We were itching to get ourselves to the beach! A few summer weeks went by, and we were counting down the days till Wrightsville and finally...
Addie did not like the beach last year. but it was like she was seeing it for the first time this year. She felt the sand in amazement and loved splashing (and soaking herself) in the waves.
But as the week wore on, we learned that Addie would start out really happy at the beach and it would downgrade quickly...she lasted about an hour tops each time. But on the positive side, how cute did she look in her suits?
We were so so glad to see this guy off crutches at the beach. It was wonderful to watch him walk normally and hold Collins's hand. Unfortunately, he did have to work most of the time while we were there on his big case, but he took breaks to see us and hang out.
Addie tried and succeeded in getting sand in every crevice...
I love these next two pictures of Collins...how beautiful and grown up does she look here??
Addie did not sleep well at the beach which was no fun, but I used her early rising to my advantage. We took some BOB runs first thing in the morning and got to enjoy pretty scenery like this.
The buckets were a hit at the beach...
The bucket bath was a favorite of Collins, but NOT of Addie. Let's just say I won't ever forget her blue bath tub again- cleaning her was torture!
Did I mention there was a heat wave across North Carolina during our beach week? Thank goodness we had the ocean breezes to cool us down because the heat was rough...one morning when there wasn't much breeze we had to take cover in the shade and blow bubbles.
Collins thought it was cool when I showed her how to draw letters in the sand with her toes. I thought it was cool when she drew an "F"- I didn't know she knew that letter yet!
So Gigi managed to find a "Frozen" fishing wand. She is really good at hunting down all things "Frozen". Collins was excited to put it to use and caught five fish using her first real fishing rod! We were so proud of her.
Her second round of fishing netted another fish! She had a hard time understanding why she had to throw the fish back in- she wanted to catch it for us because she knows we like to eat fish for dinner. So sweet. :)
Once the weekend crowds left, it felt like we had the beach to ourselves...
So I got down to the beach on my first solo trip and was closing my eyes to rest a bit when I heard someone scream, "shark"! Talk about jerking you out of relaxation...it was really freaky. Everyone jumped out of the water and gathered at the edge of the water watching the sharks. I had to take a look, too. I saw two gray sharks, about four feet long, swimming right where the water breaks. Given the recent shark attacks close by, this was really scary to see. Good thing my girls have just as much fun swimming in the tidal pools because they were not getting back into that water anytime soon!
Several nights after the girls went to bed, I set off for a sunset bike ride armed with my camera. It was so much fun hunting down these views...
Later in the week, Collins discovered a boogie board in the closet. She did nothing but "boogie" from there on out...
So happy we managed to capture one good family picture!
Addie had a weird obsession with her swim diapers on the trip and insisted on wearing them outside of her clothes the majority of the time. Here's the look she went with for one cocktail hour...
Pop Pop and Collins squared off in a pre-bed soccer game...I liked how Collins competed in her princess nightgown.
We had beautiful (although hot) weather the entire week...until the last day. And then we had the storm of all storms- we are talking swaying palm trees, hail, and a huge dump of rain that lasted hours. Our poor tent didn't make it. But I did get some cool shots after the storm.
We had such a good week...and I didn't even mention the ice cream, the fried shrimp, the tacos, and the shrimp and grits! Many thanks to Donna and Marty for a fabulous vacation!
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