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.

There's No Place Like Home

We're back! What a fun weekend we had...the weather could not have been more perfect for camping. Well, except for the gusty winds yesterday evening and last night, but I'm not complaining!

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend camping in Buxton, NC. We were treated to not one, but THREE firework displays that we could see all from the comfort of our campsite. We didn't have to deal with parking, traffic or seating and the kids didn't need to cover their ears from the noise. It was perfect!

We are a bit sad & shocked, however. We spent Saturday on Ocracoke Island and unfortunately tragedy struck:

FIREWORKS TRUCK EXPLODES ON OCRACOKE

We didn't know anything about the explosion at all until THIS morning during our drive home when a family member texted me to see if we were OK because she knew we were down that way. We are sad for the lives lost and we are truly blessed that we somehow missed all of the commotion and chaos - considering we were on the beach at the northern end of the island shortly after the explosion took place. Because we don't necessarily pay attention to the time while were at the beach, we are guessing that we were on the ferry headed TO Ocracoke when the accident happened. In true Ocracoke fashion, the community has rallied together and is paying tribute to the people who lost their lives:

MEMORIAL PARADE HELD ON OCRACOKE FOR WORKERS KILLED IN EXPLOSION

In other sad news, I killed my camera. :( Thank goodness I have my "old" camera still...although now I'm trying to convince the hubs that I NEED a new camera. You know, one that is, hmmm, waterproof and can withstand the fall from a bathing suit top into a small tide pool at the beach. Yeah, I need a camera like that. Perhaps in pink, but I'm not picky about color. *wink, wink*

I will have pictures and a proper recap posted...right now the mountain of laundry in the laundry room is calling my name.

I hope that everyone had a safe & wonderful holiday weekend...tomorrow it's back to the daily grind! Oh, how I love a 3-day weekend...I wish all weekends were that way!

Life's A Beach...

At least it seems that way for us during the summer months!

1. US, 2. The rainbow that greeted us at camp, 3. The girls, 4. The boys, 5. The beauty that is low tide, 6. Just us and the pelicans, 7. And not a single one of them pooped on us!, 8. Coquina, 9. Digging to China?, 10. The Little Mermaid, 11. One more beach trip before we head home, 12. A & M enjoying the beach on Sunday, 13. On the ferry back to Hatteras

Although we only live about 10 minutes from {OUR} oceanfront, we find that we spend more & more time on the beaches of North Carolina. Cape Hatteras National Seashore is one of our favorite places to visit and we cannot get enough of it's beauty! The seashore is close to home, yet far enough from home to make it a relaxing getaway.

We had a wonderful weekend in Ocracoke. We're covered in skeeter bites {a special kind of skeeter lives down there...Off doesn't even scare them}, but we still had a great time. The weather was perfect despite the thunderstorm during our ferry ride from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island. We played on the beach all day and slept hard in our tent at night.

We've managed to stay & play at all four National Park Service campgrounds found along the Cape Hatteras seashore...and we're looking forward to heading back down again - this weekend - for some more fun in the sun!