Spring Break- Part 4

Easter at Oak Island! Part 4 of our Spring Break would take us to a new beach- the one right across from Bald Head- and we were excited to explore somewhere new. We took off on Good Friday morning driving down towards Southport. Because we wanted to eat at the Great Provision Company of course.

Whenever we head towards Bald Head, Brian always wants to stop on the way at Brunswick Town- one of the first colonial settlements in the area. It never works out. But on this particular trip- we threw him a bone and let him revel in a little NC history. The girls were very confused...where were we and why is there no roof on this church?

The area by the Cape Fear river was cool...

as was seeing the foundations and diagrams of some of the first houses ever built in our state. But as Collins pointed out- this was really "creepy town" because the settlement disappeared eventually and it was kind of spooky being out there on this historical trail by ourselves. Talk of ghosts and death started up, and we knew it was time to hit the road. Enough history for one day! :)

So we headed to sunny Southport where we ate seafood and ice cream. The beautiful weather surprised us because horrible storms were supposed to happen throughout NC that day.

We walked from lunch to quaint downtown to check out the Maritime Museum which was neat.

Then we hopped back into the car for the short trip to Oak Island. It was a pretty view from the bridge...

and an impressive distance to the ocean once we reached our beach house. But turns out there was also hurricane-force winds to deal with!  

Good thing two doors down, Luke spied this...

talk about a happy boy!

The wind kicked up some crazy ocean foam which was fun at first...

then just kind of gross!

Addie got silly and soaked herself right off the bat...

Donna and Marty got us a great house for the weekend!

Luke and I sat on the back steps and watched the storm roll in...

As predicted, it started pouring so we were forced inside. Good thing the basement came with some entertainment.

That Friday night we experienced one crazy storm. We watched the ocean advance right up to the edge of the beach house, and I'm not sure if the wind or the rain was more intense. It was a little unsettling going to sleep with all that turbulence outside, but thankfully the next morning we woke up to blue sky...

Brian found a cool trail that led through the marshes and up to a look-out point...

We explored a little...

then headed back to the beach house where Donna and Marty had set up an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. They were so excited...

 because Gigi hides some good treats in those super-sized eggs!

We wanted to climb the Oak Island lighthouse, but it wasn't possible until a couple weeks later. The lighthouse is located at the end of Oak Island on Caswell Beach.

There is Bald Head across the channel! You could see Old Baldy from where we were.

Back at the beach house, we tried to have a normal afternoon at the ocean. But man, was it COLD. We just could not catch a break with the weather. The wind was still blowing something fierce, and it was just not bathing suit weather as much as we wanted it to be.

Even in cute new matching bathing suits!

But we still played and pretended like it wasn't freezing cold outside...

These crazies even tried to get in the water...

 Collins has no fear (or nerves it appears)...

 Addie went about this far before bailing...smart girl!

 But we were lucky to be on a really quiet stretch of the beach, and it was quite pretty.

Oak Island has lots of houses on it and more commercialism than we are used to, but it also had some really scenic areas. We were pleasantly surprised by the island...

 Gigi always makes the kids a bunny cake, and they love helping her decorate it.

Look what we saw!

The kids were hoping the Easter Bunny would not forget them at the beach, and even decided to sweeten his deal by leaving him some special treats...after all, Santa gets some!

And at the last minute, they decided to test the Easter Bunny by adding two extra baskets for him to fill...because of course Charlotte and Winter (their American Girl dolls) needed Easter treats too! And if he did bring them something, it would prove that the Easter Bunny was real. Hard test for that bunny!

And turns out he passed the test! Easter morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine and five baskets full of Easter goodies... 

It was a beautiful and peaceful morning on the beach...

Being at the beach always makes me feel closer to God so that was special on Easter morning. We did not go to church that day which was disappointing, but being in his beautiful creation made it okay.

It was not easy to hold these girls back!

But once we let them loose, they loved digging into their baskets...and playing with their new toys.

Luke received not one but two turtles for Easter...and he looked quite cute carrying them both around.

Pop Pop and I managed to finish a whole puzzle while we were there...nice to have a partner this time!

Our Easter day was completely untraditional, but it was still very fun. We played putt putt! Luke participated in one hole then decided he was over it and dropped the golf ball in the geranium...

and moved on to more interesting things like this giant elephant. 

In a fun twist, Brian was challenged in the family golf outing by none other than his Mom! They ended up with a tie. Brian never loses in any athletic challenge, so go Donna!

After golf, we explored the end of the island...

 and then went back to see if the beach had warmed up anymore on our end.

 Unfortunately, no!

After digging some impressive holes, the girls gave up on the beach for the warmth of a shower and matching pj's with their American Girl dolls...

But don't you know then the darndest thing happened...the wind finally stopped blowing! And it was actually pleasant to be on the beach for the first time all weekend. Of course, now it was 5 p.m. on Sunday night at this point, but at least it finally happened. We broke out the soccer goal, the bean bag toss and cracked open some beers. This was what we had been waiting for!

 

Our plan for a seafood Easter dinner completely fell through when the fish store was closed so we opted for burgers on the deck. When we saw dolphins swimming in the ocean and the sunset starting to glow, we knew it had all worked out the right way. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and watched the sun set, and it was the neatest moment of our trip.

No fancy Easter clothes or Easter meal, but what a special way to spend the holiday!

And that ended our Spring Break! So glad we decided to see a new beach and enjoy the holiday together on Oak Island! Now back to reality and Raleigh...