2010 Vacation – Outer Banks, NC

July 11th, 2010

Again this year we went to the Outer Banks for vacation. We had a great time! There were eight adults that went so we were able to split the cost and rent a really nice beach house!

Our Vacation Rental House At The Outer Banks

To get to the house you had to drive eight miles on the beach! There were no roads to get to the house. If you ever go to this part of the Outer Banks make sure you do your research and only attempt to drive on the beach at low tide. 😀 We got stuck twice on the way to the house and had to be pulled out both times. 😀

But, once we made it to the house we were able to relax in the pool and hot tub…

Ace In The Pool In North Carolina

And our house was also in the Wild Horse Reserves, so there were wild horses everywhere! They came right up to our house and even slept in our back yard…

Outer Banks Wild Horses

Outer Banks Wild Horses Sleeping In The Back Yard

And when we were not playing on the beach…

Jared At The Beach

Ace At The Beach

Ace's Cousin Livi At The Beach

Ace and Livi At The Beach

…we went out to look at the famous light houses…

Currituck Light House

Cape Hatteras Light House

… saw the Inn at Roadanthe (From the movie Nights in Roadanthe)…

Inn At Roadanthe

… saw all kinds of cool critters…

The Lizard

A Dragon Fly

Pink and Yellow Moth

The Cool Bear

Whoever said vacation was relaxing? 😀 At the end of every day we were all pooped…

Ace Worn Out

Ace, Calling It A Day

… and now we are back home…planning next year’s vacation. 😀

Tags: beach, ocean, Pictures, vacation
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OBX – The Outer Banks

September 7th, 2009

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We spent the last week of our vacation in Duck, NC. We (PaPa, Grandma, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Mike, Livi Shea, Ace, Momma, and I) rented a beach house about 500 ft from the beach…our little home away from home…

We were greeted in NC by Hurricane Bill with large bone crushing waves and high winds, but everything calmed down by the third day.

We did not do a whole lot there (isn’t that the point of going to the beach?).

Ace, A.K.A. FishBoy, and Olivia had never seen the ocean before so they were in complete amazement when the waves would crash down and roll over their feet…

We went on a Dolphin Cruise where we took a relaxing boat ride out into the sound and saw live dolphins in the wild… Did you know that wild dolphins have pink bellies? Me neither…

The Dolphin Cruise was a sunset cruise, so we got to see the sunset…it was breath taking to see the sun set over the water…

And the skies after the sun set were equally as eye cathcing…notice the moon peeking it’s head out into the daylight…

As fun as the dolphin cruise was, nothing beats playing on the beach. Of course someone has to be buried…

…and sand castles have to be constructed with precsion…

We even got to experience the beach at early morning and at night. At night the crabs run wild. We went down with our flashlights and chased the crabs across the sand back into the water. Those little buggers can scoot!

We got up early one morning to watch the sunrise. I have never in my life took time to sit down and watch the sunrise. I mean, I’ve seen it rise while driving to work, and I’ve been outside when it has risen, but to sit and watch it’s every move is something that I will have to try and do more often. The view was overwhelming…

All in all we had a fantasic time! It had to be one of the most fun two weeks that we have ever had. Momma is already busy planning next years vacation…

Tags: beach, dolphin, sand, sand castles, sunrise, sunset, vacation
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On A Whim…

July 13th, 2009

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Ever just do something on a whim? Ever just get in the car and drive not knowing exactly where you will end up. Momma and I used to do that a lot. Just drive, grab a hotel for the night, maybe see some local attraction, and then drive home the next day. Kind of nice to get away from the normal grind ever now and then…

We haven’t done that since Ace was born though. It’s kinda hard to just hop in the car and go. You gotta have a diaper bag, diapers, sippy cups, car seats, teddy bears, blankets, toys, extra clothes, and I’m probably forgetting something…I usually do. 😀

So, we kinda improvised…we decided at the last minute that we were going somewhere, but we had to know where we were going. We can’t risk not being able to find a room, so we had to make a reservation. We packed all of the stuff that Ace needs…see paragraph #2 (and by the way the thing that I forgot in the list was baby wipes…luckily we did remember them in real life though 🙂 )

So we started planning about 8PM, left at 10PM, and got to the hotel at around Midnight. We got up in the morning, enjoyed the continental breakfast (Holiday Inn Express has the best breakfast…gotta get the cinnamon rolls), and then we headed to Indian Lake.

We made it to the beach, but it was a bit too cold to go swimming, so we just let Ace play in the shallow waves.

It felt good to step outside the lines of normal daily life again. It felt good to just go somewhere without thinking too much about how we were going to get there, what we were going to do, when we were going to leave, and how much it was going to cost.

No worries… Kinda like being two years old again. No wonder he is always in a good mood. 😀

Tags: beach, vacation
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Sun, Sand, and Dirty Diapers

August 8th, 2008

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We live in Ohio…not usually thought of when you think about beaches, but beaches do exist here believe it or not…

One of my favorite things to do in the summer when I was a kid was to go out on the boat at Indian Lake with my my Mom, Dad, and brother. I remember pulling the boat up to the beach, hopping out, and swimming to shore to play in the sand…and the little waves that washed up onto the sand.

Keep in mind I had never seen the ocean, let alone swam in it or anything with decent sized waves. Even though these waves were less than a foot tall, I would try my hardest to body surf on them…if only for a few feet.

Most of the activities that we do such as the zoo, COSI, vacationing in Iowa, and going to see a ball game, were all Momma’s ideas. I’m a homebody. I am perfectly happy playing with Ace in the back yard on the swingset or in the pool, but a few weekends ago I got the bright idea of taking Ace to the beach…so Momma packed a picnic basket and off we went.

We went to a small lake about 45 minutes from our house and found this small beach after driving around for a while. We had lunch in the shelter house and then got ready for some swimming…

We could not find our pack of Little Swimmers diapers, so we just brought a pair of underwear and a pair of swimming trunks for Ace.

Ace was amazed as he and I walked out onto the sand towards the water…

Dad And Ace Looking From The Beach

Once the amazement had been washed away it was time to play in the sand…

Playing In The Sand

And what can be more cuter than baby feet buried in the beach sand?

Baby Feet Buried In The Beach Sand

After he got the hang of the sand he was off to bigger and better things…splashing in the waves…

Ace Playing In The Waves

And when a boat would go by, the waves got bigger…and more fun!

Big Waves

And then he crapped his pants…and crapped them good. The underwear and swimming trunks were put out of commission for the day and we had to revert to a plain old diaper…

I ran out to the car with bare feet to clean him up and put on a diaper. Ever tried to change a diaper while dancing on the sun beaten pavement to keep your bare feet from spontaneously combusting? Not as easy as it sounds… 😀

And then the sand…it was everywhere!! There was sand in the poop, and poop in the sand. If nothing else positive came out of this experience, his tush got a good exfoliation treatment as I went through a package of wipes trying to clean the mess. 😀

Once everyone had a clean butt I put on my trunks and we headed out to deeper water…

Heading Out To Deeper Water

Of course, since Ace had on a regular diaper now, he weighed about 50 lbs (25 lbs of Ace and 25 lbs of water that had absorbed into his diaper). 😀

It was a fun day that brought back memories for me, and hopefully made some memories for Ace. Just look at his face…it has HAVING FUN written all over it…as he splashes in the sun. 😀

Having Fun Face

BTW: We have some big news to reveal in the very near future…stay tuned. 😀

Tags: beach, Fun Activities, picnic, summer, swimming
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Pictures |
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