What Luck!

I got a call out of the blue from the customer service lady at the big bookstore at a local shopping center. I played phone tag for a day or two without knowing why I was bothering. It turns out that K had entered me into a drawing so that she might win an AmericanGirl doll. It worked, I won! Meet Rebecca!

The Fair

The County Fair is...rides.














and prizes...


















and furry beasts!
Wandering into the 4H tent was a huge mistake, or blessing, depending on how one views impulsive purchases! Our new furry friend has been named Savannah Sweetie. I was hoping for Gus, but not one of my children appreciated my choice. There were two bunnies in the running. It's a good thing David limited us to just one, because I do believe the other one was a boy bunny, and you know what that means!

Happy Birthday Dear DangDaddy

After a super tasty birthday brunch, complete with chocolate cake, we were on the road. David and Morgan rode together again. I had Will and Katherine and the ever-so-handy-but-borrowed travel DVD player. Caroline stayed behind with Grandmama and Granddaddy. We drove to Goldsboro, where we stopped at McCall's for some awesome barbecue and then drove straight home. It was a long day, and it's back to work tomorrow.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Will is a boogie boarding champ! There are no pictures to prove it, but he has lots of scrapes and bumps. That ought to be enough proof!

David and the kids spent the entire day out on the beach. I spent the day reading and packing. Whenever we go anywhere all of our stuff explodes! It's kind of like the clown car at the circus - how on earth did all those clowns come out of that itty bitty car? Better yet, how am I going to get them all back in?!

Bill & Carolyn came today - they've been staying over in Cherry Point so she can do her 2-week Navy Reserves duty. It's pretty cool that she can pick a location close to where we are vacationing. We ate a wonderful dinner, took some (thousands!) pictures on the beach, and then decided to play Taboo. Everybody played!

Friday at the Beach

The pier fisherpeople made it home just after midnight, and everyone slept a little later this morning. So we all had a slow start, and some really great pancakes!

















Morgan just drove off (with David) to get fishing licenses so they can surf fish today.

Caroline has disappeared - perhaps she's found a good book. Nope, it's a new puzzle!














Katherine is sunscreened and ready to go.

Will thinks he's opting out of the beach today.

We'll see.

After a late lunch everyone stayed inside and played games.

















There was even one last puzzle! **David and I stayed up until 2:30 to finish this one!

Movie & Fishing

First up gets last doughnut!!!













After yesterday's overdose of sun we all decided to take it easy today. The boys went to see the new Ice Age movie, while the four girls went to see the new HP movie. Will thought Ice Age 2 was pretty funny, and we all loved HP6.


















We came home long enough to grab a bite to eat and change clothes before heading back out. David and three of the kids wanted to go to the pier for some fishing. Caroline opted out as expected.











There were creamsicle floats to be had...














...and Facebook to check.














So I played taxi driver.

After about 2 hours I got the call to come back and get Katherine and Will. There was a thunderstorm and they wanted to come home. One the way I drove through the worst of it and by the time I got to the pier the rain had moved on and so had their determination to leave. So I stayed too, knowing that their resolve to catch fish would not last much longer.













Once the storm passed the diehards slowly crept back out to their favorite spots on the pier.


















Morgan fished with everyone else until the distractions below made her switch sides.



Katherine baits her hooks like a pro!










Will spent some time dancing in the wind!


An hour and a half, and some ice cream sandwiches later, they still hadn't caught any fish and Will was dangerously close to dropping Uncle Bill's rod over the rail. It was time to go.

We left David and Morgan there for some uninterrupted fishing. As of 11:46 they are still fishing.

Shackleford Banks

This morning we caught the 9 o'clock ferry to Shackleford Banks. As soon as we stepped off, sunscreened ourselves, and stashed our belongings, we headed left to search out the ponies.









We saw the horses, sometime called Banker horses or Banker ponies, in the distance as our ferry approached the shore. We walked about twenty or thirty minutes along the water and across the island and came up on a group of seven ponies. They let us get pretty close but we were mindful not to get too close. We didn't want to startle them and cause them to run off or charge at us. We got (I hope) a lot of great pictures before the tour group arrived.





















Then we headed back to gather our belongings and to begin our trek to the other (ocean) side of the island where we planned to set up camp for swimming and shell collecting. We walked around the point of the island and beyond all of the other groups that had arrived before us. Later we would discover a path that would take us across the island to the ferry pick up point.

David and I took off almost immediately for a walk down the beach. We had gone about 15 minutes when David caught sight of something in the water. He ran over and reached down, bringing up a beautiful whelk. As we walked on, we found another whelk just sitting up on the sand, and later another in the surf. We also found a ton of olive shells and a starfish/seastar. After an hour of walking, we headed back. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and watching the kids play. We dodged a storm...found a message in a bottle (really!) ...listened to the ocean...hunted shells...

















We got to the ferry stop at 3, and David and Caroline wandered off to search the surf for more treasures. They found a whole sand dollar! Our ferry came back for us at 3:20 and we welcomed the cool breeze on the ride back to Beaufort. We were able to catch the last open hour of the local maritime museum, where we learned about ships, sharks, and Blackbeard!









We opted for some ice cream before heading back to our cute green beach house for some really awesome leftovers. Our plan to eat out was scrapped when we realized just how sandy and tired we were going to be at the end of the day! It was so nice to come home to a cool house and a warm shower!