Outer Banks - Days 4-10

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.

The House - Week 29

Week 29 - May 11, 2016

This week there was a lot of painting going on.  We didn't spend too much time in the house as we didn't want to get in the way.

You can see the windows taped and protected from the interior painting.

The monstrous mud puddle has started to dissipate.  Drains were added which obviously helped.

The drain.

Draining down.

Painting the kitchen.

Painting the master bedroom.

Water softener installed (which reminds me, I'd better check the salt...)

The back of the blue house.

Next week: More painting and starting on the flooring.

PS.  I checked the salt and we've still got plenty.

Outer Banks - Day 3

June 6, 2015

You'll note two things right off the bat.  First is that we're still in New York (which is in the wrong direction from the Outer Banks) and the second is that this trip happened more than a year ago, so I'm really having to stretch my memory to make up things that we did on this trip.

We spent the night in New York at the New Yorker Hotel on 8th Avenue and 34th Street (and overnight parking was a steal at $80/night!).  This is where Nikola Tesla spent his final days.  On my way to Dunkin Donuts to grab some breakfast I made a detour to the 33rd floor to see his room and study.

We started the day by walking down 34th street, past Penn Station to the Empire State Building.

Lyla being silly while waiting for the elevators that would take us to the top.

There was an audio tour with information about the building.  If I wasn't there with the kids I think I could have spent a couple of hours there.  It was right up my alley.  As it was, we stayed for as long as Lyla and her sisters were at least semi-interested.

Looking downtown.  The Freedom Tower is visible in the background.

Looking west.  You can see Madison Square Garden and our Hotel.

Another view looking west.

Looking north.  Take a look at the new 432 Park Avenue Tower.  It will be the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere.

Lyla wasn't in the mood for pictures (which would be a bit of the theme of this trip).

After the Empire State Building, we jumped on the subway and made our way downtown.

These girls are the best traveling companions.

We waited in a decent line in Battery Park before boarding the ferry to Liberty Island.

We couldn't come to New York and not make the trip out to see Miss Liberty. After french fries, it's probably the French's greatest gift to humanity on this continent.

We had tickets to make the climb up to the top of the pedestal.  It was a bit windy up there.

There she is.  It's a good thing her robes are long.

On Liberty Island looking towards Manhattan.

After we returned to Lower Manhattan we grabbed a taxi back up to Penn Station where we grabbed lunch.  As we were sitting eating our late lunch I checked the timetables on my phone for the special trains directly from Penn Station to Belmont Park for the Belmont Stakes.  When I checked my phone the last train left less than 10 minutes from that moment (I had thought there would be more trains as the main race wasn't for a couple of more hours).  We didn't yet have tickets, nor did we know which track we were on, but everything somehow worked out and we boarded the train with probably 30 seconds to spare.  It's a little thing, but sometimes you can be prompted on the little things.

We arrived at the Belmont Stakes and it was packed.  The race was sold out with just under 100,000 attendees who were all there hoping to see American Pharoah win the triple crown as he had already won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

There's no denying that the kids were in the minority here, but they were just as excited to see American Pharoah as we were.  We hung out outside the stands for the early races (I waited to use one of the porta-potties and it was within an inch from being all filled up and overflowing.  Luckily, none of the girls had to try and use one).

We made our way into the stands and waited for the big race to begin.  I held Ada and had Lyla on my shoulders while Alison held Kate (we were in the standing room only area).

The race was incredible and (hopefully this isn't a spoiler), but American Pharoah won the triple crown for the first time in more than 30 years.  The crowd and cheering was unbelievable.  It was truly something that I think I'll never forget.  Alison and I just couldn't believe that we, of all people, were there.  What a strange place to find yourself.

Here's the video of the race if you need to relive it (or never saw it).

After the race, we made our way to the train platform and everything worked out so perfectly and we were on the first train out of there.  The race was crowded with Yale-like pretty-boys (does that make sense?) and we had a few of them on our train back to the city.  There was in incident with some spilled alcohol and one of them started getting undressed, but luckily he stopped at his boxers, although he feigned taking them off a few times (and everybody on the train except us was cheering for him to strip down), but luckily our young girls didn't get the full show.

We picked up our car from the hotel and then made our way south down the New Jersey turnpike.  We stayed the night in Delaware (have you ever spent the night in Delaware?), with plans to make our way to the Outer Banks tomorrow.

The House - Week 28

Week 28 - May 4, 2015

More progress this week!

This was a bit disappointing.  We had found a way to slope the landscaping from the front yard to the backyard, which was nice.  However, the power company didn't want to have the meter set on a slope, so the rockwork had to be re-done to create a couple of distinct tiers.

Bum crack spotted.

The deck has been finished.

The railing has been stained.

Ongoing rockwork along the south side of the yard and house.

Lyla Jane posing.

Everybody else wanted to get in on this action.  Ada posing.

And Kate, sitting dangerously.

Al in her boots.

It's a good thing she wore them.  The key to the house was in a lock box at the front door, but there was a cesspool guarding the porch.  She put her Hunter boots to good use.

Painting the cubbies in the mud room.

Painting the railing posts.  The previously stained railing and base wood have been protected with painters tape and paper.

Painting the baseboard and trim.

Starting to clean up the electrical wiring in the panel.