Vacation 2014

Our annual "family" vacation took place this year on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Seventeen people (10 adults, 7 kids ranging from age 4-10) gathered in one large house. Close-knit friendships spanning years--decades in some cases. It's been an annual tradition for a while now. Typically, we gather for a long weekend. This was the first time in five years that we've gotten together for a full week. Loved being surrounded by these wonderful friends for a full week--and the boys loved being around all their honorary aunts, uncles, and cousins!

 The guys who started it all

Water activities were the theme of the trip. A quick walk (or drive, depending on how much stuff you needed to carry!) got us to the beach. A pool in backyard satisfied water adventures with the benefit of no sand :)

 Owen in the huge hole the kids all dug on the beach

Doing his best impersonation of a beached whale??? Regardless, this kid LOVED the sand and was typically covered head to toe, thus necessitating a full body hose-down outside when we got back to the house.

Brennan has always been a reluctant swimmer. He loves the water, but we struggle to get him out of the 2-foot area. Until now. I think watching the other kids swimming helped build his confidence because he quickly took to the water like a water bug! He spent hours (no joke) in the pool paddling and floating his way around. So proud of this little dude!

We took some time to do some sightseeing while we were there. We visited Jockey's Ridge State Park one morning for some kite flying and dune hiking. This park boasts the tallest sand dunes on the East Coast. A popular activity is kite flying. Once we got to the top of one of the dunes (hiking up a sand dune is not as easy as you might think), we pulled out our kites and let them soar.

Our second stop was the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Models of their early aircraft

Owen and Julia listening to "beautiful music" (as Julia described it) in the gift shop

The actual memorial located on the top of the hill where they did thousands of glider flights prior to the first powered flight

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was our final touristy stop. It's the tallest lighthouse in the U.S., and we climbed all 257 steps up to the top. Spectacular views and great exercise to boot!

Me and my honey at the top of the lighthouse. It was a bit breezy :)

Finally, a few random shots to cap off the week:

Ladderball with Aunt Kate

Corn hole with the guys

A fun feature of the house was an arcade game that the kids (and adults!) got plenty of use out of.

We were able to catch a couple of pretty spectacular sunsets on the Pamlico Sound side of the island.