More Vacation Fun

Things you can do at the ocean in no particular order.....

Try to feed the puppy sand.

Catch a tan while listening to tunes.

Let the sound of the ocean waves put you to sleep.

Just dance......

Look for shells.......

and find several sand dollars!

Go fishing with your dad.

Catch a few waves......you're never too old.

More vacation pictures to come soon.......

Footprints in the Sand

Just returned from a weeks vacation to the Outer Banks. We had a really nice time. Of course, you can never fully rest with a toddler but we made wonderful memories. I could never post about our whole trip at once so I've decided that I'm going to post over the next week or so. We camped at our favorite campground, Camp Hatteras. Everyone is so friendly and we always meet the nicest people. This trip we met a couple from Pittsburgh and another from Virginia. Caroline met a little girl who lives in Pinetown, NC. Abby made great friends with a boy from Virginia and a girl from New Jersey. Thank goodness for facebook so we can keep up with our new friends!

During your camp stay, they have activities planned Thursday thru Monday. We decided to participate in Footprints in the Sand. The cost- one dollar. The experience-priceless. Here are the girls getting the sand cast of their foot.

Mattie's footprint was harder since she didn't have enough weight to press down. After pressing, the activity directors sprayed the prints with hairspray and poured in Plaster of Paris.

One hour later, we picked up the girls' feet. Aren't they neat?

And one of my favorite poems, Footprints in the Sand..........

Mini-Vacation

Where have we been? We took a mini-vacation and met up with some of our friends at Camp Hatteras. It is not the primitive hard core camping by any means. The camp has a playground, mini putt putt, 2 pools, hot tub, pond, and beach access. We didn't get to go last year so I was a little worried how Mattie would do now that she is walking and into everything. I just imagined me running all over trying to catch her as she weaved between campers. So I invested in a play yard. Can we say wonderful?!! I love this thing. We use it everywhere. She isn't locked up in it all the time, although she was quite content. She kept herself busy.

She was waiting to catch the beach ball

Eating her cheese puffs all sprawled out.

Mattie loves books! This one is her favorite~she spent a good thirty minutes looking at it. I've got some other cute pics of her in various positions while reading.

sisters

We headed down to Kitty Hawk Kites on our way out. They had a really neat sand sculpture. And yes, this is all real sand. It was huge! I just posted a portion of it.

Caroline

It's only a couple hour drive so we are headed back for a whole week this time. Hoping to get on the beach. I really didn't feel like taking Mattie since it was so windy. They have beach accesses where you can drive your truck on to the beach so I'm sure we'll be doing that some days. Then we plan on visiting the lighthouses and other landmarks that our kids haven't been to yet.

Our Vacation: Dry Falls

One of the days on our trip to the mountains, we took a ride over to Dry Falls. I'm not so sure why it is called "dry" because you will get a little wet if you walk all the way down. This fall was really neat since you can actually walk right behind it. It was a beautiful sight! And how much did this amazing display cost? Nothing. It was free! It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Here you can see people walking down and behind the fall.

The girls posing. Mattie doesn't look thrilled in this picture, but she really liked the fall.

A picture of the fall from behind looking up.

My mom and brother with Mattie


Below is a short video clip of the waterfall in action.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our Vacation Part One

We had a really nice vacation. We went to Lake Nantahala in the North Carolina Mountains. It was about an eight hour drive for us. We literally almost drove the entire state of NC from East to West. It is absolutely beautiful there. I've always said that the best thing about NC are their mountains and beaches.

Mattie's entertainment on the way there.

This is the house that my mom rented for all of us to stay in for the week.

75 stairs up and down to the house and lake! I'm out of shape!

This was the view from our dock. It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful.

The girls jumping into the cool refreshing water! It was crystal clear.

More pictures to come later.......

Counting Down Our Beach Days!

Matt & I went to the beach for the day on Friday....Alone! I felt so guilty leaving the kids behind. As soon as we got there I said, "We should have brought the girls." About an hour later a family arrived and sat near us. They had several girls. It wasn't long before they started telling on eachother and whining about sand in unmentionable parts. Matt asked if I still wished the girls were there. I then decided it was kind of nice enjoying the beach without worrying about the children. Besides, they have been to the beach several times with family and friends and left me behind, right? We are planning one more trip to Emerald Isle this week before I head back to work. This time with the girls. We have to leave Daddy behind since he has to work. We'll be thinking of him though. Here are some pictures from our June trip. I never did get around to posting them. So here are a few.

Abby and Ashley "girl talk"

Mattie's first trip to the beach.
Caroline was digging for Sand Fiddlers. The water was beautiful that day!
Another picture of Caroline. This day they were gathering Jellyfish.(The non-stinging Ones!)