A look back...

This is the final post about our vacation, just a few last photos and then it's back to reality!  Once again, we just have to thank my parents for inviting us to enjoy OBX with them.  It was such a delight to see the ocean through K & T's eyes. We are all still talking about it, especially K & T.  Just last week K told the librarian at story time that she has a new beach house (they were talking about construction).  And while we were driving last weekend with the kids we were headed up a steep hill that we couldn't see over the top of.  T shouted from the back, "the beach is right there!"  and he pointed ahead to the sight line.  We were nowhere near the beach, but it's so neat that he remembered how he felt seeing the beach just ahead.  If only it was so close. We look forward to years of vacations ahead with the kids, and certainly there will be lots of beaches in the future.

K can always find a cozy spot to play on the ipad.  The kids spent many minutes during the week spinning these blue chairs.  

What a cutie in Nana's hat.

Auntie Emma & T watched several movies together during the week.  Aladdin quickly became a new favorite. 

K loved collecting shells with Nana, letting the waves lap at her feet and was very content to build in the sand. 

This beach baby could dig in the sand all day long!  He liked looking for shells and being able to run back and forth from our set up of chairs and towels to the ocean as often as he wanted. I just love him in a baseball hat!

We let K in on this house secret earlier in the week, but waited until the last day to show T.  Our house had an elevator!  It was disguised behind a door that look like a closet, so it was easy to not tell.  On our last day in the house we rode in it a few times, the kids were so much fun to watch explore this new mode of transportation!

Check out those grins!

These large Adirondack chairs are all over OBX.  Of course we had to stop for a picture one afternoon!

T & I made up this little game that kept him busy for a couple of hours over the week.  He would drop him Army guys from this landing and try to get them in the bucket.  He had a ball!  (The elevator is just behind the door on the left).

My dad loves to read, and on one afternoon, K climbed up with a story for him to read to her.  He was more than happy to put his own book down to oblige her. Thanks Papa!

Can you find T?  Yep, he's hidden behind the ipad on this comfy chair.

K took a big step during the week and choose to sleep in a big girl bed.  The first couple of nights she slept on the toddler mattress that we had borrowed for the trip.  One day she asked if she could sleep in one of the other beds for her  nap and she never went back.  She's growing up so fast! 

After packing up and driving through the night home, this was T with about two hours left in the trip.  Who knew that bink would be gone in less than a week from this picture.  He's growing up quickly too.  The kids both did really well on the return trip home.  Between sleeping and watching movies they seemed very content and cozy in the back.

This is K about that same two hours from home point.  Still a beauty after being in the car for ten hours already.  Baby looks great too.  :)

To wrap up from the kids' wish list:

Looked for mermaids, check.
Bought pirate hats, check.
Dug in the sand and looked for shells, check.
Played in the ocean water, check.
Played in the sand with Papa and built sandcastles, check
Looked for crabs in the sand, check

Still need to:

do flips off a rock
see dolphins
ride on a camel
look for Jake & the Never Land Pirates

I asked the kids what their favorite things were about the beach:

K says she liked walking in the water on the beach.  She liked digging in the sand, and playing at the beach.  She also liked eating at the beach house, and floating by herself in the pool.

T says he liked swimming at the pool in the airplane, digging at the beach with a shovel and looking for crabs.  He also liked looking for shells with Nana and watching movies in the car.

We are counting down the days until our next vacation!