I've grouped the week that we spent at the beach house into one post. Be forewarned, there's a bit of a photo overload!
After spending a lovely night in Delaware and a breakfast at The Original Pancake House we spent most of the next day driving down the coast (including the Cheseapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel). It was a long drive (around 7 hours), and we arrived a day later than the rest of the family, but, I think we would argue that the Belmont Stakes was worth it!
After lugging our luggage into the beach house, we made a quick stop at the beach.
The next day was mainly spent playing at the beach...,
making mud pies...,
swimming in the ocean...,
being buried...,
walking to and from the beach house...,
swimming in the pool at the beach house...,
tossing a football...,
and tossing children.
Alison and I went on a little drive to see what else was in the area. We were just a couple of miles south of Corolla.
Two babies joined us on the trip.
On Tuesday we made our way down to Kitty Hawk to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Having lived for 3 years in Dayton, Ohio, I've always had a bit of an affinity for the Wright Brothers. Fittingly, I was also reading David McCullough's
newest book about the Wright Brothers while we were on this trip.
Family photo at the monument.
Ada, Kate and Grace. It was hot and humid!
Ada at the replica airplane.
We stopped by Rita's Ice to cool off.
Scott and Hyrum hung out with 7 women in the hot tub.
Sunset on the Outer Banks.
On Wednesday we headed back to the beach. The house we were staying at was about a block from the beach.
Kate working on her sand castle.
That evening we took the girls mini-golfing.
Kate.
Ada.
Golfing girls.
Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
On Thursday we used our reciprocal membership for the Children's Museum in Salt Lake to get into the small Children's Museum in Kitty Hawk. It was pretty small, but the girls loved it.
Putting on a show.
We took a break from the Children's Museum to visit the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Once again it was a scorcher of a day. We didn't want to wait in the heat (or climb the stairs in a hot tower), so we didn't visit the top.
Bodie Island Lighthouse. After the lighthouse, we actually returned to the Children's Museum. The girls wanted to go back more than the beach or swimming in the pool.
That night we had family pictures on the beach.
The Squires.
This is more like it.
On Friday we hung out at the beach and pool and finished the night with a dance party.
Another stunning sunset.
Once the sun went down we went out to hunt sand crabs. Poor little guys.
Here is the beach house with all of the rental cars & vans. We were sad to leave.
Kate made sure to say goodbye to the babies.
She seems to have a thing for babies.
The kids with their American flags. Soon after, we pulled out and made our way back to Washington DC (about a 5 hour drive when there isn't any traffic). On the way out of town we stopped by Duck Donuts, and let me tell you, my biggest regret of the trip was not stopping by this place every morning. The donuts were fantastic.
The whole crew.
Another one of the us.
