goodbye earl.

{i totally stole the post title idea from lis. she mentioned it on facebook. love ya, girl!}

we took the kids to the beach today.  it seems like we've lived at sandbridge this summer {i mean, it's only a 15 minute drive for us}.  i suppose that is the beauty of having miles of coastline at your disposal. 

thanks to hurricane danielle's presence in the atlantic, the water was rough.  the undertow was strong & the rip currents were fierce.  i think the local news said over 100 rescues took place at the virginia beach oceanfront {a.k.a. the tourist trap} on saturday alone. 

today, the kids were only allowed to play in the shorebreak.  adam had lifeguard duty. 

despite the rough seas, we made the best of it.  the guys headed out & caught a few waves.  many games of corn hole were played.  sand castles were built.  chips & sodas were consumed.  and, as always, there were one or two meltdowns towards the end of our four hour visit.

on the way home, adam & i took the kids to margie & ray's for a late lunch.  yum, yum, yum.  the she-crab soup is ridiculously good.  it's not even a soup, it's more like a mousse.  {if you ever find yourself in my area of southeastern virginia & are craving good, reasonably priced seafood, please do yourself a favor and go to margie & ray's.  really.  you won't regret it.}

while we were eating lunch adam & i discussed our plans for labor day weekend.  we have been looking forward to one last summer camping trip with the kids & we already made reservations to stay at the n.p.s. site on ocracoke island, north carolina.  unfortunately, it looks like our beach weekend plans may be thwarted by this guy:

{source}

we have our fingers & toes crossed that earl stays far off shore & doesn't stall out off of the virginia/north carolina coast.  we are being optimistic and are hoping that we'll still be able to make it down to ocracoke island this weekend.  of course, those plans will only happen if there is no damage to the roads & there are not any travel restrictions like there were when hurricane isabel hit.  interestingly enough, that was the only other time our camping plans were ever canceled.  we planned on spending my birthday weekend in frisco, north carolina.  unfortunately, isabel showed up for the party.  we didn't make it down to hatteras island until the next year.

so, i guess i'll just stock up on water & batteries this week.  no matter what happens - whether we go camping or whether we're forced to stay home and ride out a hurricane - we'll need them.