An Attempt to Organize Chaos: Outer Banks, NC

Our little family had its first official family vacation this year. We planned a trip to Duck, NC which is in the Outer Banks with some friends of ours. This is the first trip that we have taken without one of our families. We went with our next door neighbors, Marge, Dave and their 19 month old son Ryan and also my good college friends Rachel and Matt. We rented a huge house called Moby Duck about a quarter mile from the beach. The house was amazing. It had its own private pool, hot tub, pool table, amazing kitchen and a ton of bed rooms with master bathrooms each with a whirlpool tub! We want to live there forever!

It was so nice to be able to have some fun with our little family. The first day on the beach both kids were a little hesitant. Reese much more so than Turner though. By the end of the first day on the beach though both kids were running in the little waves and playing in the sand. Thank you to Grammy and Pop for the new buckets and stuff! It was really neat to be able to experience the beach from Turner and Reese's perspective. I know I have mentioned that I love having kids because it gives me the opportunity to see everything in a new light through their eyes! It is so neat to see their eyes get big at the magnitude of the ocean and beach. It was fun to look at sand as a blank palate there to be made into the most amazing of structures. It is truly special to be able to take a step back and get a new look at the world that I take so for granted!

The pool is always a hit with my kiddos. They loved swimming, and will both hop right in with their tubes on. Turner got so brave he was jumping off the side of the pool with his tube on. The both loved it. They loved that Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel would play for hours with them in the water. We all had a great time every afternoon playing in the pool and then afterward chilling in the hot tub! I think my whole little family wants a hot tub at home now! Maybe we can convince Marge and Dave to pitch in and we can put one in between the houses ;)

The one down side to the trip was that we had to come home a day early because Hanna hit the day we were supposed to leave. Other than that though there was not a cloud in the sky the whole time we were there and the temp was 86 degrees F and beautiful! We were so lucky with the weather!

Other fun things that we did at the beach was getting to see the Wildlife museum, Corolla Lighthouse, play on the playground, take walks, a little shopping, having lunch out with our friends, big "family" dinners with everyone around the big table, flying kites, and fun times with the adults after the kids went to sleep! Here are some fun pictures from our trip: