Last year when we went to the Outer Banks with our NC friends for a week, it was one of the most fun vacations we'd ever had! Still, when they started talking about the trip for 2018, we put our chances pretty low at making it again. 18+ hours is a long drive for a vacation, especially when we already drive the 20+ hours to Utah every summer! Then, when we found out we were expecting a baby mid-May, it made the early April beach trip seem even more unrealistic. However, we asked our friends to keep us in the loop as plans and arrangements were made. As the year went on, the trip just sounded more and more fun! Sure it was a super long trip, and sure I would be super pregnant and uncomfortable, but seeing our good friends again and getting to have a nice week of beach vacation with our family before adding another baby to the mix sounded like just what we needed! I talked to my OB and she felt that my pregnancy was going well and based on previous pregnancies, there was no real danger to going on the trip so we made up our minds to ignore the misery of the long, pregnant drive and just make it work!
We are so glad we did!! The beach trip this year, once again, did not disappoint, and we are now hoping we can make it work every year! We had so much fun and it was so nice to take that break with our family and spend time with good friends. The friends we went with were Wade and Krissy Sutton with their 3 kids, Jason and Lindsey McDonald with their 3 kids (both friends from our Fuquay Varina ward), and Lamont and Amanda Council with their 3 kids (friends of the Suttons but it's been so great getting to know them and build a friendship over the last 2 years!) Krissy had a baby 2 weeks before the trip and still came! It was very impressive and I'm not sure I would have, but we were glad they all still came!
We were even super blessed to have good weather for the trip! Going into the trip, the weather wasn't looking great. It was saying the whole week was supposed to be in the 50s. However, the week of, the weather changed and gave us a few days in the 60s. Those 60s days got even warmer and we ended up with several days that hit low 70s! I even have a nice sunburn to prove it! Our beach house had an outdoor heated pool, and I was very impressed with how well they kept it heated. Even on days when the wind was blowing and it was more chilly, the pool felt pretty warm. As an added bonus, we also had a hot-tub to warm up in when we needed! It was awesome!
We spent lots of time out on the beach enjoying the fresh ocean air, collecting shells, splashing in the icy water, digging in the sand, and chatting amongst friends. We also spent lots of time splashing and playing in the pool and hot tub. The kids were in water heaven!
Tuesday we went to Jockey Ridge State Park, which is a bunch of sand dunes. We played in the sand, enjoyed the sun, got in some good hiking from dune to dune, and flew some kites. I love how at the top of the highest dunes at Jockey's Ridge you can see the ocean on both sides of you. It's really beautiful! That afternoon, Jon, Katie, and Zach all crashed for naps and Colton and I went out to get some donuts. BUT the donut place was closed so we walked to a nearby ice-cream and snow cone place. It was fun to have a little mommy/son date!
One night the Council's offered to babysit for the rest of us and we all go to go out on a date. A couple of different times we went and got Duck Donuts- SO DELICIOUS!! In the evenings after kids were in bed, we had fun catching up, watching movies, or playing games. We played a couple different rounds of the newlywed game and it was hilarious! We were all laughing so hard it hurt! Jon and I both took turns doing a bit of shopping at the outlets, and we took our kids to a souvenir shop to buy tshirts to remember the trip! By luck, another good friend Shelly and her family were also vacationing in Nags Head that week so we were able to meet up and see them for a few minutes. Katie and her daughter Belle were best friends in NC and have been pen-paling over the last year. Me and Katie met them on the beach by their hotel. They were able to play for a few minutes but it was very cold that evening and Katie was feeling a little tired and a little shy so we didn't stay too long. It was still fun to see them though!
The drives to and from the Outer Banks were definitely the hardest part of it all, but we did our best to stop and stretch often and stay at hotels with pools so the kids could have some fun. It was also exciting because we drove through the DC area which has Cafe Rio's so I was able to have a delicious pork salad both for dinner one night on the way there and for lunch on the way back. Yumm!! Jon had a bad reaction to a caffeine pill he took to stay alert on the way to the beach that last over an hour. That was pretty un-nerving but thankfully it was over soon and he was ok! On the way back, google sent us through some back roads of Virginia through SUPER podunk areas with rundown shacks in the woods and one lane bridges over rivers. It was pretty, but also a little eerie.
Once again, it was a marvelous trip and we couldn't have asked for more! We are so glad we made it work!
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| Rest stop family photo. |
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| Rest stop in Maryland...or Pennsylvania...or West Virgina... |
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| Cafe Rio!! |
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| View from the beach house. |
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| The group! |
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| This picture cracks me up! |
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| First night at the beach! |
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| Jockey Ridge Sand Dunes |
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| Me & Lindsey |
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| 34 weeks Pregnant! |
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| Mommy/Son Date |
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| He was SO excited to go fishing! |
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| Running down the dunes.... |
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| Biffing it down the dunes... |
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| He LOVED this! Thanks to Jason McDonald for bringing his fishing gear! |
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| Most delicious donuts EVER! And no, didn't take a picture of the actual donuts because by time I thought of taking a picture I'd already eaten half!! Haha. |
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| Thank heavens for a hot tub when it was chilly out! Don't worry, I didn't stay in too long! |
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| Katie & Belle |
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| Krissy, Me, Lindsey |
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| Wade and Jon |
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| The kids out having fun on the beach while we were out on a date! |
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| He was being a seal :) |
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| Last night on the beach! |
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| Surprise (late) birthday cake for Jon and Lamont! |
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| Game nights! |
