Visiting the beach, the dunes, and the Wright Brothers

We had a blast last week! We headed down to Corolla, North Carolina and spent a few days there.  A very kind and generous invitation from a family friend got us there.  The kids were so happy and loved every moment of it.  They were so bummed to come home.  Hopefully we all behaved very well, that maybe we get invited again next year. Hahahaha!

I have never been to the Outerbanks before.  Such a nice place! Someday I'll have my beach house...someday...:) I think this was so far the only vacation I've had that I felt so relaxed.  By that I meant, I didn't get to watch my kids as much! Family and friends took over watching the kids and the whole time we were there, I was only at the beach one time for about an hour! And to the pool only a couple of times.  Don't get me wrong, I love the beach and the water! But last week, I just didn't feel like doing anything at all but hang around the house and read magazines (and my baking cookbooks!).

The kids really enjoyed being there. Logan especially enjoyed hanging out at the pool.  Ever since he joined our local swim team and learned to swim, he could not get enough of the pool.  He really is a good and confident swimmer now. I really don't worry about him being in the deep end anymore or jumping off the diving board.  It's awesome!  This was the kid who refused, I mean really refused to take swim lessons, to the point that I had to drag him to the pool while whining about it. Then after six weeks of swim practices, he learned to swim freestyle and backstroke in a 25-meter pool for under a minute. So very proud of him. He asked me if our next house will have a pool.  I better start playing the lottery!

Future Michael Phelps :)

We've been trying to teach him how to properly dive. During his meets, when the buzzer goes off, he gets in the pool with feet first. Glad I got to snap this so he can see that when he dives in, his feet should be the last part to touch the water, not first

Izzie on the other hand, enjoyed the beach and the sand more. She likes the pool, but not as much as Logan does.  I figured maybe because she doesn't really know how to swim yet. But I should give her credit since she did learn to thread the water while there! Proud of her too! But for now, she's good with her sand and sea shells.  She has her own little world building her sand castles! After dinner she would always ask if she could go out again and play in the sand.  Apparently she hadn't had enough even after playing in it all day. 

Making her sand castle

One more thing that is really cool about our visit at the Outerbanks is that we were able to go to Kill Devil Hills, the birthplace of aviation! My airplane-loving son really, really enjoyed this.  You know those articles that's been going around the web about places you should take your kids to before they turn 12 or something like that?  Well, I think Kill Devil Hills should be in it.  And so is the Jockey Ridge State Park, where I'm so glad that they preserved a "patch" of the dunes! You can just imagine how the Wright Brothers flew the first plane in there. Awesome. Just "plane" awesome :)

Replica of the flyer the Wright brothers built in 1902

Full scale (and functioning) replica of the Flyer the Wright Brothers built in 1903. This was the "successful" flyer

Standing next to the Wright Brothers :)

The marker where they took off

First 3 markers where the Flyer landed.  I didn't get to snap the 4th one...it was pretty far compared to these three

Heading to the Memorial with Uncle Andrew...or I should say attempted to walk up the Memorial with Uncle Andrew.  Yeah, they didn't make it.  Only Andrew and I did.

The top of the hill

I liked how the Memorial is shaped like a plane's tail

A sculpture on the other side of the memorial hill.  They liked climbing on the flyer.

To the dunes! Jockey Ridge State Park.  This place is about 4 miles (not sure what direction! I think south)from the Wright Brothers Memorial.  The memorial (where the actual first flight took place) is now covered with grass, but back then, this is what it looked like.  The Wright Brothers were looking for a windy place and a soft landing to test their flyer.

There were people trying to fly their gliders when we got there

This was my attempt to have a picture of them at the dunes.  They were not too thrilled with this place, not yet, I'm hoping.  They said it was too hot! This place was awesome and I've never seen anything like it before.  Maybe in a couple more years I'll bring them back here and see if they can appreciate it more.

It got really cloudy and felt like the storm is coming.  It was perfect for me! I loved the breeze!

This is my brother Andrew.  We actually went to the dunes the day before we took the kids.  It was more enjoyable to see it without the kids whining and complaining about how far it was and how hot it was!

My sister Maria (yes, she's Maria too, in fact we have another sister who is also "Maria". Long story!). She said she wanted a picture then laid on the sand then goes "hurry up, the sand is so hot!"

Don't know how the water got there. Rain??

Now scroll down below to see more pictures from our trip. Too bad, I didn't get to take pictures of them playing miniature golf and Logan's first ride on a bumper car. This is what happens when you always forget to bring your camera...I guess this is what smart phones are for right? Only if mine had juice!

This was Logan's first order of business as soon as we got there.  He said "I want to be burried in the sand!"



Dig, dig, digging!

Somebody was wiped out

Walking to the beach

The gang at dusk flying kites

One of the kites

Logan, flying a kite.

Izzie, flying a kite.



See the gap in front? He lost that tooth a while back and the new one is still not out.

Our last day there.  It wasn't too hard to leave since it started raining on and off since the morning!