Sunset

This was our one and only nice sunset for the week. We didn't make it over to the sound side for watching the sun set. This was taken off the deck of our house. Most of the evenings were either overcast or raining.

Sand Dune

This was our sand dune to the beach. I tried to get a nice photo of the kids sitting here, (1st photo) but they would not cooperate.

The other photo is looking up from the beach. The only way we knew it was our dune was from the burnt fire wood off to the side. One night Justine and I lost our way but we finally did find it. We should have taken Hilton's GPS.

The view

This is our view of the ocean overlooking the dunes from our deck. The area in which we stayed, Avon, has high sand dunes. We are tossing around the idea of staying further north next time, maybe around Kill Devil Hills where the dunes are not so high.

1st sunrise

This was our first sunrise on Sunday morning.

catwalk

While exploring the house, Connor found this catwalk...Can you believe he left it alone and didn't try to walk out on it after he was told not to?

The interior

These were some of the interior pictures of the beach house. We had great views of the ocean from our living room.

The Sign

I always get so excited when I see this sign. Once we see this, we are an hour away from Avon. We were here at 1PM on Saturday. That's the earliest we've been on the Banks. Usually we are getting there around 4PM.

Our beach house

After a night of restless sleep, we awoke at 2:45AM and we were on the road for the Outer Banks at 3:45AM. To our liking and surprise, the kids slept for about an hour after hitting Clearfield. Our first break was in Berkeley Springs, WV which is about 2 1/2 hours away. The traffic was very light the whole way to the beach so we made it to our beach house in 10 hours. We hit the Wright Memorial Bridge at 1:00PM where we consider ourselves on the Outer Banks. It still took us 1 additional hour to get to our beach house.

This year we chose the Oceanfront house "Chateau Sur Mer" through Hatteras Realty in Avon, NC. Along with Brian, the kids and myself, my Mom, Dad, my sister Justine, and Brian's Dad and Step Mom enjoyed the house with us this year. This will be the last year that we will be visiting "off season" since Connor will be in school next year at that time.

Packing

As I pack, this little monkey won't stay out of my suitcase.

The hard thing about packing this time of year, you have to take clothes for every season. I know I won't wear half the clothes but it's better to be prepared.

Are we there yet?

Ask Connor and I swear that he could tell you how many hours are left until we leave on our very long trip to the beach. Connor's not the only excited one though, Mommy and Daddy are pretty darn excited too. We've been watching the weather and it's calling for absolutely beautiful weather Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

I've been told that we will be in for a shock when we see the prices of food... $5.00 for a head of lettuce. OMG, is this happening because of it being off season or is it really that expensive to ship food to this remote region of the earth?

I can not wait to bury my feet in the sand, have the sun shine down on my face and have a cold drink in my hand.

All better

Maleah's been on her antibiotic for 4 days now. Only 6 more days to go! I can't believe it takes 10 days to kill off the infection. Luckily, she loves her medicine. Most kids cry when it's time to take the stuff, but she cries when it's done!

Strep

Why is it, when I have time off work, I can always expect one of the kids to be sick? I guess it's better to happen now rather than calling off work.

When we got home from Grandma Shirley's last evening, Maleah felt really hot in her car seat. I took her straight to her bedroom, put on her jammies and took her temperature. Sure enough, her temp was 103.0.

I called her Pediatrician this morning seeing that her temp was still high at 102.4. They saw her this afternoon and said she has strep throat. I'm happy to be dealing with this illness this week and not next week while on vacation.

You wouldn't even know she's sick right now, she's her fun loving self. I hope she doesn't decide to spread this around. Luckily, Connor tested negative for strep.

anticipation

Connor has no concept for time in the sense of weeks or months. So when we would tell him that it would be more that a month until we go to the beach, it still wouldn't register with him. I decided to show him on the calendar exactly how long it would be before going to the beach and he clearly understands what we mean now. Starting with the first day of September, we cross off that day when he gets out of bed. This makes him realize just how many mornings he has to get up before going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

dinosaurs

Connor has had a facination with dinosaurs ever since he was 2 1/2 years old. He can name more than 40 different dinosaurs. He has pick up so many books along the way, this is only half of the books that he has. He tells me that he wants to dig up dinosaur bones when he is older. His favorite is T-Rex!

Maleah

This is Maleah who will turn 2 years old in October. She is such an affectionate little girl. She loves hugging and giving kisses. Maleah loves purses, dolls, and shoes. I can't believe the difference between boys and girls.

Look at her beautiful brown eyes! My Mom once said that she would love to have just one grandchild with dark eyes. Finally after 10 grandchildren having blue eyes, Maleah broke the cycle and gave Grandma Judy her wish. Grandma Judy may have the thank Grandma Shirley for her help in that!

Connor

This is Connor. He is our 4 1/2 year old. Connor love dinosaurs, listening to his Dad's ipod, riding his battery powered 4 wheeler and shooting BB Guns with his Dad. He is hoping to get a real 4 wheeler next spring. Connor is 100% boy!

Look at his beautiful blue eyes. We often wonder how he can have such deep blue eyes while his sisters eyes are very dark brown.