Summer Beach Trip Time

The first couple weeks of summer vacation came and went in a flash, and before we knew it was the end of June. Time for our first beach trip! We were excited and ready for a trip to Wrightsville, but were uncertain how things were going to work out. The Forks had their house for two whole weeks, but unfortunately Brian had a major trial scheduled right in the middle of it. And the Williams were also scheduled to come out from Colorado to join us for a week. We decided we'd just see how things played out and make the best of them.

Brian was there for the first weekend so we relished those fun moments with him and just enjoyed the beach...

It had been awhile since Luke had seen the ocean, and he was very uncertain of it at first. But quickly realized it was fun.

 This boy and his smile charms me so!

After about three days of beaching it, the kids were over it and wanted to hang out at the beach house. They love the beach house...

But we would convince them to put on their bathing suits and sunscreen and go outside...once they were there of course they did not want to leave.

Does Collins not look about 16 here?!? C, stop growing up!

Love, love, love this picture of them!

 Collins "flossing" in the ocean (this dance is all the rage with the elementary school set)...

The girls got to be very close over the summer and played happily together this whole trip too...warms my heart so to see them so sweet with each other.

We switched things up from the beach with a little swim in Lollipop Cove...

And Donna scored big with this purchase..because who would not a giant double slip-n-slide with a little pool at the end? This was one of the kids' favorite parts of our Wrightsville trip. They'd beg me to set it every day and would play happily for a long time...

Finally, I had to give it a try because it looked so darn fun, and I remember loving them when I was little. Collins and I would have races down them (of course she won), and it was totally fun splashing and sliding. BUT my abs totally felt it the next day...does that make me old??

Once the weekend was over, Brian had to go to Greensboro for the trial and everyone was sad. But we tried to make the best of it. Collins decided she wanted to go back to Raleigh and participate in her swim meet since she had missed the last one because she was sick. It seemed a little crazy to drive four extra hours to go to a swim meet, but if it was important to her then I'd take her. Addie and Luke stayed with Donna and Marty.

The cool thing about this swim meet was that we swam against Seven Oaks- Bennett's team!

It was hot, and the Dolphins got crushed (apparently Seven Oaks is a powerhouse swim team) but Collins was happy she had done it. The next morning (on the 4th of July) we headed back down to the beach (without Brian). It was really upsetting that he had to miss the holiday because of work.

But we had a gorgeous day and made the best of it...

 Donna made a delicious rib dinner and the girls helped decorate a festive dessert...

Collins embraced sparklers this year (last year they were scary)!

I was confused when I didn't see official fireworks planned for the town of Wrightsville Beach. Bummer, right? But then once the sun set and I had put Addie and Luke to bed, Collins and I soon found out why. We heard the first fireworks starting to go off and decided to chase them down by bike. We eventually found them at the cove...

It was amazing! They were being shot off from all over the cove, and we could see them far off in the distance ALL OVER THE PLACE! Watching those fireworks blast off over the water was the coolest thing I had seen in a long time. But Collins got scared...they were really close!

She wanted to go back to the beach house, and that was neat too because from there you could see fireworks being shot off on all points of the island- from the beach, from the end of the island, from the marina. It was a 360 degree view of constant firework explosions that lasted probably over an hour. Who needs an official town display when amateurs all over the island did it way better? It was the coolest July 4th display I'd ever seen...if only Brian had been there to see it with me. He would have loved it.

The next morning we woke up to a "bow" as Luke called it...

and then decided to head south towards Carolina Beach and the Fort Fisher aquarium. The kids loved it! Luke had been before but was definitely seeing it for the first time. We had a great time, and then finished up the morning with lunch at our favorite K38. 

More beach time...sorry, so many beach photos but that's what happens when you are there for 11 whole days!

Love these fishing images at the dock...and look at Luke learning to scooter!

One day we swam at the end of the island just to mix things up...it was fun watching boats going by.

Then there was Addie's half birthday...we forgot again! After we forgot Luke's half-birthday cone, I thought for sure we'd remember Addie's, but not so much. We made it up to her with a big cone from Kohl's and obviously she was happy to be 4 1/2...

 

My children really like ice cream...

 Luke's favorite part of our beach vacation was undoubtedly the outdoor shower...

 it was the highlight of his day!

Collins's favorite part of our vacation was the slip n' slide, and I'm pretty sure Addie's favorite part was the mini golf! This was our first time playing at Wrightsville, and the kids were all in because it's part of an arcade/water park that they thought was super cool...

Then to our amazement, Addie hit a hole in one! If you would have seen her stroke, you would have been amazed too. :)

Back at the ranch, more slipping and sliding...

and how lucky were we to be there on consecutive Thursdays so Luke got to see the trash truck TWICE??

Our final day there, we decided to check out the new Gnome exhibit at the Airlie Gardens. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids where they had to find 10 different hand-painted gnomes across the entire garden. We finally found all ten (despite many complaints on so much walking), and they were all really cool! They each had a different theme, and it was fun to discover a new one as we traversed the park.

 

Later that day, Gigi gave the girls a present she had been saving for them...matching maxis. They were thrilled and looked so cute in them. There was a third matching one for Lexi too, but unfortunately the Williams ended up not being able to come after all. It was really disappointing because the girls (Collins especially) were so looking forward to playing with "the cousins". I hated they couldn't come, but a lot of things on this trip did not work out the way they were supposed to. Brian only got to come on the weekends, and it was hard for everyone. But Donna, Marty, and I got some great quality time with the kids, and it was very relaxing. Plus we had beautiful weather and got to do some really neat activities together.

 For example, I let Addie stay up late one night to see her first sunset!

The trip wasn't exactly what we hoped it would be, but it was special all the same. We made some great memories at Wrightsville Beach the summer of 2018. This long blog post is proof of that!