Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A short jaunt to the beach

Cale had to travel to Virginia for business and we all tagged along with the promise of a weekend at the beach in between him working. We headed out early two Saturdays ago to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Our first family vacation at the beach was a rousing success! Warning: lots of pictures to come!

This is where we stayed: First Colony Inn. We have nothing but good things to say about this place! We loved the relaxed, retro atmosphere and all the special touches they had to make you feel welcome. It's a historic inn and had so much character! Nothing fancy, but very relaxing and laid back.

It is hard to see in this picture, but Haven was thrilled that we found a tiny purple starfish on the beach. One of our many treasures we found.

This picture is one of my favorites. It totally captures my girl! I couldn't see the screen of the camera for many of these pictures and this is one that turned out despite me! I'm so glad it did.

Hanging out on the porch of the Inn after eating some delicious seafood right on the beach.

This is our poor attempt at a family photo. We were all swinging on a swing on the porch. Sadly, this was the best one, but I wanted proof that I was there, too!

My two favorite people, goofing around on the beach. Cale really wanted to take this little trip because he knew Haven would love the beach. He couldn't have been more right. These two had so much fun together! I had fun, too, but I mostly sat in a beach chair and read!

Haven tried her hand at flying a kite and did pretty well til the 20 mph winds proved too strong for our $2.99 Sesame Street kite. It was fun while it lasted though!




On Sunday, we went to the Roanoke Island Festival Park. It was a great place to spend a few hours when we needed a break from the beach. They had a full size replica of a ship the English came to the area on, a settlement camp we could visit, a hands on museum of the island's history and an art gallery. Haven thought these people were funny!


We got to tour the entire ship and see what life would have been like for the 40 men aboard. Haven was impressed that they had checkers to play below deck.


We made one more stop at the beach before we headed back to Virginia. I LOVE this picture. And I LOVE the people in it! I promise it's not staged, either! Cale was just sitting like this and Haven went up and put her arms around him (and I was so glad I had my camera near by to capture it.)


Cale bought a boogie board to use, but it turned out to be the perfect size surf board for Haven. Right after I took this picture I got to see dolphins jumping in the water right behind them. Of course I tried to signal to Cale to turn around and look but he didn't understand what I was saying. At the same moment pelicans were fishing for some lunch and I felt like I was watching my very own nature show!

And this was the face of the girl when we left the beach. This was actually the third time she broke down, but the first time we were able to capture it on film. So sad! I would say that this picture is all the proof we need that we had a great time!

2 comments:

Marisa said...

great pictures! Those are the kind you cherish! Glad you had a great time!

rachelwing128 said...

That was an excellent re-cap of your vacation. Glad you had a good time! And your pics are great! :) Looking forward to seeing you at recipe club.