Oak Island Beach Trip

We just got back from 6 wonderful days at the beach! We spent the first half of the week with just the 4 of us in Oak Island and the 2nd part of the week in Myrtle Beach with Daniel's mom. I removed the outtakes of shut eyes and blurs which left me with 240 usuable pictures! No one can ever say I didn't document these kids lives!

 

I'm going to break these pictures up into 2 post, Oak Island and Myrtle Beach.

 

In Oak Island, we did a whole lot of resting, sleeping and swimming. If you've ever been to Oak Island, you know there isn't a whole lot of things to do BUT the beaches are beautiful and the waves are perfect for body surfing, a hobby Parker grew quite fond of.

 

We got there around dinner time on Sunday, dropped our bags off and took a scooter ride to "walk on the beach"

I don't know what I was thinking because our "walk on the beach" turned into "swimming in our clothes".... and a cold scooter ride home!

After dance party in the outdoor shower, a family tradition at the beach house, we hit the sack early, expecting rough nights. The kids don't always sleep so great outside of our house BUT we were SO wrong (in oak island, that is!).... they slept AMAZINGLY well and we were up and ready to hit the beach the next morning!

 

Avery fed the seagulls most of our snacks to lure them in and then chased them away. Cruel.... but endless entertainment.

 

Parker ran straight into the ocean, supervised by Daniel. The waves were big but broke closely to the shore, perfect for toddler body surfing. Parker's body surfing closely resembled drowning so, no worries, one of us was always with him. He had the BEST time!





 

I love spending time with this sweet boy!

And this precious girl! (who will be wearing tutu bathing suits until she's 18 if I have anything to do with it!)

 

We buried Avery in the sand... best way to keep a ginger from burning!

We spent most of the day floating over the waves just past where they break. The kids loved floating in their puddle jumpers over the waves. Getting to that place was A LOT of work!

After a fun day at the beach, the kids just couldn't make the 5 house walk home!

Thanks for a great vacay, Oak Island! Next up! Myrtle Beach!

Oak Island - May Beach Trip

Last week the kids and I packed up and headed to the beach with my parents. They rented a house in Oak Island, NC a few weeks throughout the year and last week happened to be one of them. We were sure we'd have high 70's/low 80's and beautiful beach weather.... but... we got low/mid 60's and clouds. Boo. But, one thing is for sure, regardless of the weather, my kids will wear bathing suits and play in the sand, blue lips and all. Thankfully, we did get some sunny moments here and there and I got my fix of sandy toes and umbrella drinks. Daniel was supposed to meet us Thursday and stay through Sunday but since it was so windy and calling for rain, we just headed home to warmer weather and our own beds.

Waterwheel fun.... Best $1.50 I've spent in a long time.

We played on swings and scouted out places in the movie Safe Haven (filmed in Southport next to Oak Island). Sadly, I did not see Josh Duhamel.

We took the ferry to Fort Fisher and went to the NC aquarium. It is beautiful and we really enjoyed our time there.  Funny note about this picture.... my dad is smiling.... at an alligator trying to attack the lady cleaning its habitat and the other lady with a broom trying to keep it away from her. Probably not the safest way to clean glass... just sayin'.

No vacation would be complete without ice cream! Side note.... did that sedan park on the bumper of the SUV?! I just noticed that!

Playing at the park in Southport.

This crazy girl wanted to swim SO badly but the water was breathtakingly cold!

Chasing waves is a super fun game!

I love this iPhone picture of Avery!

A framer for sure!

Just us, some seagulls and a fisherman (from the town daniel grew up in! What are the odds?!)

 

A fisherman near us would call us over every time he caught something so the kids could touch it.

A hammerhead shark! It was pretty cool. I actually touched it and it felt like sand paper.

 

The pictures uploaded in a weird order but we're gonna roll with it. Despite the not so beachy weather, the kids had a wonderful time and I came back relaxed. Oak Island is a bit sleeper than I'm used to (I'm a Hilton Head snob) but I couldn't say nicer things about the residents of Oak Island and Southport. They are geniunely sweet people. It's a safe and clean beach that we look forward to going back to in late June. Fingers crossed for mid- 80's with a slight breeze! :)

Oak Island

I power blogged in September and have since dropped off the face of the earth! Sorry! I, once again, over committed myself with sewing orders and needed to complete 24 orders in 5 days.... which I didn't manage but I came close! I was time crunched because on Thursday morning the kids and I headed to Oak Island, NC with my parents for a long weekend. Daniel joined us late Friday night after work for a fun, family beach day Saturday.

We had never been to Oak Island and were pleasantly surprised with how pretty the beach was. The sand was clean and there were pelicans and dolphins everywhere! It was really wonderful for the kids. I was worried that the kids would time out quickly on the beach but they proved me wrong by staying on the beach from 10 to 3:45 on Saturday! The town was quaint but a bit sleeper than we're used to. Thankfully, we were looking for R&R anyways so it worked out.

Speaking of rest... little miss slept fantastic on Thursday night, terribly Friday night and for 2 hours Saturday night. The only way to keep her from crying was to hold and sway her so I held her and swayed her from 10:30pm to 4am so she wouldn't wake everyone up. I'd sway her to sleep, lay her in the pack n play and she would immediately scream. WHEW. Eventually I got so desperate, I curled up in the pack n play with my feet hanging over the side. She laid on my chest for an hour sleeping and I spent the 2nd hour sitting up in the pack in play with her curled next to me like a cat. It pretty much sucked but I now understand why kids hate pack n plays and probably won't bother bringing one next time. You would think she would have slept the whole way home... not so much. 1 hour.... Vacationing with kids is really more like changing scenery for a few days because I usually come home needing a vacation from vacation. During the day was SO fun.. the night... not so much.

We toured the island and really enjoyed playing at the inlet during low tide. Parker was in his element making endless tracks in the sand for Thomas and Percy to forge while Avery ran the beach and met new doggie friends. The beach was dog friendly so A was in heaven! A fishing tournament was going on while we were there and apparently sharks liked the bait used to catch spanish mackerel. The fishermen would slit the sharks they caught and throw them back in so Saturday morning the shore line was covered in dead sharks. As morbid as it sounds (and it really is sad) it was so national geographic to touch and get up close to the sharks. Parker kept shhing us.... apparently they were napping. Sweet, innocent boy!

Daniel and I went on a dinner date Saturday in our Clemson spirit wear. Thankfully, we ate with the senior citizens so we were home in time to watch the most exciting parts of the game! So proud of my Tigers!

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend on a beautiful beach. It's always fun to explore new places but it's also wonderful to be home in my own bed (and Avery's own crib!).