The Beach!

Most of my family got together for a week at the beach. This was the first time we ever stayed in a house with a pool. My mom, who doesn't get in pools or the ocean, declared we should get a house with a pool from now on. It was pretty great. My dad, Papop to all the grandkids, brought along lots of snorkeling gear, including some kid-sized stuff, and totally made Silly's day, week, year, by teaching him to snorkel. That boy stayed in the pool, mask on, snorkel in, for a long, long time. Papop gave him the gear when the week was over and Silly's first order of business when we got home was putting his gear in a safe place - in case it floods. He took it to the pool  and when he lost the little valve that keep the water out, Scott contacted the company and they sent us two replacements - free!

Our first day there the ocean was full of jellyfish and all kinds of other sea creatures. I don't think I'd ever seen jellyfish in the Outer Banks before, but this year made up for it. We saw huge schools of fish, jumping rays and dolphins and a few pelicans came out too. It was crazy.

Tuesday morning Scott took Cakes and Silly on an airplane tour. They reported seeing lots of sharks, very close to the shore. Great!

 

 

We were worried that Cakes might get sick, but she did just fine and filled in as photographer while Scott flew the plane.

Just some fun indoors...





He insisted I take this picture.



 

Papop took a few kids out truckin' on the beach and nearly flooded his engine so the kids played at the beach for a few minutes while he let his truck sit, and hopefully drain. At least he didn't get stuck; that's what usually happens.

Friday afternoon we forced everyone to go out to the beach one last time. We hadn't all been out there at the same time before so we had to do that at least once. Mom brought a few kites with her and dad set up the little tent. 

 

 

 Bubba hadn't really been in the ocean before Friday. He spent a lot of time throwing sand back into the water, but didn't get wet past his knees. Friday he just decided that he could go out there all by himself and was furious that Scott and I insisted on holding onto him or standing right behind him. He was so sure he could just walk right into those waves.

After our last hurrah at the the beach, a lot of us jumped in the pool one last time. Bubba also decided that he could swim by himself (with his floatie vest on, but even so, he didn't really know how to keep himself upright yet). He was have a screaming, water-swallowing fit in the middle of the pool, and the middle of our game of Marco Polo. He did not want us to touch him, but when we let go he ended up with his face in the water. He was totally beyond reason so I eventually had to just scoop him up and take him away from the pool. I was laughing so hard at the ridiculousness of it that it took me a while to be able to pick him up.

 People left at various times Friday night and Saturday morning, but since we didn't have the long haul home like everyone else we stuck around a little bit, cleared out the house with Papop and my older brother's family then set off to climb the Hatteras lighthouse. They have a height restriction and last time we visited Scott climbed with Cakes while I walked around with toddler Silly. This time I climbed with Cakes and Silly while Scott killed some time with Bubba.



Getting started



Bubbs waiting patiently





At the top



Still waitin'



 









Going down



That big sandy spot is where the lighthouse used to be



We did a pretty good job climbing. My legs were burning 2 or 3 times on the way up and when I stopped at the bottom my knees were wobbling. We stopped at all 8 landings on the way up to see how the view changed every time. Cakes was busy counting all the steps and I don't think Silly even knew he was doing anything hard.

By then all the traffic was cleared out so we started home for real. We will definitely do that again!