Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina 2011
We had a great beach trip this year. There was a house full of relatives, kids and noise, sand, potato chips, Solo cups and fruit snacks, beer caps, light-sabers, tinker-bells, water balloons, beach towels and wet bathing-suits scattered like soggy confetti.
The house is one the Johnson's & McCluskey's have stayed in for years. I was there once back in '96! and not much has changed. It had a fresh coat of paint, some new furniture, accessories, sink and counter tops but it's still basically the same as it was way back when. The house can't be beat! It's right on the beach with it's own pool and large gazebo. Each room has it's own bathroom and TV so if you need to get away for a quite moment you can easily. It's very large and seems to accommodate us quite well. Plus there is the nostalgia of it.
The house wasn't without it's flaws however as any rental house will be. Our fitted sheet wouldn't stay on so each morning we were caught in it like a venus fly trap. Our towel-rack wouldn't stay attached to the wall and by the third attempt we just left it on the floor. But who needs a towel rack at the beach! :D And the shower stall was a bit small. I learned the hard way that I shouldn't even try to shave my legs in it. If you don't pass out from folding in half the door handle will knock you out on your way up. It's safer to just get in the pool and let the chlorine do it's job ;) But the beds were comfortable and the air conditioning worked great! We had it on 64ยบ all week!
Max did great in the water this year. He liked the beach and boogie bored, digging for anything, and chasing seagulls. He thought the most beautiful shells were the Oyster shells with their gnarly twisted humps and ruff edges. There were so many seashells on the beach this year. Bannon (Ben's cousin) and her family brought each kid a beach bucket and shovel with their name on it. Such a cute and useful gift - Max loves his bucket and filled it to the brim with shells. Bannon also brought Mitch! Max really liked Mr. Mitch and they became good buddies. The boys all hunted crabs at night and dug holes in the beach and just generally had a great time doing manly stuff. Max also enjoyed the pool and even put his head under a few times when we made him. But his confidence went up and he was blowing bubbles by the time the week was over. One time I forgot to put his life on him and I guess he forgot he didn't have it on and went under but recovered nicely. I think we will continue swim lessons.
I'm leaving out a billion things but running out of time to type. The food was great! the weather was great! no one got too burt or too sick! No cars broke down (although we had to get a new battery for our car while we were there) A very successful vacation!
Conclusions:
Copestone spray on with SPF 100 make a great adhesive
We have a chip addiction when on vacation
Nate make a fantastic Nacho Libre
Pineapple upside down cake tastes just as good with chucks of pineapple!
Vacation is better with friends and family!
