Ahh the sandy shores of North Carolina! Part One:

We started off our July with a bang (fireworks not included) with a vacation to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. We were joined by the entire Dibb clan and had a wonderful time!

Mark and I started off our vacation with a scheduling mistake, but it ended up being a life saver. We had planned a red eye flight Sunday morning into Norflok Virginia, but Mark soon found out it was actually Saturday at 12 AM. Thankfully I was mostly packed! Once we arrived in Norflok, we ate, then found out that our hotel was awesome because they let us check in four hours early! It was so needed. After a red eye flght that lacked sleep from any of us, we made a "crib" out of the couch and then we crashed! It was wonderful. After our nap we headed out to explore. We found a great German restaurant " The Beer Garden" and had a yummy dinner of schnitzel and spatzel. And their beer menu was a one inch binder...hence the name. The town was full of some great, old architecture. My favorite were the churches. We also headed out to Virginia beach just to enjoy the sun and a nice walk.

That night we experienced a MAJOR storm, complete with tornado warnings and touchdowns to boot! I was scared out of my mind and planning our escape route the entire night. Mark and I sat up watching the storm while Spencer miraculously slept through the whole thing. Thunder, lightening, transformers blowing in the distance. Pretty amazing to watch! If not for our ticketing error, we would have been flying in the storm rather than comfortable in a hotel. We spent the next day exploring and running errands. We first stopped at the Norflok Military Base (the largest in the world) and took a tour. It was neat to see all the ships, planes, and historical buildings. Then we went shopping for all our food supplies and made the drive out to the island.

Here's our house. It is beautiful and fit the whole family! Spencer even had his own room which was our walk in closet! The pack and play fit perfectly in there, and it kept us from hearing him all night.

Warning! Lots of pictures to come! Lets start with our daily beach trips. The water was warm and wonderful to play in. Spencer loved the sand and was ok with the ocean, as long as Mark was holding him. We were able to see dolphins relatively close to us multiple times, and very large pelicans diving for food daily. We wish we could have gotten closer! We spent a lot of time in the sand too! Check out Marks sand alligator!

 

Stay tuned for Post Two!