Sunday, July 1, 2012
Outerbanks Excursion
We headed up to the beach house for vacation and this time we went on a little excursion to the Outer Banks with mom, Christina and Matthew. We started out by meeting up with Cousin Lisa and Leslie at "The Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island. We watched a little video about The Lost Colony, then the kids grabbed some Junior Ranger packets and we started out on the hiking trail towards the ampitheater.
The performances only happen at night, but we got our own version of the reenactment. Harbin, Catherine, Lydia, Ella, Matthew and Christina were HILARIOUS running around like the Indians and the Englishmen!!!
After Roanoke we drove up to Kitty Hawk to visit the Wrights Brothers Museum. Poor Ella conched out in our stroller that didn't seem to support her head very well. She looked so uncomfortable but she just slept through it.
The kids filled out some of their second Ranger Program packets during the museum lecture and were able to turn those in and earn their 2nd Junior Ranger badges of the day. We toured the grounds for a bit and then said goodbye to Cousin Lisa and Leslie as they headed back home.
All of us loaded back up into the car and drove south to Jockey Ridge Sand Dunes. This was probably the kids favorite part of the day. It's just like a HUGE sandbox with lots of hills! Matthew and Christina ran ahead with the little kids while mom and I took our time making it up the hills- you know mom with her back problems and me with my recent leg vein surgery- we were quite a pair!!
As they came back into our view we were able to catch pictures of them literally rolling down the sand dunes. They were covered in sand head-to-toe and I am not sure how they tolerated it!!!
Ella definitely was the funniest- when we were getting ready to head back she wanted me to carry her. I told her "no" (yes I do that sometimes) and she just threw herself onto her hands and knees and buried her face in the sand. She was mad! After arguing with her for a bit, I started to walk away. I kept telling her to come on and I would carry her once we were at the bottom of the hill, but she just kept pouting. She was using her hand and flinging sand backwards and mom and I kept waiting until she just dug a hole nad fell right in!!! We got pretty far away from her (don't worry she was always in sight) before I had to give in and go drag her hiney down the hill. Don't worry I stuck to my guns and never picked her up, but I am not sure "I won" in the light of that situation :)On the way out of sand dunes, there were two small little "ponds" and they had all of these tadpoles and teeny tiny frogs. The kids set out to save the frogs from the heat and take all the ones who had jumped far away from the ponds back to the ponds. I think they saved a few and had fun doing it, but I am pretty sure they were far from saving ALL of them.
After Jockey Ridge Dunes it was getting late and dark and we were getting hungry. We still had a 30 minute ferry ride over to the island where our hotel was, so we ate dinner, but decided not to tour Cape Hatteras. Dinner was great and the kids were really excited about the Ferry ride over to Hatteras. This was the first time they had ever been in a car on a boat (kind of sounds like Dr. Seuss book). We had fun talking to mom and the kids in their car while we were sitting in ours. Once on board we were able to get off and walk around. It was windy and a little chilly and we were thankful it was only a 30 minute ride.
When we got to the hotel, Ella was yet again throwing a fit (she didn't want to climb into the bed) and she litearlly FELL ASLEEP STANDING UP. She was so tired, I was able to get pics of her just leaning on the chair and snoring!!! I moved her into the bed with me after I caught that hilarious moment on film!
The next morning, we had until 1:00 before our schedule 2.5 hour ferry ride back towards the beachhouse. Mom brought breakfast back to us in the hotel and we got dressed and checked out. Okracroake Island is a cute little island with lots of little souveneir and ice cream shops. We visited the lighthouse- mostly we took pics there since we couldn't go inside, and then we headed to get some ice cream (for lunch, of course).
Matthew and Christina got the BIGGEST banana splits and the other kids all tried to eat their cones before they melted. Lydia finished hers but had a clever idea to "share" with Ella and she gave them both straws to drink the melted ice cream out of the bottom of the cup.
The kids had time to run around outside the Visitor Center and were able to climb the trees and then head inside to finish up one more Junior Ranger packet. The girls and Harbin worked very hard on their packets and learned a lot and were too cute swearing in to be Junior Rangers. Lydia was the funniest...the Ranger said "just say I will after each phrase". He would say the first phrase and she would just repeat what he said. She never seemed to catch on to what he was asking her to do, but it was just adorable.
Another adorable Lydia things...her new "PICTURE POSE". She made this up on her own!
The ferry ride back was sunny and fun, but it was a little long. The kids had a good time feeding the birds off the back of the boat, although Catherine kept getting frusterated because none of the birds were catching her food. She wasn't quite able to throw the bread as high and they wouldn't swoop as low for food when they were getting so much up higher. Finally I think at least one bird caught her food. Ella was exhasuted and took a little nap right on the bench on the interior part of the boat. We arrived at Cedar Island and drove the reminaing hour back to the beach house. The kids slept the whole way! I think they had a blast and maybe even learned a little bit along the way!
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1 comment:
I really like the girls' outfits in all these pictures! Super cute!
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