Sarah enjoying a peaceful stroll...

Jim enjoying the feeling of the sand on his bare feet...

Aidan filling his backpack with shells. He did NOT want to leave the beach until his backpack was FULL!

A bit of the sunset...

At last! It got dark enough that the crabs were out running around. Aidan caught a small one, and Colin wanted one, too, so Fred caught one for him. Colin's feelings (and fingers) were VERY hurt when his little crab pinched him! Here is a big one that we found, which the boys were wise enough NOT to try to pick up...

Rainy Wednesday

Oh, yes, it rained on our vacation! With lightning, thunder, high winds, the works!

This gives you an idea of how MUCH rain we got on Wednesday...

Clearly, it was NOT a good day to go to the beach, although Jim, the ultimate optimist, kept insisting that everything was going to clear up "within two hours." I'm very glad we did not listen to him, or we would have been waiting ALL day! Instead, Fred and I decided to take the boys to the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. We've gone in other years, and I knew it was a hit with the boys.

They enjoyed seeing the frogs, the sea otters, the alligators, the turtles, and of course, the fish. But their favorite thing this year was STILL the hands-on area with the tank of baby sting rays that they were allowed to "pet," and the sea urchins and sea stars that they could touch.

As you can see, everyone else vacationing in the Outer Banks had the same idea we did...the aquarium was VERY crowded, but it kept away the rainy-day boredom.

Greetings from the Outer Banks!

Greetings from the Outer Banks!

We arrived in Nags Head, NC yesterday around noon. We couldn't get into our house until around 3:30 p.m., so we shopped a bit for beach stuff, and then we hung out on the beach until it was time to go unload our car at the house.

The boys then spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the pool and hanging out in the hot tub with the rest of us. By the rest of the afternoon, I mean until about 7:00 p.m. Then we all enjoyed a casual dinner together and I put the boys to bed while everyone else went out to visit the beach.

Around 11:00 p.m., while the adults and older girls were playing a rousing game of Apples to Apples, Aidan appeared upstairs, hoarse, coughing, and nearly unable to choke out any words. He was clearly having difficulty breathing, and his cough sounded like croup. I've had a lot of experience with croup, thanks to Colin, but Aidan has never HAD it before, and I've heard that it's really more common in children younger than Aidan. Therefore, I was worried that I might be wrong and that it might be something even worse. Fred and I decided that he really should be seen by somebody right away, so off to the hospital we went (urgent care was closed).

I must give high praise to the emergency room staff at the Outer Banks Hospital. They got him in right away, they were efficient, friendly and accomodating. My first thoughts were correct, it was croup, so they gave him a breathing treatment and some medication to open up his lungs, and we were back home by about 1:00 a.m. It should not ruin his vacation, though; he is allowed to go swimming and do everything else he likes to do on vacation!

So, today was a beach day...the boys built sand castles and collected shells:

They went boogie boarding:
And caught some big waves:
They played in the water:
And ran in (and from) the waves:
In general, they had loads of fun!


One last picture I MUST share...I do not know this girl, but she was having so much fun feeding the seagulls and they were literally swarming her. It was just such a wonderful scene that I HAD to photograph it!

One last little funny that sums up how much kids pay attention when you think they are not. While driving through Virginia yesterday, Colin spotted a bridge that was under construction, and yelled, "Mom, I see a broken bridge!" A few seconds later, he asked me, "Mom, are we in Minneapolis?"