Beach Finale

Well I guess the title should really say "Beach Finally" since I am just now posting in what...mid-October. Anyways, here's a bit about our final trip to the beach house this summer. It was special since it was the first TRUE vacation for all of us- even Scott- no training, no real estate, no grading papers, just pure FUN!

The pictures pretty much tell all... as you go through them, you can see that we had a great relaxing and educational time (yes, I am a homeschool mom!). Scott's parents joined us as well as his sister, youngest brother, and few of their friends. I got some shots of the kids playing at the beach, but didn't take my camera down a lot for fear of messing up my ony remaining lens.

Harbin really enjoyed boogie boarding. We were very impressed with his ability in the water. At the beginning of the summer, he would hardy get wet, but he seemed to enjoy the waves. They were huge this trip and the wind was incredible. In all my years at the beach house, I don't think I have ever seen such a windy week. He loved to catch waves and ride them in and he didn't seem to mind getting tossed around a bit.

Catherine liked to sit or lay in the waves and let them push her around. This usually lasted about 5 minutes or until a wave knocked her over- then it was tears and she would return to playing in the sand.

Lydia did ok in the water, but would often freak out because her feet were sinking. She definitely enjoyed the sand. I don't have a great picture of her, but she would get covered in sand- HEAD TO TOE. All of us commented on how much sand she would get in her face and it just never seemed to bother her. At one point, she was laying her face in the sand, but it never seemed to bother her!!

We were fortunate to have time to do a few "field trips" while we were there. History is not really my "cup of tea", but fortunately for the kiddos, it is Scott's. We went to Historic Beaufort to learn about Blackbeard (a pirate). We were a bit too late to get to go into any of the buildings, but we were able to see the outside of the jail. The kids enjoyed the Maritime museum where there were all kinds of cool exhibits and info on the Outerbanks area. As we were walking to dinner, we even ran into some "real pirates"- some were rather scary looking.

We went to Fort Macon, which I have done many times. But, we were also able to go on a guided nature walk to the Bogue Sound. This was offered by the Fort Macon State Park and was totally free. It was an incredible experience. After just a short walk, the kids were shown all kinds of ocean life by the park ranger. Harbin helped to pull the seine (a really big net) to catch the ocean life. While he was out there, the park ranger spotted a hammerhead shark. Although Harbin never saw it himself, he thought that was cool (I thought it was a bit frightening since it was my 4 year old out there with it!!!). Catherine was hesitant at first, but eventually warmed up to holding and touching the sea life. Lydia loved to touch the slimy toad fish and although he looks scared, I think Harbin thought it was neat to hold the sea urchin- he said it was wiggly.

I tried to get some great family pictures while we were at the beach, but I had very little success. Our photo shoot timing was not that great since it was the last day of the trip (and it was just us, so I had to prop the camera up), it was SUPER windy, and the kids were tired. I was able to capture a few shots where we are all IN the picture, so I guess I should count that as a win.

Enjoy all the pics. Now that I am caught up on our summer, I hope to be more regular in posting!!

Link to the pictures is on the right labeled BeachHouse2009
The mom.