No better place than the ocean. . .

This week we got a wonderful treat - a few days at the Outer Banks with my brother Mark, sister-in-law Tracey, and niece Ashley. Amidst the stress and craziness leading up to David's boards in June, this break was a blessing. Thank you Mark, Tracey, and Ashley for hosting us! :)

Here  is a picture of the house where we stayed. . .a giant! With all the steps, it took Merritt all of about 2 hours of being there to master stair climbing. Gavin loved the bunk beds in his room, and I still can't get over the fact that I was still finding bathrooms I didn't realize existed on our last day there!

If only I could figure out how to turn pics on my blog using my mac. . .anyways, turn your head and see Gavin posing outside the house.

I take a lot of pictures on normal, hanging out at home in Durham sort of days, so you can imagine how many pics I take when I am at the beach, one of my FAVORITE destinations. About 150 to be exact. . .here are some of my favs. . .

Maybe that 'ocean sounds' option on our white noise machine IS good for something. . .

Gavin had a love/hate relationship with the tide. He was one second fearful it would wash all of our stuff away when we weren't looking (wouldn't it be freaky if it really came in that fast??) and the next moment purposely building sandcastle communities to be wiped out by the waves. I predict a Weather Channel Storm Team position for him in the future.

This was Merritt's first real beach exposure, and I am pleased to say that, like Gavin, he is a total beach bum. He loved moving his feet in the sand and eating dried seaweed. He only had one real mishap when he tipped onto his back and at the same time dropped an entire fistful of sand into his mouth. I actually think I freaked out more than he did, and within minutes he was a drool/snot/sand pasted baby, smiling and trying to eat more seaweed.

A family favorite - running around on the beach. I have pics like this of every beach excursion, and it is fun to see how each visit Gavin has grown. 

I love this picture of Mark and family. . .

We all enjoyed looking for shells and found several, including part of a sand dollar, an anemone, and. . .

. . .a sting ray! (no mom, it wasn't alive)

What a lovely break, and it got us even MORE excited (if possible!) for our trip back there in June with Brenda and Cheryl. Coincidentally, the house we will be staying in (picture below), was 2 blocks from the house where we stayed this time. Small world! If I can take 150 pictures in 2 days, imagine how many I can take in a whole week on the ocean. . .