obx vacation

Vacation is our favorite thing! We just came back from an incredible trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and we are so sad it's over. We spent a week at a beach house in Salvo with Dallin's family, Harper and Hunter's: Grammy Eccles, Uncle PJ, Aunt Kelly, cousins Brynn, Tyler, Dylan, Kate, Uncle Gavin, Uncle Travis, Aunt Rachel, and cousins Austin, Jessica, and Lauren. That's eight adults and nine children in one house for seven days: a recipe for disaster? Not at all! We had an absolute blast, from beginning to end. Here is a recap in pictures:

Dallin, Harper, Hunter, and I drove down to the Outer Banks, which is about a 14 hour drive from where we live.  I was a little nervous about our little Hs in the car for that long, especially with sweet Harper in the middle of potty-training.  Thank goodness for Dallin's expert planning and mapping; he identified some really fun pit stops along the way, to help break up the trip for the kiddos and to maintain everyone's sanity!

Excited to arrive at the Beardsley Zoo!

Little Hs, coming through!

Our first stop was the Beardsley Zoo in Connecticut.  With Harper's fear of many animals, we weren't exactly sure how they experience would be, but all the reviews of the zoo indicated it was perfect for small children.  Thank goodness, they were right!  We rented a double wagon and tooled around the zoo, looking at different birds, bison, wolves, otters, turtles, flamingos, a leopard, tiger, and alligator--oh my!  The coolest animal we saw by far were the bison; absolutely massive with their cute, bushy hair.  Harper loved the flamingos too, but the biggest hit of the zoo for Harper was the carousel.  After warming up to the carousel concept earlier in the summer, she was beyond excited to go for a ride with Daddy.  After Hunter's upset tummy from the carnival carousel on the 4th of July, we decided to watch Harper and Daddy from the sidelines.  To Hunter, that was just as fun.  It was hard to say goodbye to the zoo and get back in the car, but thankfully the beach house was pretty great motivation!

Carousel ride!  Harper was thrilled to ride the white tiger.

What's YOUR wingspan?

Are you as tall as a tiger?

The next leg of our journey was ridiculously long, which was NOT part of the plan.  There was an insane amount of traffic through New Jersey and New York, which tacked hours and hours on to our journey.  Thankfully, we made it to a very cool park outside Philadelphia just as we were reaching our limit in the car.  One of the neat features about the park that Dallin scouted is that the whole park is handicap accessible!  It was really special to see a city park that could truly be enjoyed by all.  Hunter was relieved to play in the grass and enjoy the fresh air while drinking his bottle.  Harper, on the other hand, loved swinging, sliding, and getting her sillies out.  After the park, we had dinner at one of our favorite spots: Five Guys.  How comforting that some things stay the same, no matter what city you find yourself in!  With full bellies, we got back on the road.

After that, we had another long stretch of driving before we reached our stop for the night in Chesapeake, Virginia.  Those last few hours were tough, and we were all feeling a little delirious when we finally made it to our hotel.  It was around 2:00am when we arrived, and so the kids had been asleep for several hours at that point--just long enough to feel rested enough to perk right up!  So we got them into the bath, and then tried to get them settled again.  Hunter and mommy crashed on the pull-out sofa, while Harper and Daddy snuggled in the bed.  As usual, Hunter was up at dawn so it wasn't our most restful night ever.  But we were glad to have had any sleep at all, and we were even more glad to know that we only had a few more hours on the road until we were in North Carolina!

Little H, Big Sharks

Since our beach house was not going to be ready until 4:00pm, we met Aunt Kelly, Uncle PJ, and cousins Brynn, Tyler, Dylan, and Kate at the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island.  It was a small aquarium so we were able to see the whole thing within an hour, which worked perfectly with our timeline.  Dallin and I thought that the coolest feature was the shark tank, and Harper got right up close to take a peek at the sharks.  Another neat exhibit at the aquarium was a sea turtle rescue lab, where we were able to look at some of the large sea turtles that were being taken care of while they healed from various injuries, at which point they would be released back to the ocean.  Of course, Harper's favorite feature was the tidal pool--just as it was at the New England Aquarium here in Boston--where she could touch the rays.  Marine life really intrigues this little girl!

Rebel rebel

Cousin story time!
Lauren reading to little H

We were all so excited and relieved when we finally arrived at our beach house!  Our house was on the sound side, though we were so close to the beach.  We alternated between the beach and the pool in the backyard each day, sometimes doing both.  There was a large pool but also a smaller, toddler pool--which was absolutely great for our little Hs.  Harper got a bit too close to the pool on our first day and tumbled in, after which time she felt afraid of the big pool and kept to the little pool.  She was also not a fan of the massive waves at the beach, and the loud crashing sound as they hit the sand further drove home her fear.  What can we say, she isn't always the boldest girl.  That being said, she still had a blast splashing about in the toddler pool with her cousins, and she loved playing in the sand and building sand castles at the beach.  Perhaps Harper and Hunter's favorite part about vacation was being able to spend so much quality time with family.  Their cousins were so sweet with them, so gentle and loving.  It was really special to see the kids playing sweetly together.  How we wish we could do this all the time!

Our favorite spot:
The Village Conery

Other highlights of the trip included: celebrating Dallin's 32nd birthday with a homemade Mountain Dew cake; training for my upcoming 10K with some great runs in the hot hot sun; making family tee-shirts; trips to the local ice cream shop; building sandcastles with Grammy Eccles; watching the sun set; family walks; races in the pool; playing card and board games; and collecting shells on the beach.

Kate and Harper enjoying a sweet treat!

We took turns making and cleaning up from dinner each night, which worked out really well, as far as spreading out the meal and cleaning responsibilities so that everyone contributed.  With so many fun activities to enjoy and so much good food to eat, it seemed like the week passed far too quickly.  The weather was amazing too, with only one big storm while we were there--which was also kind of exciting to experience for a few hours.  On our last evening, we had the opportunity to take a few special family photographs to document our fun week in the sun:

Bros

All smiles--Hunter splashing with Grammy Eccles

The last time we were in the Outer Banks with Dallin's family, I was pregnant with Harper.  In fact, it was the week before I found out that I was expecting a little girl!  So it was special to return, with Harper now nearly three years old and with Hunter coming up on one year old as well.  What a difference a few years makes! It was definitely a different type of "vacation" this time around, with two small children scurrying about.  It was really an amazing time.  The kids loved the sand, the water, and most of all, their time with family.  We always have such a great time together, and we always come away wishing that we didn't all live so far away so that it could be this way all the time!  Time to buy a beach house?  Maybe!

After the family photos, Harper decided it was absolutely necessary to wade into the ocean with her dress on--and eventually decided that she didn't need her dress at all.  I think she was excited to finally be on the sound side beach, where there were no loud, crashing waves.  If only we had gone to that beach earlier in the week, maybe she would have actually gone swimming at the beach!

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone on Saturday morning!  Unfortunately, in addition to all the fun times, our kids also picked up some sickness during the vacation week.  The night before we left, Hunter came down with croup, and let's just say that things went from bad to worse.  Driving fourteen hours with sick, crying kids is pretty brutal.  Suffice to say that the return trip wasn't as fun and carefree as the drive down, making stops for Infant Tylenol as we went.  Never have we felt so happy to get home!  And to attempt to get healthy again…  Goodbye for now, OBX!  We miss you already.

Lunch break at Sonic is enough to make everyone smile!

Sick, sleepy little H

Little man is ready for his Tylenol