Vacation in the Outer Banks

We just returned from an incredibly fun and relaxing week in the Outer Banks with Ben and Adie! On the way there, we broke the driving into about 9 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday, and coming home Sunday we powered through about 14 hours. Lewis was pretty good in the car, considering--there were a few times I was wishing I could have some space from him, but overall, he was a trooper, Ben/Adie were so graceful with a sometimes fussy Lew (and me), and we all survived. :)

I posted pictures on facebook so I won't double-post, but here are some more pictures and a few videos from our week:

Rolling out of the driveway

Road trip!!

Grillmaster Adie on the first evening

(with an especially large spatula)

Our house

This is what he does when we say we're going to get him--he runs and giggles and then waits for us to scoop him up. Kevin's been playing this game with him for awhile now--I love hearing the sound of his giggles coming up from the basement. :)

A bit clingy at the beach at first (but oh, how that would change as the week went on)

:) Make sure your volume is on for that one. Poor little guy.

Looking pretty scared, still.

Slowly warming up to the idea

The 'Keep Off the Dunes' signs were very enticing to Big Lew.

Our ocean view (zoomed in)

See it, there? To the right of the darker brown house? Very small sliver, just a shade darker than the sky. Breathtaking, I know! :)

Singing to us all at dinner.

Yummy Lemongrass Wheat

This brewery (Outer Banks Brewing Station) had really good beer and really good food AND a playground and live music in the backyard AND is wind-powered AND their shirts say 'Wish You Were Beer.' I'm pretty sure it was heaven. (It is located near where the Wright Brothers took their first flights, hence the powerful wind).

Adie and I went kayaking next, but all of my pictures are on a (film) water camera, so it might be awhile before I get those developed.

Speaking of wind, we had a bit of a windstorm come in the second half of the week:

Where's the beach?

The surf was in probably 30 feet further than it had been earlier in the week. We had a little strip of sand to put our stuff, and still had fun on the beach and caught some sun. We couldn't get in the water because of the red flag/rip current warnings, but we took a lot of walks, took turns wrangling Lew, played in the sand, sat in the surf, etc. We did have a few days earlier in the week where we got to swim in the ocean, but we wished we'd had a few more. Hopefully next time! :)

Churning like a beast

Although we didn't have as much in-the-ocean time as we'd have liked, we did have time for a dance party! Lew kept wanting to run towards the water, so we were all trying to keep him contained.

And perhaps our favorite part of the week (to drown any sorrows):

Duck Donuts!

We went 3 times...2 times for breakfast, and 1 time for a pre-dinner snack. They make your donuts fresh before your eyes, then ice and decorate them to your specifications. They are warm and gooey and delicious (and are cake donuts for any fellow donut lovers out there). :)

It was a great trip! I usually don't think I'd like to revisit places, but I would definitely love going back to Duck. I loved the area, our neighborhood, the time of year (not high season yet), etc. I feel like there is so much to do there, and we barely made a dent. Great week.