Outer Banks Vacation

Editor's Note: We attempted to follow our standard swimsuit policy and not include any unflattering shots of anyone. To protect the innocent we have tried to keep the swimsuit photos to a minimum, however this is a challenge on a beach vacation! Brace yourselves- this is a long one.

As told by Beth: Last week we ventured to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a vacation and family reunion with my Mom's family. We left at 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning for a long day of driving. Jamie and I had spent a lot of time strategizing about what time to depart, wanting to maximize our own sleep while hoping that the girls would snooze for at least several hours of the trip, and allow us to arrive around 4 p.m. when we would obtain access to the house. It worked out okay. Jamie and I were both exhausted after having trouble falling asleep. Caroline did not sleep for one single second in the car. I slept a bit, but every time I looked back there were Caroline's eyes looking back at me. She was quiet for the first two hours, but around 5:30 she kept asking for her movies with an increasingly louder voice. By around 7 a.m. the hilly part of Ohio got to her and I woke up to a weird coughing sound which I knew required immediate action. Thankfully I was prepared with some zip lock bags and caught her "carsickness". Katie was terrific and slept most of that time and then after a dose of dramamine proceeded to snooze again, while Jamie rested and I took the wheel. I think I fed Caroline about 10 mints during this time to keep her quiet to allow Jamie and Katie to sleep.

Most of the trip was uneventful except for one little detour up "Snake Mountain" in Virgina. When everyone woke up around 9:30 the girls were starving, so we looked for a place to stop to unpack our breakfast picnic from the back of the minivan. Exits were few and far between in this area and we happened to pick one that didn't allow return access back to the highway. With our friend Garmin by our side we opted to take "Snake River Road" which appeared to connect with I-64 further along (instead of backtracking 7 miles). It proved to be a bad decision as the road got narrower and narrower and went from paved to gravel to dirt with a steep drop off alongside us and no gaurd rail. Eventually we ended up on top of the mountain and while the view was fabulous we did not so much enjoy the hour-long detour. The girls were very quietly holding hands in the backseat while Jamie and I looked at each other with disbelief and wondered how we got so far off the beaten path. Needless to say we were ecstatic to get back on a rural highway and eventually return to I-64 although the huge swing in our estimated arrival time was a crushing blow.

Finally, around 6 p.m. we arrived at our fabulous house in North Carolina. It had 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a movie theater, game room and pool. The guests included my parents, my sister and her family, my mom's three siblings- Linda, Glenn and Neil and their families. In addition to Katie and Caroline, my neice Hannah was there and my cousin Mike's twin almost-two-year olds, Kate and Drew.

Sunday night we were all exhausted but spent some time checking out the house and getting settled. Katie very quickly fell in love with her role as the oldest kid and reveled in the fact that she got to stay up later than the two and almost-two year olds.

Monday morning the kids were up around 7 a.m. (except Caroline, who was catching up after no nap the day before) and they enjoyed having breakfast together (with Uncle Buddy) and playing. At this point we were just beginning to get the full story on the weather- which was not good. It was windy and gray so we stuck close to home and enjoyed the heated pool and hot tub, which was #1 on Katie's to-do list.




As Uncle Glenn said, the house made up for any deficiencies in the weather and we kept busy visiting and playing games. Eventually we headed to the beach and collected some shells. Katie took over a custom that Jen and I started when we were kids and proudly put on a shell show for us, displaying her finds.

Katie enjoyed working on a scrapbook project while we were there and couldn't wait to break into the new seashell stamps that we picked out together at the craft store. Within two days Katie had used up an entire glue stick and a number of the pages were glued together, but it was a good entertainment for her and I had fun asking her questions about each of the things we did and what she enjoyed most about her day.

Tuesday it was windy, but since it wasn't the full-blown Nor'easter yet, we took the kids to the neighborhood playground. With six parents and 5.8 kids (my sister Jen is due with her second in a month) we each staked out a different area of the playground while we got the kids nice and tired. After about 30 minutes of playing most of the little kids were heading to meltdown phase and Katie was sure she was too tired to walk back- she and I walked on the beach with the wind at our backs to make the best of it while the stroller brigade headed back on the roads.

When we returned it was time for more swimming and then while Caroline was napping, Katie and I went with my parents and sister to do some shopping. Katie was a very enthusiastic and curious shopper and saw lots of things that she wanted. She eventually selected a t-shirt that you got to color yourself. Later that night, she enjoyed coloring it and had us all cracking up when she decided to write her phone number on the back, which promted a lot of jokes.

Tuesday night the puzzle enthusiasm really kicked up. My grandmother used to do a lot of puzzles and many of us remembered working on them with her, so it was a nice tradition to continue and provided a lot of good bonding time after the little ones were tucked in for the night. We completed two 1000-piece puzzles over the course of the week.


Wednesday we ventured out to the Wright Brothers Museum (who Katie later referred to as "The Airplane Brothers") with Jen, Billy and Hannah. As kids, we went there on many of our Outer Banks vacations and it was fun to see it again. Katie was very interested in it and liked seeing the replica of their house. After we walked the length of their first three flights and counted out the seconds, Katie and I went to a new part of the museum where Katie got to make paper airplanes. Then Billy, Hannah, Katie and I ventured to the top of the monument. It was quite a climb in the wind and at the top I had to keep the girls on the sheltered side of the monument- and even there they looked like they would blow away!

That afternoon and evening was the windiest point (winds reached 49 mph according to our in-house weather equipment). Katie and I felt very brave venturing out to the top of our boardwalk. You can see it was pretty windy from our crazy hair! At that point, which was high tide, the waves were reaching the dunes. Thankfully there wasn't any damage to our area, but we did end up with a lot of sand in our pool and our porch furniture blew around.

On Thursday when the weather broke every single one of us headed for the pool and for the 30 minutes of decent weather. We had a great time and even got in a quick game of volleyball until a very hard, cold, rain began to fall, at which point we adjourned to the cabana to sit fireside.

We attempted to take a group photo outside, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we took it in the movie room.
Friday brought nicer weather and we went with Dad to the Currituck Lighthouse. Katie climbed up the whole 214 steps and Caroline climbed a third of that- Jamie carried her the rest of the way. Katie got a little scared at the start, but then started to enjoy it. It was fun being up on top, but since it was still pretty windy we had to hold on to the girls and somewhere in the quest for a family photo I dropped my sunglasses and they quickly blew to the edge and plunged down to the ground (and we later found them!). I tell this story because it was Katie's favorite part of the experience.

My highlight came from Miss Caroline when we spotted an old outhouse. All week long she has asked to go potty at every chance she got (and never actually went- she just likes to sit, flush and wash her hands). I know we should be encouraging this, but after dozens of false alarms, we have lost our enthusiasm for the exercise! Anyway, when Dad pointed out the outhouse, Caroline took one look and in her little voice said "I gotta go potty." To commemorate the experience I took a photo of the girls in front of it.

While Katie and I shopped in the gift shop and were purchasing a snow globe of the lighthouse, Caroline was enjoying some pecan nougat in the rocking chair on the front porch- I think that was her highlight!

When we returned we had lunch and went to the beach to enjoy the sunshine. The red "no swimming" flags were still flying but we let the girls stick there feet in and jump a few waves while we held on to them tightly. Katie liked it, even when she had a wave crash right in her face. Caroline liked how cold the water was and squealed, but was even happier to play in the sand.



That night we took our family photos. We are hoping that one of the four of us will be our Christmas card, but upon a quick initial review, we're not sure if we have any that are good of more than two of us-- I guess you all will see when you receive our cards this year!

On Friday morning my cousin Mike left with his wife Tanya and the kids. That afternoon, my cousin Grant and his wife Jodie and stepson Anthony arrived from Virgina Beach. Katie and Anthony ignored each other for a while and then by after dinner time began playing. At one point Anthony came upstairs looking for her and asked "Where did that one girl go?" Later we did some more puzzling and Katie and Anthony joined in.
Saturday morning Glenn, Ellen and Kelly left after a pancake breakfast. Katie had become very fond of Kelly so she was really sad to see them go.

Later that morning we decided to go on a tour to see the wild horses of Corolla. We had considered taking a jeep, but instead selected the giant blue school bus. Grandma and Poppy joined us and we were glad to have extra hands as Caroline was quite wiggly on the 2.5 hour tour. We drove about 8 miles down the beach through the section with no roads and then headed back into the neighborhood there where the horses are. The roads were very flooded and it was fun driving through the huge puddles. At the deepest point the water came up to the second step of the bus. We saw about 18 horses, including one baby, which Katie was excited about. We got to get off the bus and take pictures and it was cool to see them in the water.

After the tour, Katie and I swam in the pool more while Katie napped. When Caroline was awake she and I spent some time at the beach. Jamie kept himself occupied with college football until both girls were up and then we all had a few last jumps in the waves.

Sunday morning we left around 8 a.m. and made it home in about 12 hours- much better time then our trip there! The girls were good in the car, although once again Caroline did not sleep at all and went through numerous diapers and outfits. We were happy to see Lily and glad to be home, but wish our trip was longer! Katie had a really hard time with it and was very weepy Sunday night and Monday morning.

It was great to see everyone! We had a terrific time and send our thanks to all of the organizers, shoppers and cooks.