Our Week at the Beach

Well we're home and settled back into the regular routine for the most part. Man, it seems like you wait all summer for your vacation, it goes by like a breeze, and before you know it summer is over. I seriously get butterflies walking by the display of school supplies in the store even though I am no longer a teacher or a student. *Shudder*

So here's a run-down of our week. There was a lot of laughing, relaxing, constant pounding of little feet all over the place, huge delicious family dinners, and plenty of sun and sand!

Here's our beautiful house... 

 This is a view from the driveway

This is a view from the dunes/beach side of the house

This is our house peeking over the dunes as seen from our spot on the beach

View of the beach from our deck

My sister and her hubby enjoying coffee in the sitting room overlooking the ocean

 Looking north up the beach from our roof deck

 Our kitchen

 Big sunken living room with panoramic views of the ocean

 Left to right: sitting area, dining room, kitchen

 Two too-cute little cousins!

Our bebe on the beach for the first time ever! 

 She was apprehensive about the water at first, but after a day or two would walk right into the surf

Loving the sand :) 

 We were usually the first of our household out on the beach around 9-10 a.m. It was so peaceful and empty and the water was very calm. Great memories :)

 Look at all those cute Bebe footprints!

 Her one experiment with eating sand... lesson learned!

 Hanging out with Nana :)

 My nephew was catching these jellyfish that apparently did not sting and he insisted I take a picture.

 She loved walking around in this "river" that formed at high tide

This little fella took a liking to our bebe girl

 We took a morning trip to the Currituck Lighthouse. The munchkins did a good job of entertaining each other while we waited in the long line!

 The climb to the top of the lighthouse was 114 stairs!

 View from the top - ocean to the left, sound to the right

 Her sticker says, "I climbed Currituck Lighthouse"

 The baby girls working together to cover the blanket in sand

We did some family photos out on the beach Friday evening

 My brother and sister-in-law

 Our whole group

 My nephew making the baby girls laugh

 Our last day on the beach. We were checking out on Sunday so all the Saturday check-outs were gone, while the Saturday check-ins hadn't arrived yet. It was nice!

She was so brave by the end of the week and just loved letting the water wash over her feet. It was pretty much like ripping off a band-aid when it was time to go in from the beach that day.

                              

A gorgeous sunrise on the morning we left. Luckily the day was over-cast and drizzly which made it marginally easier to pack up and head back home.

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. We had an amazing time and by mid-week were already planning for next year. This was the first time my whole family (parents, all 3 siblings and spouses) had been on vacation together. It went smashingly, and we were all heartbroken to leave at the end of the week. We brought home so many sweet memories though and I'm pretty sure a long-standing tradition has begun :)