OBX Vacation

About 5 months ago, a couple friends talked about the idea of spending a week together in Outer Banks, North Carolina. Kristen was the mastermind getting everything organized and the week of August 30th-September 5th, 2009 we had an awesome vacation.
Most people went down on Saturday morning, but Jeff was out of town for a medical conference so we didn’t get there until Sunday night. The beach house was awesome! It was only about 100 yards from the beach and had a great setup. It was 3 stories high with 6 bedrooms that each had their own bathroom & deck. The top floor had a big kitchen and dining/living area, an extra bathroom, and one bedroom. The second floor had 4 bedrooms, and the bottom floor had one bedroom, a big play room/living room, bathroom, and access to the pool. It was a perfect setup for a big group. The kids had a blast playing together throughout the week and it was fun to see what creative games they would come up with together.
Originally we had great visions of spending hours on the beach, and playing in our pool. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate quite as we had planned- it was pretty cloudy and a little rainy most of the time, but we did end up with some sunshine on Tuesday and we had a beautiful sunny day on Friday. Regardless of the weather, we spent some time at the beach everyday and we were able to do a lot of fun things and enjoy spending time with family and friends.
On Monday afternoon, everyone did a little sight-seeing. We decided to head over to the Wright Brothers memorial. It was a really cool place. The boys enjoyed climbing the big hill to the Wright Brothers Monument, and we all enjoyed the little museums where you could read about their early flight experiences and see a replica of their plane.
One thing that was cool about the stormy weather was that it made the waves absolutely huge! The men were pretty adventurous and even on the colder days they took their boogie boards out to catch some big ones. At that point, the waves were big and rough enough that the women were pretty content to watch- there were some pretty entertaining wipe-outs. In fact, a few of the days, the lifeguards put up signs and wouldn’t allow anyone to go out into the water. One those days, the guys got out their skim boards and had fun surfing the waves near the shore. That was also really fun to watch. I’m pretty sure they all ended up with some pretty good war wounds from crashes on the sand. They had a great time though, and they really were pretty good. The kids enjoyed playing on the beach even if they couldn’t get in the water.
One of the things I loved about going with a big group was dividing up some of the basic responsibilities of each day. We each had a day to make breakfast and dinner for the whole group. It was great not to have to cook every day. We loved having all the fabulous food that everyone made, and it was fun to have one day to make some fun meals for everyone else. It’s definitely going to be an adjustment to realize that I have to make all the meals every day again!
On two of the afternoons we did a date afternoon swap. Half of the adults went out Wednesday afternoon for a few hours, and then the rest of us went out on Thursday afternoon. On our date, we first went to play laser tag. That was a blast! I also found out that long hair can be a big advantage…mainly when it covers your targets. I got a lot of flak about that, but I did manage to win the game by about double the scores. I attributed it to pure talent & sharp shooting abilities. After the laser tag we headed over to a miniature golf course. It was fun to go with other couples. And although I have no idea how it really happened, I actually had the lowest score; but that also means that I beat Jeff again and proved once again that I dominate at miniature golf. (At least until next time..)
Somehow the week of the vacation ended up being the same week as many of our kids’ birthdays. We had 4 birthdays during the trip, which meant four birthday cakes and miniature parties. All the kids were in heaven. Caleb turned 4 on September 2nd, and we did an ice cream cake for his birthday. He thought it was pretty cool when everyone sang to him and loved blowing out the candles with his big audience and opening his present. He thought that was a pretty good way to celebrate.
I think one of my favorite parts about the trip was the late-night game playing with all the adults. It was fun to have the kids put to bed and then be able to enjoy the rest of the night. We played many different games, but I still think my favorite was the night we played Cranium until 2am- guys vs. girls. It’s a good thing most of the kids were sleeping downstairs or I know they would have been up from all the laughing.
On Wednesday night, we had kind of an impromptu girl’s night. We all decided to go to the little beach shop after the kids were in bed to get a few things. It ended up being quite the trip with all of us trying on different t-shirts, pants, shorts, and swim dresses. I’m sure we were quite the scene trying to crowd into the dressing rooms together and modeling our great and not-so-great-but-hilarious finds. It was definitely a night of good laughs, and we did manage to find some fun deals like our matching $4 t-shirts. Fortunately the husbands were busy with a good movie, and they didn’t miss us for the 2 hours that we were gone!
On Friday, our group went crabbing together. The kids were so excited, and it ended up being a lot of fun for the adults too. I had never done it before and didn’t realize that you basically stick a big piece of chicken on a hook and wait for the crabs to grab a hold of it. Once they’re up high enough, you slip a net under them and pull them in. The crabs had to be a certain size before you could keep them. I’m pretty sure that’s why all the big ones were wily and would let go of the chicken before you got them too close. We did manage to catch 6 crabs that were keeper size, and we also managed to catch a huge snapping turtle! I won’t lie; it was probably one of the funniest moments when Debbie caught the turtle on her first try. Jacob and Caleb actually caught 3 of the 6 keepers, and thought that it was just about the coolest thing ever.
When we got back late Friday morning, the beautiful sun was coming through the clouds and we went out and spent the rest of the warm, sunny day at the beach. I’m so glad we ended on such a great day.
We spent one last night, finished packing and left on Saturday morning. I’m sure everyone was about vacationed out at that point, but it was a fabulous week and I’m pretty sure we all came away with some great memories.