Saturday, November 3, 2012

OBX 2012

I really love that a trip to the Outer Banks is a part of our fall traditions.  And we love going to the beach with our friends the Prietos!  We always have such a good time.  This year was a little different because we went at the very beginning of September and it was still very warm.  We usually go sometime in October so it was nice to still have lots of sun and somewhat warm water. 


We headed out on a Friday evening.  We met up with the Preito's for some southern BBQ and fried chicken.  It's a totally unhealthy meal but somehow a perfect way to start a beach trip.  Kaitlyn fell asleep on the road after dinner but Kinsey stayed up until we were about 20 minutes from the beach  house.  We got in around midnight and got the girls settled in their beds. We got up the next morning, had breakfast, and headed out to play!

I had heard that the beaches were closed earlier in the week because of dangerous rip currents, but luckily they had opened back up.  They were definitely still an issue though.  These signs were posted up and down the beach and we saw lots of lifeguards patrolling the beach on four wheelers and there were Coast Guard planes flying overhead.


 Our trusty beach crew

The waves WERE crazy.  I think we all had a wipe out at some point.  Mine came while I was holding Kaitlyn's hand and we both got knocked over. 
  


Happy girls
   

 


We had snacks, jumped the waves, played in the sand, and then headed in for dinner.
 

I thought it would be fun to celebrate Kinsey's birthday at the beach.  We went the weekend after her birthday so I saved her family dinner and gifts for then.  She requested pizza quesadillas (again) and chocolate cupcakes with a cherry on top.  Easy enough!
 





We decided to go to the outlet mall the next morning.  Neither Metta nor I are big shoppers (for full priced items anyway) and we had all 3 girls with us so we didn't last long.  It started raining like CRAZY while we were shopping and we were glad we had saved the beach for the afternoon. 


Cute Kaitlyn getting a ride to our spot on the beach
 


She will hate me for this picture some day but I really don't care...  :)
 


We were able to get an hour to two of beach time in before we started to notice the clouds.  Pretty soon a lifeguard drove up and told us that there was a storm coming "as big as the Outer Banks."  
We headed back to the beach house!  It did rain that night but it wasn't the huge Outer Banks storm I was hoping for.
 

We packed up everything the next day and headed for home.  As usual we lamented that the trip wasn't long enough and started making plans to buy our own beach house someday.  We stopped at the aquarium on the way out because we'd never been to this particular one.  It's right on the sound and was lots of fun!

         I took these pictures right before we went in and love them.  I couldn't pick a favorite :)




 

Cute Kinsey

 The girls, digging for fossils, bones, and shark teeth

Kinsey got brave and touched a sting ray.  After she did it once, we could barely get her to do anything else!  

 Aquariums are just cool



Simulated hurricane thing.  Made for some funny pictures! 

We had so much fun and can't wait to go back again next year! 


1 comment:

Metta said...

Yay yay yay! One of our favorite yearly traditions! So glad that we got to go this year again, and hit our favorite beach house, with our favorite price :-) Looks like we could have waited until mid November though, with the rate this boy is wanting to come out! Can't wait for next year!