The Outer Banks Adventure - Park IV

Playtime!  No words necessary...

The Outer Banks Adventure - Part III

Wildlife!

The area where we stayed was pretty remote.  There were wild horses roaming around, dolphins almost within our reach, pelicans, fish, crabs and even a starfish!

 The wild horses are nothing to be trifled with.  They are aptly named.

The first day we were there, one horse turned and snorted at the kids and started trotting towards them in 

a rather aggressive manner.  It was a good lesson to learn early on - KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.  And we did.  The horses roamed around our house at night, and we stayed on the porches

and behind the fences to look at them.

 Rob' fish....

...and Sophie's fish

 Pelicans

At first the fins in the water worried the kids a little bit.  I think we've watched

one too many episodes of Shark Week on Discovery.  But after we actually

saw the dolphins jumping through the waves, the kids went back in the water, with the dolphins,

without hesitation.

 Nate's starfish was truly one of the highlights of the week for him.

He found it by himself in the sand.  It's the only starfish we saw all week!  He got to see is crawl/wiggle around on it's little tentacles and he walked around carrying it for the longest time.

Yes, we ultimately did kill the starfish by laying it out to dry so that Nate could bring it home.  He'll be taking 

it into school to show his class tomorrow.

The Outer Banks Adventure - Part II

Boarding!

There were lots of boards this week - surf boards, skim boards, boogie boards.

Here's a taste of the adventures....

 Emma getting some surfing lessons from Rob.  Yes, Rob does know how to surf.  Hidden talent.

 Rob giving lessons to Sophie.

We had given Sophie surfing lessons for her birthday back in June, so she

had a bit of a leg up on everyone else.

 Charis hung in there with the best of them!  Early in the week she was standing up on the board

 Surf boards are still a little too big to handle for Abby, so she worked on her skim-boarding skills.  Having a low center of gravity is handy sometimes!

 Hans and Charis getting ready to work on their skills

 Heidi and Hans getting ready for the next wave

Fall Getaway - the Outer Banks adventure Part 1

Last week we took a much needed and much anticipated family vacation to the Outer Banks in NC.  The weather could not have been more perfect!  The house we rented was only available by driving directly on the beach in a four-wheel drive vehicle.  Thank goodness for "Big Billy" our faithful Suburban.  

Our good friends the Pfadt's came with us......there were 13 of us in the house....plenty of kids to play with....and plenty of ways to entertain ourselves.  The house itself was fabulous, with a pool and a hot tub.  But the kids spent the bulk of their time in the ocean.  The water was still warm from the summer heat and we quickly discovered that it was warmer than the pool water.

Driving on the beach - Rob and Hans took Charis and Hannah into town to rent some surfboards!

 Nate mastered the art of boogie-boarding

 Sophie was already a master at boogie-boarding so she worked on her surfing skills instead.  More on that later.

 Abby was cold, but determined.  She is a true competitor in all things - and conquered the skill of boogie-boarding in spite of the fact that she was freezing.  Thank goodness for the hot tub!  Abby was always the first one off the beach and into the hot tub to warm up!

 Skim boarding is another matter entirely.  It's not as easy as it looks.  Charis really worked at it with Dad this week!

 Nate grabbed a quick ride in the waves with Uncle Hans.

 Abby and Hope

 Hans

 Charis and Hannah

 Nate grabbing a quick ride on Emma

 The dynamic duo - Abby & Hope - I think they spent more time upside down than right-side up this week!

Stay tuned...there's more to come!