Before we had kids, our trips were always adventurous - hiking and camping and traveling to other countries. Now I just want to sit on a beach and relax. So we did. Of course, we had to drive 15 hours to get there but it was worth it. We rented a little place on the North Carolina shore. We could walk right out the back door and be at the beach in a matter of steps - which meant I didn't have to worry about finding a bathrooms or taking along diapers for the little people. That my friends, is vacation bliss for a mom!
Craig's sister Steph was even able to drive over for a couple nights. It's always nice to catch up with her and the kids love their auntie Steph which means mommy gets even more of a break!
You might notice the absence of cute photos of children playing in the water. They both refused to touch the water. Jonah got wet once accidentally and it "traumatized" him so much he walked past Lucy's sand castle, past our umbrellas and towels and would have walked all the way back to our house if we didn't stop him. Lucy was not really much better. This actually had its upside. I was actually able to sit and read a book without worrying about them drowning and they had enough fun searching for seashells all of which they insisted we bring home (anyone have idea for sea shell crafts? We probably have 100+)
We eventually bought them a baby pool so we didn't have to keep filling buckets for them.
Bible time and bedtime stories overlooking the waves - a great way to end your nights!
Of course, we still managed to have some adventures, both there and on the way home - ice cream and dancing to oldies on the boardwalk, hiking amongst venus fly traps and other carnivorous plants, a trip to the aquarium, visiting a battleship, touring Carl Sandburg's home and hiking in the Smoky mountains.
I planned on putting him in the Boba for the hike but he insisted "No, Jonah Jonah!" He's probably one of the few one year olds who can say he's hiked part of the Appalachian trail - if he could say "appalachian trail" that is.
Mountain Farm site at the Smoky Mountains National Park was a last minute addition that ended up being one of our favorite stops. It was really neat for Lucy to see some of the things she had learned about in the Little House series.
Carl Sandburg's home was fun too.In addition to the cute goats, there was one big take home message. Stop feeling guilty about how many books you own. Compared to him it is probably nothing and if you do get close to his level, you can always resort to having an fire hose installed in the staircase like his wife insisted on. I'd like to say her fear of fire was irrational but that really was a lot of paper in that house!
And that's what I did on my summer vacation.
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