Vacation on the Outer Banks...

Oh my what a week! We left Friday night (June 19) to drive the 11 or so hours to Corolla, NC. We stopped around midnight and stayed in Frederick, MD and then got up early the next morning and headed out.

We arrived at our rental home in the late afternoon. Jenn and Dan rode with us, Steve and Brandy drove straight through and Eric & family live in Virginia Beach so it was a short drive for them.

Our home we rented turned out to be a great choice! Plenty of space for everyone.

Had a beautiful pool (which we used ALOT).

The walk to the beach was short and pleasant, only a couple of blocks away.

L-R Dan, Jenn, Steve, Logan in background, Eric, Paul and Winston

The beach was gorgeous and the first day we went was so hot, about 92 with high humidity and would have been perfect if the water wasn't so damn cold. I mean it was bone chilling. I didn't see many people swimming and I asked a couple of girls after they got out, if they got used to it and they said no. Eric asked the lifeguard about it and was told it had to do with the tides and the fact that there were thunderstorms the night before. I found it very convenient to just hang out in the pool the rest of the time. It was strange because I grew up on the pacific coast of California and lived for the beach but this was somehow different.

Paul and I did go down one night to see the crabs...THAT WAS STRANGE! It wasn't so late that they were scampering over our feet (Steve said that's what happened when he went).

Lucy LOVED trying to get the crabs. Jessie said Lucy got so excited she had to move her away because her heart was pounding! 

My first run on the beach was beautiful and yet miserably humid. It's ok though. I'll never forget the experience and I'm so glad I did it.

My next run was much more pleasant. Paul and I got up to see the sun rise and ran earlier. It was still humid but not so much.

We also got to see crabs in the daylight. They're funny little creatures.

Lots of good times in the pool...

Playing beach ball although you'd think we were all on a roller coaster LOL! 

A running joke since some of the letters of "DANGER NO DIVING" were missing. We said Dang Divin quite often! 

Even Winston got to cool off.

A fun little video Eric took of Paul and Emmy in the pool...

Some beautiful beach shots...

A gorgeous shot by Eric. Great composition! 

Brandy & Steve

We had a nice dinner out and then an evening at Putt-Putt...

L-R Back- Steve, Paul, Dan
Middle- Brandy, Me, Eric, Jessie, Jenn
Front- Emmy, Logan

Paul and I wanted to spend some time with Logan, Emmy, Eric and Jess, so Later in the week we went to the Wright Brother's Museum. Fascinating! One of the things that blew me away and for some reason gave me goosebumps, was in the museum they had a piece of cloth and a small piece of the wood from one of the wings of Kitty Hawk that actually went to the moon with Neil Armstrong!! How awesome is that? I think Eric got a picture of it and I should have asked him for a copy. 

This is a glider and in front of it is the replica of The Kitty Hawk

On that same trip, everyone wanted to hike up to the monument but Logan seemed a bit overheated and decided he didn't want to. I wasn't that keen on the idea either, so we went into the museum in the air conditioning.  

The monument

I snapped a selfie of the two of us and told him I should try and get a better shot without the sun beaming behind us and he said "no MiMi, I think the effect is cool".

God I adore this kid!!

Steve, Brandy, Paul and I went to the Elizabethan Gardens. Simply put...beautiful! 

We're hoping to find some this Drinking Gourd Hosta for our yard.

I've discovered that Eric has quite an eye and took some beautiful shots while we were there...

Lucy and Logan (A boy and his dog)

I've got quite a few more photos but I won't bore you anymore. I will leave with a few sunrise pics though...

Used my HDR app. 

As always...