Vacation: Friday

Its to that point now, at 11pm Friday evening, when I'm sad that vacation is almost over but glad to be going home to sleep in my own bed. Looking forward to starting my new job full-time on Monday, and getting to see my church family, as I have missed them so much the past two Sundays!

One of the highlights of our trip was the restaurant we ate at this evening. It is called Pamlico Jacks. The food and atmosphere were amazing, wonderful service, and a real live Pirate :) Pirate Jack posed for a picture with the kids and shared some stickers with them. He stood and talked with them in his pirate jargon for quite a while, and even gave them all a big hug when we left. They were on the top of the world :)

We will definitely visit that restaurant the next time we're in the Outer Banks!

Enjoy these pictures from our Friday in the Outer Banks! I'll post again when we're back in Maryland!

I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of her :)

I mean, how can you resist that face?

I've posted lots of pictures of the back of our house, since

that is what we saw most often coming back from the beach

and pool, but here is the front...pretty cool house :)

The moon was so bright tonight!

What an amazing artist our God is!

Yes, I took another picture of this view today :)

And finally, the kids with Pirate Jack. As you can see,

Noah was quite intrigued by him!

Vacation: Monday - Thursday

I've been either too tired or too busy having fun to post since Sunday, so I'll just cram Monday thru Thursday into this post.

 We've been having a lot of fun in the ocean and pool the past few days. With those two things right in our backyard we haven't had to travel far from the beach house too much.....although Eli wanted McDonald's for lunch today, so we did travel out for that. So, other than a few small shopping trips we have stayed occupied here at the house! Going out for Seafood for dinner tomorrow! (The pics are slightly mixed up and out of order. Sorry!)

                     Tuesday was Jaime's Birthday, so my Grandma made her cake!

Leanna gets to bathe in the sink :)

                                            She is waaayyyy too cute!

                                  Jaime trying desperately to fly a kite :)

                                     Trying to take a nap on the beach in her snuggli
                                ....if Aunt Kristin would stop taking pictures!

Why yes, I would like to see this from my living room window every day!



Vacation: Saturday and Sunday

I was planning on a nice long post telling everything we did the first day and a half of vacation, but my computer battery is about to die, and my charger has already died :( I'm going to have to find a Radio Shack tomorrow so I can buy a new charger. So, with the small amount of power my computer has left I'm going to upload some pictures from Saturday and Sunday! Enjoy!

 View from our deck

                                                             She found her toes :)

The back of our house

A Stress Free Week.....

....doesn't always start out stress free! I guess I never realized how hard it is to get a house ready to 'not be lived in for a week'.

Cleaning food out of the fridge so you don't have a stinky house when you get back, doing all family member's laundry so they can pack, finding someone to feed the cat and get the mail (and dad had to ask a friend to start up the furnace in the case of extreme cold weather, which I wouldn't doubt around here), etc. etc. All the while trying to pack your own suitcase and not forget your toothbrush!

I'm realizing now how much stress and work is put on the woman of the house in times like these. Mom wasn't kidding when she would say, "Vacation is too much work!" I really should have helped her out more.

However, tomorrow morning at approximately 5am the stress will end, and we will be headed to the Outer Banks for a week.

Its really bitter sweet; Mom was so looking forward to this vacation! A  huge beach front house, hot tub, heated pool, elevator in the house (how cool is that? :) )....and did I mention its a huge house about 50 feet from the beach? :-)

One minute I'm kind of excited, and the next I'm in tears refusing to go because I don't want to go without Mom. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes once we get there.

Anyway, check back here for pictures and updates during the next week! I'll have lots more time to post and have lots of nice 'make you jealous of where I am' kind of pictures :)

I'll start with this one: