Vacation Recap: Day 6

We are in the home stretch now. Last Friday was another lazy day. I like that about our family vacations. We have an adverturous day and then the following day is more of a let's slow down day. That's what last Friday was.I don't have much to say about these pictures except how beautiful the colors are. The blue of the ocean, the pink of Eliza's dress and the excitement of the boys as they make a mad dash for the beach.
When we made it over the dune we came face to face with this.
We didn't build it.

But we conquered it. Just more sweetness

I love this little strut. This usually occurs when she is trying to regain her balance.

He told the waves to stop.
And I think the waves listen about as well as he does. :-)
And this one.
I just love him.
joy. pure. joy.

Vacation Recap: Day 5

Thursday started out with pancakes and scrambled eggs. Not much can go wrong after a kick start like that.

We spent the morning at the pool.
Ethan took the opportunity to refamiliarize himself with swimming. He has had many sessions of swimming lessons but it always takes him some time to become comfortable in the water again.
He was very nervous about doing anything without his floaties on and I kept encouraging him telling him I knew he could do it.
And finally when he did he was so proud of himself.
He swam right over to me and said "Mommy, I like it when you tell me the truth." I asked him what he meant and he said "You always tell me the truth and tell me I can swim and I can." I was so proud of him.
And this boy wouldn't get out of a ring thingy, but that's ok. He is still learning.

After lunch we got ready and headed out to daddy's pick for the day. Grave Digger!

The boys didn't really know who Grave Digger was but they knew they had a monster truck hot wheels car at home that looked just like him.
They have a monster truck called Freestyle that you can ride for $5 each so daddy enjoyed this with the boys.
They had a blast!
Looking on as the next group of kids went for a ride.
They had a few different monster trucks there to look at.
And one little monster kid.
For dinner we found a seafood buffet and Ethan tried crab legs for the first time.
And loved them!

And she had corn on the cob for the first time.

And loved it!
Just another great day at the beach if you ask me.

Vacation Recap: Day 4

One week ago today was Chris's 36th birthday. We went to the grocery store the night before to pick out a cake for him and decided on this one.

Because, really, where else can you get a blue crab cake except at the beach? I started to put 36 candles on it but the cake was pretty small and it just seemed like the candles were going to take up the whole cake (ha!) so I wrote a 36 with the candles instead. Happy 36 and 1 week birthday daddy!

After lunch we got ready and headed out to the Currituck Lighthouse.

I will be the first to admit this wouldn't have been my first pick of a lighthouse to visit. I mean Ocracoke, Hatteras and Cape Lookout are all so nostalgic looking, but once we got there, I quickly learned that the Currituck Lighthouse is simply gorgeous. Simple. Brick. And yes, even nostalgic.

While we were waiting in line to climb to the top baby decided to go rummaging.

Hmmm......what's this?

Before we could go up I had to sign a consent for the children. I am quite certain it was something like "don't sue us, if your child falls overboard." It's safe though, right?

The boys posing in front of the wishing well.

Said wishing well

Starting our ascent

Taking a break. Mind you, the boys didn't want to take any breaks at all. The further up you go, the more narrow the climb is, the more narrow the stairs are, the hotter it is, etc. And then you reach the top and you see this.

And it is simply breathtaking.

I was so happy to get home and see this picture above of the boys. Chris was nervous when we got to the top because Owen (of course!) shot around the top before we could get out the door and watch him. Chris wanted the boys to get back inside the lighthouse and start back down and even said "Can you please get Owen?" So it got me thinking later that afternoon. Did I seriously just let my children run around the top of a lighthouse that was unsecured and about 150+ feet high??? Really, I was sick at my stomach that night. Then we got home and uploaded the photos and I saw that there were rails all around. I suppose they still could have fallen, but it was fairly unlikely.

Looking down

And back up

Back down on the ground, Ethan just took baby's water. Nobody takes baby's water! ha!

After the lighthouse climb, we walked around the way to the horse museum/gift shoppe to look around.

And, I just took his shoes again.
This used to be the old Corolla Schoolhouse years ago. After checking out the horse museum/gift shoppe we walked out on a dock to take in the view of the sound.
Let's head home
for some freeze pops
Whenever Eliza eats something really cold, she always makes this face like "how do you people eat this stuff???" But then she always comes back for another bite. :-)
I have to say, it was a great day!