Our trip to North Carolina

The kids and I went on a trip to Holden Beach, NC at the beginning of June. There were a total of 6 adults and 6 kids that went on the trip - My aunts: Betty and Maggie; my Mom; my cousin Andy, his wife Missy, and their kids Mason and Grant; my cousin Jonathan; Allie, Ceara, Conor, and me. We rented two mini vans for the trip.

We left on Saturday, June 2nd, at 3AM. Or.. we tried to. I had stayed up all night, knowing that I would not be able to wake up and be functional at 2AM, so I figured I would take the first shift of sleep. I was at my mom's house with the kids asleep in the back of the van to pick her up at about 2:45AM. For someone who normally runs behind schedule, I was doing very well. :) My mom, who had to get up at 4am for work every day, and is always on time or early, had just woken up when I arrived! I found this to be a quite funny role reversal. Mom had just retired from her job - her last day was May 31.

It did not take her long to get ready, though. She had already had all of her things packed and by the door. Getting everything into the van was a bit of a challenge since the kids had made beds in there and put away all but one of the seats in the back. We managed to find a place for everything and we went to meet the other van at grandma's house (next door to my mom's) so that we could travel to Lebanon to pick Maggie up.

On the way there, we got a phone call from the other van and Missy had forgotten her purse, so they had to turn around and go back to get it. We went on to Maggie's house since she was riding with us, so that we could get her things put into our van while we waited.

I think we were on the road from Lebanon at about 4:30AM. I went to sleep (or tried to) in the back of the van in the only seat remaining. I woke up often to the sound of mom and Maggie laughing at whatever story they were telling. I remember hearing some of the stories and laughing too, but I was 1/2 asleep and don't really remember any of what was being said. The seat was EXTREMELY uncomfortable to try to sleep in. I tossed and turned.. at one point I looked over at the kids and Ceara was awake as well, and she offered to switch me places. She was having problems sleeping on the floor. So.. we switched. Then I had a metal hook that the seats hooked to digging into my hip. So, needless to say, I did not sleep well. We stopped somewhere along the lines to get breakfast and use the bathrooms and switch drivers.

Conor asked every 20 minutes if we were almost there.. lol He did pretty well for the long trip, though. By the end of the drive, we were all anxious to be there.

We arrived at the beach house at 5PM. It was raining a bit and the kids asked if they could go in the water even though it was raining, so we all went down to the beach and waded into the ocean a bit. The kids actually got in, but not too far. The tide was very strong. We did not stay down there too long because we had to unpack the vans.

We all got our room assignments and took our luggage to our rooms. Mom, Conor, and I shared a bedroom with our own bathroom - and an exit to the upper deck on the ocean side. The view was awesome.

Our first night there, we ordered pizza. No one felt like going to the grocery after that long drive, so we just got delivery.

Here is Ceara - she got her hair cut and layered before we left on vacation - it looks very good . :) It was very windy most of the days, but it felt really good. Being that close to the ocean, there was a salty haze on everything - the windows the most noticable. My sunglasses got a salty haze on them very often as did my camera. So.. some of the pictures appear a bit hazy. Also, with my being injured (see info below) the kids took most of the pictures. I did hobble down to the beach towards the end of the week and take a couple of movies (below) and some pictures as well. :) I have some funny stories to post about our trip, but thought I should go ahead and post the pictures for now. And yeah.. incorrect dates on the pics!

Conor and Mason playing in the sand along the shoreline.

Maggie took a chair down from the deck and tried to talk me into sitting in it in the water.. I refused because it was not exactly steady and I didn't even want to try to get out of the ocean with my knee in the condition that it was in. I am glad I didn't.. you will see from the videos below how it worked out for Maggie when the waves came in.... :)

Digging more holes in the sand.

The kids playing miniature golf. (Ceara, Conor, and Jonathan above)

Ceara, Jonathan, and Allie.

Posing on the Alligator. From front to back: Conor, Mason, Jonathan, Ceara, Allie.
I wish I could remember what they were saying!

Here is the view of the houses from the pier. Mom, Allie, Ceara, Jonathan, and Conor walked to it one day.

Jonathan, Ceara, Mom, and Conor on the pier. Allie was the photographer... :)

Conor and Mason blowing bubbles on the deck.

Grant and Conor watching the bubbles flying off the deck towards the ocean.

Ceara and Allie posing for a picture. Hey.. the expression and the hand signs are the "IN" thing to do! :)

On the way home, the injured person (me) got to sit on the back bench seat, while the kids made a bed on the remaining floor space. We slept as much as we could. Above, Ceara is reading Conor one of his favorite books - "I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words"


And Allie had her nose in her own book most of the trip.

Some of the pictures that were taken did not turn out at all - I don't know if it was the salt messing with my camera, or what, but they were either total blue haze with the faint outline of people in them, or they were completely white pictures. Just strange.

We rented bikes as well, and the kids went for bike rides often. I couldn't go.. but.. they did. :)