Our Beach Bums - OBX Edition

Another OBX family vacation is officially in the books.  We just got back from 7 days of relaxation, sleeping in, fine dining...wait a second, we have 3 kids 3 and under so not one of those things actually happened.  Instead, we played more, slept less, and created memories.  Another year of fun in the sun with a sprinkle of rain in between, but in the end we all left the beach sun kissed, happy, and ready to do it all over again next year.  I wanted to do a little snapshot of each kid on vacation this year as part of my recap, so here it goes...

Addie

This girl LOVES the beach.  The water. The sand. Everything about it.  She probably would have spent the entire day jumping in the waves and playing in the water if we let her, she is a fish.  She didn't care how warm or cold the water was and was not at all intimidated by the waves during high tide.  She is fearless in the water!  Another highlight for her was digging for sand crabs.  She loved helping us find them and then carrying them around in her bucket.  She talked to them, showed them off to everyone she could, and would make up stories about them.  She even got enough courage to hold them after the first day.  On our 2 rainy days she became fascinated with lighthouses after our trip to the Bodie Island Lighthouse and developed a new obsession with milkshakes and requested them for before and after every meal, she would have been happy if the milkshake replaced the meal altogether.  When we went on our pontoon boat she became Daddy's little assistant and loved driving the boat and also helping him fish, although she wanted nothing to do with touching her fresh catch.  I don't blame her though!  She enjoyed every minute of hanging out with her family, "Little Bryan" makes her laugh like no one else can, she also thinks "Big Brian" is hilarious.  Carla always comes to her rescue when needed and T is just the coolest aunt in her eyes.  Grandma is always spoiling her with surprises and man did she get a lot of them this trip because she officially mastered this whole pooping in the potty thing.  Pap makes the best pancakes and Addie is always right by his side ready to assist.  It's safe to say Addie had an absolute blast on vacation this year and still requests to go to her "beach house" daily.  Oh how I wish that house was ours, maybe one day Addie, maybe one day.

Bella

Bella also had a lot of fun on vacation this year, although it might not have always looking like it since she is showing all of those terrible two signs in full force these days.  One minute she loves the beach, the next minute she is cursing us out in her own language if we even think about putting her down.  She also had a love/hate relationship with the pool, people, eating, and just about anything else you can think of.  She did have her favorites though too.  On the beach, Bella tried out the whole beach napping thing and pretty much always had a snack in her hand.  Bella loved having her late afternoon snack of oreos and chocolate milk with Grandma on the deck, a toddlers version of 5 o'clock somewhere right?!?  She loved jumping off the side at the pool and was a much bigger fan of our giant flamingo when he was in the living room verus in the pool.  She developed an obsession with playing hide and seek. "Hide, hide, hide" she would say at least a hundred times a day as she waited for whoever to find her, but especially loved when Bryan was the seeker.  She loved the boats and planes that went by on the beach or when we were on our pontoon boat and Pap and T spoiled her with long walks searching for seashells on a daily basis.   Uncle Brian built her the coolest man made "pool" and Carla kept her safe while she played in it.  Carla always keeps the kids safe from silly Uncle Brian.  Grandma spoiled her with just as many surprises as Addie got, even though there was no pooping in the potty, but that's what Grandma's are for, right?   This girl always leaves a trip completely spoiled and this vacation was no different, being held and getting one on one attention are her favorites and she knows just how to wrap everyone around her little finger to get just what she wants, smart girl Bella, smart girl.  

Noah

This was Noah's first OBX family vacation and he was a champ.  At only 2 months old he lived the life.  He napped on the beach, napped in Grandma's arms, napped poolside and when he wasn't napping he enjoyed his cocktail of choice - momma's milk.  He came along on all of our adventures, the lighthouse, Colington Cafe, and the pontoon and continued his daily activities of napping and eating and spoiling all of us with his smiles.  Noah's laid back, easy going personality made bringing a newborn to the beach an absolute breeze and even though he won't remember his first OBX family vacation I will always cherish the memories of his days on the beach.