OBX Baby!

For those of you that don't know- OBX stands for Outer Banks, NC. So I am finally getting around to blogging a little about our vacation. This was our 5th year going for a week at the end of summer. It is a 12 hour drive, at best, and yes that stinks. But the fact is, it is such a great place for a beach vacation. We get a great house, within walking distance of the beach, the beaches are not that crowded, the water is warm (compared to New England) and the waves are big and fun. So after the initial drive we really don't get in the car again until the end of the week when it is time to go home.

Because of Hurricane Bill the waves were pretty strong upon our arrival. We went to check out the surf at high tide around 10pm on the first night and the water was coming all the way up to the dunes. We have NEVER seen the water come up that high- crazy. Unfortunately this kind of surf means we have red flag days. Technically red flag means that you are not supposed to enter the surf at all- but that doesn't happen. So instead we kept the kids and ourselves to the shallow end. The kids didn't really care that were able to have fun sitting and getting swept "away" that way, and playing in the sand is pretty fun too. My pics aren't exactly in any kind of order- but it will give you a good idea.

Here is a video taken the first day or two- check out those waves..



Marc taking a break after digging a hole.
So tempting... but Neil resisted in the end.

We had fun sitting in the surf and letting the water come to us.


There is actually a whole funny series. First Jack and Justin sit at the edge. Then Neil joins them, then slowly Neil is sitting with all the kids. What really makes me laugh is Devin, who was the last to join the crowd, carefully chose his location directly behind Emma, calculating that she provided the best sheild if a big wave came. In the end he was right.


One of Jessica's favorite things to do...

All 6 kids creating a drip castle world.


By Tuesday the kids were so ready to go boogie boarding and yeah! no red flag. We bought real boogie boards for our kids this year and both of them were getting a good hang of it.




4 of the kids brought scooters this year to get to the beach. Half way through the week the Odells caved under peer pressure and picked up some for their kids. Emma was so psyched. Here they all are ready to conquer the trek!
Jack struggled a little in the beginning. There is more balance involved than you would think- and that is not Jack's strength. To Jessica's credit she stayed back with Jack to help encourage him and boost him up. My favorite moment was when Jack wiped out (ok that wasn't my favorite moment, just wait), he got up and said, "I think that was the first time I fell down and I didn't cry!" Jessica responded, "wow Jack you are getting more brave and better at the scooter at the same time." Very sweet.

You know we love the matchy thing- in the past we got matching swimsuits for the girls, but with Emma in women sizes now that wasn't going to work. So they got these matching "squirrel" nightgowns [ok, they are actually skunks but the tags said squirrel]