OBX 2009

Outer Banks, NC is one of the best places that I have ever been too. Every year about 20 of us make the 7 hour drive down there and spend the week together in a 9 bedroom, gorgeous house on the beach. It's something that we all look forward to from the moment we book the trip in January. This year was no different from any of the others.... it was wonderful. We had perfect weather the entire time {despite 2 hurricanes that caused rough waters and no ocean swimming} and did a lot of fun things this time around.

This year was so much fun with Carter there, when he could actually do stuff {like I said before, he was 5 weeks old last year and barely left the house!} He absolutely LOVED the ocean and the sand. He also loved the pool {which we already knew} and was a complete and utter beach bum the entire week. He had a rough time sleeping however, which I think was a combination of the excitement of everything that was going on and the fact that he was sleeping {ahem, not sleeping} in a strange place. He did really well on the drive down, which I think we can attribute to the sweet set up he had...

I'll be honest, I didn't mind it either. I watched a few movies while Carter napped in the car!

Below are a few of my favorite pictures. Of course "a few" is relative. It looks like a lot, but I took over 500 pictures last week, so this certainly is just a few of them, lol.

Carter snacking on some Cheerios...First day at the beach!Playing with Ben in the sand...The beautiful ocean...Sand is surprisingly delicious...Little Miss Grace...Love this pic...

The perfect view...The second day at the beach, Carter just wanted to sit with his feet in the water. This is the result...So I laid him down on my towel for a quick snooze. He stayed there for 2 hours.

We then headed back to splash in the pool!This picture makes me smile :)

Carter and Ben fell asleep on one of our morning walks...Gracie Girl relaxin in the pool...Carter and Uncle Ry Ry...Doesn't he look so sad about being on vacation?The boys in their straw hats!Corolla Wine Festival at the Whalehead Club...

Drinking our purchases after the tasting... :)

Not a bad view...

Corolla Lighthouse...

The kiddos all dressed up for dinner at the Grillroom. The majority of beach rentals are Saturday to Saturday each week, but we usually stay Sunday to Sunday. On Saturday morning, the beach was completely empty as people were leaving for the week. It was wonderful to have the beach to ourselves!There were "no swimming" flags up all week due to Hurricane(s) Bill and Danny. Luckily, we didn't get the rain (yay!) but we did get extremely rough waters and bad rip currents.
And here's the "Phamily" before leaving on Sunday morning...The drive home felt like an eternity. Not only because it's just a really long drive, but we also hit a lot of traffic, had to find a different way home, and then Carter did not sleep the entire ride home!!! It was exhausting trying to keep him happy the whole ride! Sheesh. By the time we got home we basically showered and went to bed. Needless to say, work on Monday was a little rough.

.

Below is a slideshow of some more pictures, if you wanted to see them. I must mention that each year we go on vacation, we bring a new puzzle with us. We then try to complete it before leaving at the end of the week. This year we finished 2 days early! I think we're getting better:) We then leave the puzzle at the house each year.

Thanks for looking!