Friday (8/3) We were up and moving early this morning to hit the road for vacation! Zak had us up at 6am and he was ready to go! We packed all of our stuff up for the week and hit the road around 11am. Zak talked non stop for most of our drive and drove us crazy. He kept asking "How much more longer?" Other than that, the boys did pretty good on our drive down towards North Carolina. I was excited to see Sheetz on most of our route so we stopped there for both lunch and later for dinner as we drove thru West Virginia and Virginia. The boys even found stuff there to eat so they had lunch with us and then we got them McDonald's (which has Mario toys with their happy meals, yay!) for dinner.
We made great time and hit no traffic on the whole ride down. We did hit some bad rain in Virginia for a while but it didn't slow us down too bad. Adrian drove almost the whole day as I was doing fine as the passenger and was enjoying reading my book while he drove. We finally decided to stop in Chesapeake, VA for the night, about 90 minutes away from the Outerbanks. We could have kept driving but hotels got significantly more expensive the closer we got to the island so this was a good compromise. We got a suite with 3 beds for the night, got everyone situated and pretty much went straight to bed. Hoping to be on the road early in the morning!
Saturday (8/4) We were up and on the road early this morning, eager to get to our house and family in the Outerbanks! We made great time getting to the island and only hit a little traffic crossing the bridge to the island. We went to Kill Devil Hills and met up with my brother Jon, his family and my parents for a few minutes. They were going to head up towards the house and grab lunch and do some grocery shopping. We decided to do the Wright Brother Memorial and grab lunch in Kill Devil Hills and then head north to the house in Corolla.
We got to the park and decided we wanted to start by climbing to the top of the sand dune that the brothers used to try to figure out flying. It was hot but we managed to climb up without much complaining from the boys. We hung out on the top cooling off for a while and then noticed that the sky was getting really dark and that we should probably head down the hill. The sky opened up and we got drenched on our way back to the car! Unfortunately it rained pretty steadily for the rest of the afternoon so we weren't able to see any more of the memorial, but we'll have something to do now if we go back to that area.
We grabbed a quick lunch at Food Dudes Kitchen and then headed to our house. The traffic was horrible by then and what should have taken us about 45 minutes took us almost 2 hours. It was pretty miserable but we made the best of it. Zak had a bathroom emergency and had to get out and go on the side of the road which gave us all a good laugh after it happened. We finally got to the house and while Adrian and I unpacked the car, the boys headed right to the pool with their cousins. We spent the rest of the night swimming, in the hot tub, visiting with family, eating and relaxing. We're ready to have a great week!
Sunday (8/5) We all got a great night of sleep after all of the outdoor activities yesterday and were up and ready to go pretty early today. We had a big breakfast of pork roll, egg and cheese on bagels courtesy of our NJ family and then headed out to the beach for the morning. We spent a few hours there playing in the sand and the water and having a great time. The boys loved playing in the waves, especially AJ. Daniel got a little nervous when he got knocked down by a wave but he still had fun playing in the sand and hanging out with his cousins.
After a few hours we were hot and hungry so we headed back to the house for lunch and some more pool time. I took some time to unpack and organize our stuff in the house for the week while the boys were busy playing. The day was fun and it passed quickly with lots of laughter, food and fun. The boys are super excited to have a pool in the back yard and cousins to play with all the time. They are also excited about the play ground in the back yard. They spent some time out there tonight as well. It was a pretty perfect vacation day!
Monday (8/6) Today looked almost exactly like yesterday. We all got a great night of sleep and then had a big breakfast together. We again got ready and walked up to the beach for a while. We met up with my Uncle Tony, Aunt Joan, Aunt Sue and cousins David, Ksenia, Sophia & Mateo who are staying at a house down the street from us. All of us spent a lot of time playing in the water, digging in the sand and chatting to catch up. I was very proud of Daniel today for getting back in the ocean. He didn't really want anything to do with it after falling over yesterday. But he came to the beach because everyone else was going. After some convincing, Aunt Sue got him to give the water another chance and he loved it! He and I stayed out in the waves for around two hours. It was exhausting but so much fun!
After all of that sun, water and sand we were hungry and wiped out so we headed back to the house for the rest of the afternoon. We got some food and swam in the pool to cool off. We pretty much spent the rest of the day eating, swimming, drinking, chatting and laughing. We had delicious smoked pork for dinner with lots of salads for the sides. The kids had fun playing together while the adults chatted and relaxed. It was another perfect day of vacation!!
Tuesday (8/7) We started our day with a four wheel drive on the private beach that was down the road from our house. We had a great time driving on the beach and relaxing. And we got to see the wild horses that live on that beach. It was so cool to see them just walking around and hanging out on the beach. There were a lot of people there though so after we got a few pictures, they got spooked and ran off down the beach. On the ride off the beach, we let all of the kids ride in the bed of the truck with us to the air station for our tires. They all loved being in the bed of the truck!!
After the drive, we decided to come back to the house and relax for pretty much the rest of the day. We spent the day at the pool, playing board games and eating and drinking. I did a few loads of laundry so I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week. Adrian went golfing in the afternoon with my brothers, my dad and my aunts. They all had a great time and the rest of us partied in the pool. When they got home, Carl built a fire and we all had smores for dessert. The kids were super excited to have smores with their feet in the pool. When the kids went to bed, the adults hung out in the pool until it was time for us to head to bed too. Another great day in the books!!
Wednesday (8/8) Today started a little rough for me. I may have drank a little too much last night and then didn't get enough sleep to feel better today. I decided that I would just spend the day relaxing by the pool. AJ was also having a rough day so it seemed like a good idea to let him lay low for the day too. A few people from the house went down to the beach, but all of us except Daniel stayed home and at the pool. After their trip to the beach, the rest of the family who was in town for vacation came down to hang out with us. A few house down my aunts, uncle and cousins are all staying for the week as well. It was great to have my whole family together for the day!! We talked, swam, ate and drank. They all headed out before dinner and those of us at our house continued doing the same. It was an early night for me since I was so tired from the previous night. I'm hoping for a great night of sleep tonight!!
Thursday (8/9) After a great night of sleep, I felt much better this morning! We got up and got moving and headed to Duck Donuts for breakfast with Melissa and Tyler. Then we headed to the Currituck Lighthouse to climb to the top. The five of us climbed the 221 stairs to the top and were rewarded with beautiful views of both the ocean and the bay. We spent a little bit of time up there and then headed back down to get into the air conditioning. We enjoyed learning a little about the lighthouse on our way up and down.
When we got home we were super sweaty so we decided to jump in the pool for a while. We spent the rest of the day swimming and hanging with family. It was a little less humid than the past 2 days so the boys played volleyball and basketball with their cousins. We also did family pictures on the front porch to remember our trip. Uncle Tom made us all cry right before the pictures by pulling out a picture of Nana & Pop to add to the picture. It was a very sweet moment. Adrian and I also got away alone for a little bit for a walk on the beach at dusk. Again we pretty much swam, ate, drank and chatted. It's been a lot of the same things every day this week and I wouldn't change it for anything!! One more day of this amazing vacation!
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