Back from the Beach

We just returned home from an 8 day vacation. We started out in Pennsylvania to visit with my Nana in Hershey and then we were off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We stayed in a beach house with some of my family in the little town of Duck. It was a very nice trip. This is really the first family vacation we have taken with all the kids for more than 2 nights. I don't count going to Kansas as a vacation. :)

The kids really enjoyed the ocean and the pool in our little community. We all really had a great time!

We had our own room with an attatched bathroom. The kids slept in their sleeping bags and Joel and I took the queen sized bed. Jim, Joe, Josh and my cousin Brendan shared a room of 4 bunks. Then my sister Jess and husband Adam had a room, Julie and husband Andrew had their own room and my cousin Devon had a pull out sofa in the basement. Mom and Dad had the master suite. It was a beautiful beach house with access to the balconies from all the bedrooms. We had a hot tub to share, although I was usually too tired to enjoy it at night.

I realized that my siblings and parents were there to just basically do nothing and enjoy the time away from work etc... Our family is in a different stage than they are. I still had to do the same things I do everyday, but in a strange place away from the comforts of home! It was difficult to keep the kids quiet when they arose at 6:30 every morning! We usually ate and tried to leave for the beach early. Oh, to sleep in to 10am again. I couldn't even do it, if I tried. We made 2 to 3 trips to the beach each day and then swam in the pool in the afternoon. Bedtimes went pretty well mostly because the kids were worn out from all the days activities.

We did make a daytrip out to the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island. It was so humid and hot there we didn't get to fully appreciate it. It was very beautiful though. Then we went to the Aquarium on Roanoke Island. It was very nice as well. Luckily I realized after we had paid that we could recieve a discount with our Columbus Zoo pass. Usually it is only 50% off. Well. It turned out to be free! It was a nice surprise. The kids got to pet a ray and see some pretty big sharks there.

We had a long drive home yesterday and Collin, who usually doesn't like new situations etc... was very upset that we weren't going back to our beach home. He really took to the ocean and adapted very well to the beach house. Claire made several friends on the beach and Chloe was the timid one. She was a little scared of the ocean. All in all- we would love to go again and know that the next time will be even better!!