On Vacation to the Beach

It's not that often we'll take a vacation for the sake of vacation. Last year's summer trip to Florida was a trip to our rental property disguised as a vacation. Our last true vacation was probably to Canada for Ironman in 2010.

So when my sister's family invited us to join them in North Carolina at a beach house, we jumped at the chance. We spent a week in June at Kure Beach, just south of Carolina Beach outside of Wilmington. We had this rental house 100 yards from the ocean. Michael brought his hammocks and strung them up on the wrap around balconies. We certainly made ourselves at home.

In Adam's words, we were "on vacation to the beach!" Whenever we saw another family walking with their chairs across the street to the ocean, he would say, "Look, they are going on vacation to the beach, too!"

Adam, Jake and Lilly loved playing in the sand. They were rather disinterested in the ocean, which was fine with us. The water was a bit rough and it was safer on shore. We built sand castles and the boys drove their cars through and around them (and then later destroyed them). The boys loved playing in a giant hole dug out of the sand, and we discovered that the easiest way to entertain and happily keep Jake in one place for a good 30 minutes was just to bury him waist-deep.

We spent one day at the local aquarium, then took a ferry ride to have lunch on an nearby island. 

It was a lovely afternoon. Until it wasn't.

What do you get when your husbands cover your car in potato chips? A tourist attraction. Surely one of the many people taking pictures and video of the hilarity have it on YouTube by now.

We spent one cloudy day racing Go Karts and playing an indoor playground and one evening at the boardwalk riding rides and watching fireworks.

After Adam's recent experience at a local festival, he was all ready to try out the rides at the boardwalk. I was talking up the carousel, telling him he could ride a horse, or a kangaroo, or a seahorse, and he interrupted me and said, "or a bench!" And so he did. Thrill-seeker, he is not!

And in between all these activities, we were hanging out at the big yellow house, lazily swinging in hammocks, napping, lounging at the pool, and, yes, of course, eating. We loved the fresh seafood and the world-famous Britt's donuts. {We seriously had at least a dozen in the house at all times. I'd add a link to their website if they had one. While you YouTube our seagull attack video, you can look up Britt's in Carolina Beach. The menu is essentially donuts, water, soda and coffee -- really all you need for survival.}

Alas, all good things come to an end, and we were packing up and driving westward all too soon. It was an 11 hour drive for us, and the kids were amazing in the car (though we could use a bigger car).

Thanks to Kim and Josh for sharing your vacation with us, and thanks to the Kinchen's for all the fun (and free babysitting)! We really could get used to an annual trip there. {hint, hint}