Beach Trip: Day Three

Day Three: Tuesday. Tuesday was a busy day for us. I started realizing how fast the week was going by and I wanted to DO something.

Trent pretty much played the entire time we were in the cottage. Here he is in his beach bum attire (the hat is mine, but he said he needed a matching hat). He's supposed to be eating breakfast, but we're on vacation....anything goes.

Putt-putt. We can't go to the beach and NOT play putt-putt. The last few times we have taken Trent have been pretty bad. He doesn't have the attention span for such a sport as this. He did MUCH better this year....at least through the first 8-10 holes. The last half of the course was pretty hectic. When he would take his time, he'd out-putt all of us!

The G-man...he thinks he's a pro-golfer. Puh-lease. You wish. :) He does pretty good on the PS2, but I've never seen him on a course bigger than this one.

Trent loved this digger toy and pushed it up and down the beach for the longest time. He didn't care much for building a sandcastle, but he was thrilled to play with this little toy.

Trent is my no-fear child. I'm so cautious with him in the ocean. If he could have it his way, he'd be out in the middle of the ocean. Nothing scares him. So as you can see, I ordered G to hold his hand at all times. Later in the week you'll see where I lightened up on him a bit.

My happy boy running back to me! He kept telling me over and over that he didn't want to go home. He kept saying how much he loved the beach...and "his" house at the beach.

But it all caught up with him and when we drove out to Corolla, he was so out of it. The beach makes him so tired! He hasn't slept on our shoulder since our trip last year. It's a very rare and treasured thing!

But you wake him up and mention go-karts and he's ready to go! You can't tell it in the photo, but they ended up with the slowest car. Next time they're getting a red one. :)

Another shopping/walking spot. We came here Sunday night, but I wanted to come back with my camera and catch the sunset. Unfortunately it was really cloudy and the sun was hiding.

But I still managed a few cute pictures.

I took a picture of this bathroom sign because I felt like we spent half of our vacation waiting outside the restrooms. I'm SO thankful Trent is potty trained, but he had to check out every bathroom at every stop.....and a few on the side of the road. :)

End of Day Three. At this point we're hoping G's family will join us on Day Four. We're having a great time, but keep thinking it would be even more fun with more people.

Beach Trip: Day Two

Day Two: Monday. Our first full day at the beach. Thank goodness I took so many photos...the days are already runnng together.

Monday we went to Jockey's Ridge. That's one of those things you do on your first trip to the OBX. Once you've been you usually don't go back for awhile. It's a lot of sand. Pretty amazing...but a lot of sand. I hadn't been since I was really young, so we decided to take Trent and let him run.....as far as he could see.

We went back to the cottage....exhausted. However, we were not too tired for some pool fun! Trent had this cool Spiderman suit. The top is like a life preserver. So he could be in the pool and we didn't have to constantly hold him. But don't worry...there was always someone within arms reach. ;)

Popsicles! Yum! Trent picked these out before we left home. He said they were "beach snacks".

We had dinner at the Sunset Bar and Grille. It was voted the most scenic place to eat dinner on the water by the Travel Channel. The food was good....expensive....but good.

There's always time for ice cream at the beach. And there are ice cream shops on every corner in Duck.
We shopped here almost daily. A nice place to walk and shop and just be cool. :) I looked like the model tourist. I had my backpack on my back, camera around my neck...and I was always stopping to buy shirts and hats. However, we're close enough to the beach that they gave us the "local" discount.

They had a toy store. Trent was thrilled. He went Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Lots of neat things to play with.

The hammock is great for people who like them. I always feel like I'm going to be dumped, so I just stayed out and took photos. :)
Last year we went looking for crabs every night after dark. Trent had so much fun that we decided to do it again this year.

However, after we caught this big boy....he was done! He was so scared that they were going to bite him or he was going to step on one. Oh well...

Day two is over. At this point we were already dreading Friday, but looking forward to lots more fun!

Beach Trip: Day One

Ok...before you look at these photos and start talking about how we must have so much money....or won the lottery....or something crazy like that.....let me just say that the price of gas has really made a difference in vacationing!


G negotiated with a realtor almost all day Saturday while I was at the wedding. They like to push the mansions first....since they'd really like to make several thousand off a rental. But when G was about to give up and book the Hilton again (that's what we did last year)....the realtor offered us our first pick at an unbelievable rate! We couldn't stay at the Hilton for 3 days this cheap....and we got the cottage for a week!! We weren't able to take advantage of the entire week since I had a wedding last weekend and G's brother graduated from high school today, but we did get to have a nice get-away and at an incredible price.

We arrived in Duck, NC Sunday afternoon. We scoped out the area, walked the beach, and Trent had to try out the pool. It thrills me to take him to the beach. I went to the beach almost every summer of my childhood and while I'm not big on swimming in the ocean, I LOVE the atmosphere, the sounds, the smells....the FOOD! :)

Here are some photos of the cottage. I actually took these while we were packing up to leave, but since I didn't take any pictures on Sunday I thought I would share these.

We stayed in an area called Gull's Flight. The town of Duck doesn't have public beach access, so you have to be a renter or an owner to access the beach. At the end of Flight Drive was a private entrance to the beach. We were only a few cottages from it! It was so nice to walk on the beach and only see a few people. We only saw 7 the first day!

This was our cottage. I think I actually gasped when I pulled up in the driveway.

The cottage had 4 bedrooms. Plenty of room for everyone! Later in the week you'll see where G's family came to visit. His parents went back home, but his brother stayed with us.

There were several porches on this cottage. This one was outside Trent's room. Trent and G would hang out here everyday while I took my shower and got ready.

This isn't the greatest view, but this was Trent's room. I can't tell you how excited he was to have bunk beds!!! He slept on the top bunk every night and we usually had to wake him in the morning because he would sleep so late! We were relieved to learn that there was a TV/DVD combo in the closet!!!



The kitchen. For those of you who wouldn't think I would cook on vacation will be surprised to learn that this kitchen did get used! :) After paying $70 for the three of us to eat dinner one night, we decided to stop at the little market on the way home. We ate every breakfast and several lunches at the cottage. When G's family came to visit we bought some steaks and cooked.

This was Trent's little play area. The cottage was a split level and had six levels. This was one of them....at the very top. It was right off the living/dining/kitchen area, so it was like he could be with us and separate at the same time.

This is the living area...looking down from Trent's play nook. Very cozy...very open....very comfy! Dining area. We didn't eat here....ok...maybe once. This is where we set up the laptop. We ate on the porch off the living room. Who wants to eat inside at the beach??

And the main attraction: the pool and hot tub! We had it all to ourselves! It was so nice to be able to cool off here in the afternoons and not have some crazy youngin's splashing all around. Trent did his share of splashing, but it was nothing like the wild kids we dealt with last year at the hotel.

So those are the hot spots. There were 3 bathrooms, an outdoor shower, a washer/dryer, and tons of closet space. If you're looking for an affordable vacation spot, let me know and I'll hook you up with a realtor! :)

Danielle + Scott

First things first. While I upload my beach photos....I'll post a few photos from a wedding I did on Saturday. I don't normally post my clients' photos on the blog....simply because you can look at them on the website. But just for fun I'll show you some of my favorites from Saturday.

Heaven on Earth.

Outer Banks. Duck to be exact. Heaven on Earth. I'll be back to reality on Friday! See ya then with lots of fun photos!