Our Beach Vacation!!

 

 If there is one thing we all look forward to every year, it's going to the beach!  Doesn't really matter WHICH beach, just so we get to the East coast once a year, though I will say I prefer the Outer Banks of NC over every other "local" beach.  And, the Outer Banks is exactly where we went.  My parents have a time share there, so we are able to stay for free ... just need money for food, gas and souvenirs.

Our rental was from Sunday to Sunday, but we hate to sit around that day before, so we always head to Williamsburg for the day/night.  So, Saturday morning we got up, packed the car and headed South!  We didn't do much that evening ... just had dinner and did a little shopping at one of the Outlet Malls, but it was the perfect start to our vacation ... we just WEREN'T in NoVa.  :)

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we headed on down the road the rest of the way to our final destination.  We did our grocery shopping for the week and got settled in our ajoined rooms/suites.  We had a pretty awesome set up this year, too!  Our rooms were at the very back of the resort (I consider the back to be the side closest to the ocean), so we were ocean front AND pool front.  It was PERFECT!  There was even a really cool tower lookout right by our rooms that you could climb up to get a better view of the ocean.

On Monday we had a pretty fun-filled day planned.  After breakfast we went over for our first day on the beach where we played in the water and sand, had lunch and then played some more.  Jacob is getting more and more courage where the water is concerned the older he gets.  He and Daddy headed out a little further in the ocean to jump the waves and he even attempted to body surf.  Henry, on the other hand, is STILL not a fan of anything beach related.  The sand and the water were both the devil as far as he was concerned.  hehe

After the beach, we came back to play at the pool and then we packed up the car and headed off for our two hour excursion on the pontoon boat we rented.  Pap drove and we were all completely soaked with water, but it was still a lot of fun.  Jacob loved it and even got to drive at one point.  Henry took a turn driving too, but was definitely less than excited about the whole experience.  For dinner that night, we stuffed ourselves at Captain George's AYCE Seafood Buffet - so yummy!

Tuesday morning we decided to take it easy because of our very busy Monday, so in the morning we went up to Corolla and climbed the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (well, John, Jacob and I did - my parents stayed below with Henry).  I climbed this same lighthouse when I was a teenager, so it was a treat being able to take my husband and firstborn on the 214 stair climb.  I hope to take Henry in a year or so.  :)

After climbing the lighthouse, we grabbed some lunch at this fun little deli in Timbuck II, and then came back to the resort to swim in the pool.  John met up with our friend, Floyd, and his son, Lee, (they used to live here, but have since moved to the beach) in the afternoon, so while he was out with them, my parents and I took the kids to dinner, went mini-golfing and we did a little shopping.  Tuesday was definitely a low-key day in comparison to our crazy Monday.

Wednesday we went back over to the beach where Jacob was finally able to boogie board in the ocean and swim out a little further (with the supervision of an adult, of course), and then afterwards we came back to the pool for a little bit to swim.  Wednesday evening we had dinner at Awful Arthur's (of all the times I've been to the OBX, I have NEVER eaten here - it was so good!), and then headed down to Jockey's Ridge shopping center (we saved climbing the dunes for the next day) where we shopped and had some yummy homemade ice cream.

Thursday morning Jacob and Pap went on a crabbing outing where they caught a few crabs, but they were so small they threw them back.  After we all packed up and headed down to Manteo for lunch at Big Al's and then we took the kids to Roanoke Island Festival Park.  The main reason I wanted to take Jacob here was the real, live pirate ship he was able to climb aboard and explore.  He had a blast with that!!!  He also had a blast exploring the hands-on museum they had.  :)

 

        

After Manteo, we headed back to Nags Head to Jockey's Ridge where John and Jacob were able to fly their kite.  This year John took Jacob to Kitty Hawk Kite's where Jacob chose a Blue Angels kite.  He loved it and had a blast flying it with daddy!!  After Jockey's Ridge, we headed back up towards the resort and had dinner at Fishbones (John and I went there for a date night last year and loved it!).

On Friday we had a pool day AND we discovered Henry is now big enough to wear floaties and he already knows how to keep himself afloat while wearing them.  :)  He's my little water baby! ... well, where pool/bath water is concerned - he's still not a fan of the ocean.  lol  Anyway, it was super cute to watch him swimming around with everyone else!  Friday night we had dinner at this other VERY yummy AYCE seafood buffet called Jimmy's Seafood - we ate there last year and loved it!

Saturday, our last day of vacation ... boooo!, we had another beach/pool day and I finally got some boogie boarding of my own in!!  It was so much fun ... I don't think I've done that since I was a kid!  Saturday night we had dinner at Dirty Dick's (and can you believe this???  As often as my parents have gone/go to the Outer Banks, they have NEVER eaten at Dirty Dick's?!?!?!  That's crazy to me!  It's been there for a long time!), and then did some more shopping.

It's safe to say we had a blast and can't wait until next summer!  Jacob and Henry both had some firsts last week ... Jacob swam in the ocean for the first time, and Henry finally put his feet in the sand/ocean water for the first time (and of course he was swam with floaties on for the first time too!).  Henry also came home with a ton more words/phrases added to his vocabulary.  The week before Labor Day was the perfect week to go, too ... it was the perfect end to our VERY busy Summer! :)