THE BEACH!!!!

WARNING:

lots and lots and lots of pictures.

the whole week is in this ONE post!!!

ok.

here we go:

some very very very very very special people met us in North Carolina for the week.....

Grandma and Grandpa Panter, what a special time YOU being there made that!

Sophie (pictured) and Lenora played with those little Ghost Crabs for hours, 

picked those puppies up with their bare hands, gave the weebie jeebies to every passer by,

but it gets even better than that, just wait.

 the local Aquarium on a colder and windy and rainy day:

you know your children are not right when you have to tell them to NOT pick up this spider:

 day time view out of our living room, a little lake!

lighthouse #1:

Samantha found her fear.

She got swooped under by some big waves and saw Lydia get swooped under once and that was it for a few days....she was happy just playing in the sand after that for a while.

I don't blame her, there were some HUGE STRONG waves on this beach!

 Lydia and Jake are a WHOLE other story.

we couldn't keep those two OUT of the water!

hours and hours and hours and hours of this.....

 our 'camp' most days:

 you were hoping to see me in a bathing suit....well, without further ado....

 night time view of our little lake:

 the ferry to Ocacroke Island (where I wouldn't mind living one day, thank you very much....16 miles of undeveloped beach and a little town where everyone rides their bicycles around....yes please!)

 lighthouse #2

all the lighthouses were old and historical and beautiful!

Lenora and Sophie's highlight of the trip?

the THREE dead Horseshoe Crabs they found and played with for hours.

no. joke.

more weebie jeebies to more passerbyers.

 Samantha warmed back up to the water with a lot of daddy's love and attention! I was proud of her!

 Lydia's permanent face all week long:

Grandpa's assumed position:

 my assumed position:

 and Grandma was so fun spending almost all of her beach time IN THE WATER gigglin' away!

Once Grandpa got IN the water, the fun started....

 why won't this thing go anywhere? it's broken!?

 whoa! Wait a second!?

He was cracking us up!

 somewhere in this picture/in the water is Jake, Lydia and Grandpa, can you see them all?

 where is Lydia? where is Lydia?

 there she is! there she is!

 Ice Cream for lunch, 'cause it's VACATION!!!!

Grandpa fell asleep....

 Lenora...

 the Horseshoe Crab #2's burial grounds house:

 custom made and designed by my genius children.

Grandma is wondering whether or not she should come rescue my kids from such absurd behavior!?

 GROSS!!!!!!

 back to something more alive and refreshing....

 once Samantha got over her fear and warmed up (and we went to a friendlier beach)....there was no stopping her!!!!

seaweed blanket, woven by Lenora...

 Samantha lost a tooth chewing on Grandpa's candy 30 seconds before we walked out the door to take family pictures!!!!

on our way to take family pictures.....

(this is mean, but no, you can't see the pic's of that yet!)

favorite memories....
just SITTING.
I don't 'sit' very often and the beach makes me just sit.
I LOVE the beach...there are no words for what it does to me.

watching Lydia and Jake play for so many hours.

watching Lenora and Sophie freak out everyone around us, watching them just hang together and play for hours with the 'beach life' (or death, whatever)

the food.
we were told the dining wasn't all that great but uh....we found some amazing places!
The Brine and Bottle (featured in fancy magazines and SO SO yummy!)
Ketch 55
Howard's Pub
Dinky's
just to name our favorites.

watching the girls get to 'just be' with their Grandparents.
I LOVE love love love that so much.

running on the beach.

getting up early and sneaking out to go watch the sun rise on the beach.

drawing with the girls.

shell collecting with everyone.

journaling - journaling is a huge part of my life and it takes on a new form every time I 'get away'.
I love it.

and on and on and on and on and on....

it was perfect.
absolutely perfect.

and our conclusion?
ONE week is just a tease.
If we ever do that again, it will be for two weeks, no question.