Vacation in Hatteras

I started this post on November 13th....six weeks ago! Wow how time flies!! Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc., etc. got the best of me and I haven't been on the blog roll I was on. Oh well, here's to resolutions to stay consistent with blogging!!

In July we had the opportunity to go on vacation to the beach! We hadn't been in five years so we were all VERY excited. Joel and Abby had never seen the beach and Gabe was a baby the last time we were at the shore. Did y'all know my family carries the distinction of being some of the first settlers on Hatteras Island?! Crazy, huh?! My great grandfather, Dan Oden owned the general store "Oden's General Store", now called "Nedo's" (Oden spelled backward) and members of my family still own Oden's Dock, the Breakwater Motel, The Seagull Motel, as well as several other establishments and houses on the island. My mother spent months of every summer chilling on the outer banks and we made our fair share of trips there growing up as well. My middle name, before I changed it with marriage, was Oden so I always felt a special bond to my Outer Banks roots! Nowadays most of my great aunts and uncles have passed and few cousins have any idea who I am and vice-versa. One of my Great Aunts and her husband still have a house on the island. Every year my Mom's brother and his family spend a week there and this week we got to join them in a house owned by another cousin. It was such a blessing to have an almost free house to stay in and we had a great time!

The table in the kitchen had four chairs so Abby had a cozy seat on the floor!

The boys enjoying our first breakfast meal at the beach!! We never have pop tarts so they were SUPER excited. Check out that bank of windows!! They look right onto the "slash". AMAZING!!

A trip to Hatteras would not be complete without a ferry trip to Ocracoke Island. Here we are waiting for all the cars to load so that we can go feed the sea gulls! Does Ocracoke sound familiar??? The day we were there a little girl was bitten by a shark and it made national news. CRAZY!

This is me saying MO-SKEEEE-TOES!! The mosquitoes were INSANE this year. You couldn't walk outside without 50 or more landing all over you. That was my least favorite part of our trip!

Greg! So handsome!

Checking out the water and ALL the jelly fish. We lost count! Do you see our new Suburban there on the right? We found out in June that we were having another baby so when our 6.5 year old van needed over $2k in repairs we decided to take the plunge on a new ride. I love, love, love my new car. I know it's silly, but I really do!

Sweet baby girl and my 11 week belly!

I kind of prefer having the kids up at the top of the ship, enclosed. When we were down on deck I had visions of someone going overboard. My children get it honest. When we docked on the island Gabe said "shooowee, now I know for sure we aren't going to sink". We all knew exactly where the life jackets were on that thing! It also didn't hurt that the upper deck is air conditioned!

The beach!

Abby loved the beach. She wasn't a huge fan of the water but she played for HOURS in the sand!!

The rip tides in Hatteras are BRUTAL, hence the life jackets. The boys couldn't get enough of the water!

The boys had never seen the little arm covers older upholstered furniture has. Gabe thought they made great hats and of course Joel had to get in on the action!

Listening to the rangers give safety guidelines for going up in the lighthouse.

The Hatteras Lighthouse Isn't she a beaut!! One year when I was in high school we went to the lighthouse and my Mom struck up a conversation with an older park ranger. Turned out he had dated my grandmother when they were in high school, crazy huh!!

The handsome boys who were tall enough to climb the lighthouse.

The handsome (sad) boy who wasn't.

I was kind of relieved to have to stay with the younger two. Check out those steps, yikes!

The rangers were gracious enough to let us go inside and take a quick look.

This is what one looks like after sightseeing and beach combing all day. Even Dora is worn out!

Joel was exhausted too!

SEA LICE!! At least that's what my grandmother told me they were called. The rangers at the lighthouse disagreed with us but regardless we had a nice time digging for and playing with the little critters!

I'm not a fan of touching them. My boys are very brave!

Joel ~ one tough cookie....look at that face!

We caught hundreds of them!

Gabe, playing with his catch!

This kept them entertained for over an hour. Should have showed them how to dig for them the first day!

On our last day the boys completed their Junior Ranger badge. Here they are making an oath to keep the beach clean, or something like that! Great program! You should check it out at any National Park you might go to!

Sadly I didn't get any pictures of my uncle and cousins. We had a great time hanging out with them as well. My cousin Tracy is by far one of the funniest people I know! There is a really good chance we are moving this summer so I don't know that we will ever go back to Hatteras. It was a bittersweet trip knowing it could be my last time!