Happy 6th Anniversary to US- 160/365

Today is our 6th Anniversary! 

Time sure flies! It seems like just yesterday, we were knee deep in planning our wedding and now somehow six years flew by!! It's been a great six years, and though we've had our ups and downs, we are still going strong! We're best friends and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Traveling in the car, isn't exactly how we wanted to spend our anniversary but, oh well. We had already decided we would pick a night this coming week to do dinner and exchange presents. We didn't want our special day to get lost in the shuffle of travel. 

We woke up and were moving a little slow from our vacation and travel. We had hoped to make it downtown DC to see a few sights, but we were lazy. We did make it to Georgetown Cupcake in Bethesda to grab some for the road, of course...LOL! I also wanted to grab my mom and dad a few for taking care of Brinkley and the house all week. We got our cupcakes and by then, it was already going on 11. We knew we were going to have to stop for lunch with the little one, which always takes awhile, so we decided to just hit the road. 

We got home around 5:00 and got to unpacking. We were greeted with a lovely surprise on the counter from my mom and dad. They left us a bottle of wine and a gift card to the Phoenix...YUM! It's one of our favorite places to eat! We actually hoped to maybe go tonight, even before the gift card, but by the time we got unpacked, we were pooped. My mom and dad had to go to calling hours this evening, so they dropped Brinkley off around 6:00. We were so happy to see the little guy! Reagan was thrilled, too! She gave him big hugs! We chatted with them for a bit, then I continued my laundry quest. I ended up getting three loads done...whew!

As we were calming down for the evening, I took Brinkley outside and dressed him up in his souvenir from the Outer Banks. They had an all dog store called Outer Barks, so I couldn't resist getting him a little treasure. 

It was an OK travel day and we're home safe and sound from our trip. We wanted have a picture of us for our anniversary day, but we were looking pretty beat from travel day. Just awful...LOL!
So, we'll roll with this.....

The photo of the day is Brinkley sporting his OBX souvenir.

The bonus pic, is our little surprise from my mom and dad...THANKS SO MUCH!!! :)

Heading Home - 159/365

It was our last morning on the beach! 

Check out wasn't really until Sunday, but Jim and I, really like splitting up the drive if we can. It's just easier on everyone. 

We decided we would leave Corolla around 1 or 2 and make it back to our Marriott in DC by 7:30ish, which would be, just in time for Reagan's bath. We thought then, we may be able to see one or two things in DC, Sunday morning instead of spending 11 straight hours in the car. 

We ended up having a nice morning on the beach. It was sunny and the wind had thankfully, died WAY down. The whole crew just spent the morning frolicking around on the beach. We took lots of pictures and just chilled out. It was really nice!

Before we left, I wanted to do one more little photo shoot. I wanted to get Reagan with the "Wild Horses" of Corolla. LOL!  Just as we were getting set up, it started thunder storming a bit. We got a few shots in, and thankfully, she really cooperated! They turned out adorable from what I looked at quickly!

 We went in, got packed up and hit the road! The drive was really easy and we got to Bethesda right on time. Reagan and I played in the room, while Jim went out and got us Five Guys for dinner...YUM! We were all sleeping by 9:30! We must have been POOPED from our super fun vacation! 

The photo of the day is Jim, Greg, Nikki, Reagan and I on our last morning at the beach...

Of course I had to add our signature photo for this trip...

Tropical Storm Andrea - 158/365

Tropical Storm Andrea moved through today. We were actually under a tropical storm warning here in Corolla. She turned out to be nothing more than a really rainy morning with some minor wind. We've had worse thunderstorms at home.  

We have been to the Outer Banks twice and both times we've had a major tropical system move through. The first time we actually had to outrun Hurricane Irene. It was crazy!

Anyway, the morning looked like it would be a total wash out, so Jim, Reagan and I went out to do a little shopping around town. I wanted a couple t-shirts and wanted to pick up a few other things. We had some good success at a place called, The Farmer's Daughter. They had nicer shirts and sweatshirts, so I found a lot of goodies there. We headed over to Tim Buck II and just wandered around. By this time, it looked as if it was trying to clear, so we headed back. 

We got in, had some lunch and by then, the sun was out, so we got our beach gear on. The rest of the crew were just coming up as we were headed down. Jim, Reagan and I set up camp on the beach and threw down our toys. We were having a good time for about 15 minutes, when a huge gust of wind came! It felt like sandpaper on your skin. A bunch of Reagan's beach toys blew down the beach and she started bawling! She said, "OH NO, mine beach toys! I need them!" I felt horrible! She was devastated! I took off after them and recovered them all. We tried to stay a little longer, but another gust came. A few toys blew again, but not as far. Jim and I laughed and said, "you want to put your toys back in the bag?" She was half in tears and frantically grabbed up each toy. She was almost done when she said, "here my purple octopus!" and started shoving him down in the bag at lightening speed. It was darling! 

We decided the beach wasn't going to work, so we tried to hit the pool. The one by the house ended up being closed, so we were totally bummed. We decided to take a shot in the dark and try the other pool in a different part of the development. That one was closed, too! At this point, it was totally sunny, just a little wind. We played on the playground that was right there a little bit. Reagan was loving the swing! We were getting ready to leave when Jim said, "let me go in here and see if they plan on opening the pools at all." He came back a few seconds later with a man who opened the pool! YAY! We ended up having the whole pool to ourselves!!! 

We got back to the house and the rest of the crew was heading out to check out the wildlife center again. It was Reagan's nap time, so we stayed back. 

Another band of storm came through, so I was trying to take pictures of the crazy waves and the rain on the windows, while Jim and Reagan napped. 

When they got up, we got ready and went to the Tomato Patch again, this time with Greg and Nikki. We had a really nice dinner to cap off a hectic day! 

After we got Reagan put down for bed, Jim and I took flashlights and walked on the beach a bit. We think we saw a HUGE fox running on the dunes. It was freaky.  I looked it up and I guess the Outer Banks does have a lot of fox that make dens in the dunes. There were also a TON of HUGE crabs walking around. You had to be really careful where you stepped! 

The photo of the day is Reagan enjoying the swings...

The extra pics are Tropical Storm Andrea. Here is the rain on the windows....

And the offical warning from the Weather Channel app on my phone. 

 

Historic Villiage & Dolphins - 157/365

Today, I got up and photographed my first sunrise of the trip. 

I had been meaning to all week, but just hadn't done it. With Tropical Storm Andrea supposed to roll in tomorrow, I figured I better do it. I'm glad I did! It was GORGEOUS! After everyone else was up and about, we attempted to take some nice pictures of the three kids on the beach. It was hilarious! One would go one way, and another would go a different way. We tried everything from singing to games. It will be interesting to see what shots I actually got...LOL! 

Everyone got dressed for the day and then, Adrienne, Jillian, Nikki, Jim, Reagan and I went over to explore Corolla Historical Village. Greg and Jake had gone crabbing. When they got back, they hung out with Evan and cooked up their crabs.

 The village was really cute, but REALLY small. That had a small store and museum about the wild horses. There was also a little school house that was next door, so we walked over there. Turns out, we couldn't go in, because the kids of Corolla actually attend school there. It's a one room school house that teaches kindergarten through 6th grade. It was fascinating. 

After that, we walked over to the Currituck Lighthouse. It's a beautiful brown brick lighthouse built in 1875. Jim and I decided to try to climb to the top to check out the view. There are 214 steps and we felt every single one of them. It really wasn't as bad as we thought, but our legs were on FIRE! Once we got to the top, the view was absolutely STUNNING! You really get a sense of how THIN the Outer Banks really are. It's truly a fascinating piece of land. 

The lighthouse was the last one built on the Outer Banks and still helps ships today. The light comes on for three seconds and stays off for 17 seconds. We can see the light from our house at night and watch it come off and on. It's pretty cool. The light can be seen for 18 nautical miles. 

After we made our decent, we headed over to the wildlife education center. It's pretty new and had some really nice exhibits inside. The girls really enjoyed it. 

We then, spent a little more time walking around on the boardwalks then headed home. 

This whole trip, none of us had visited the pool. We've been spending all our time on the beach, so Jim, Reagan and I decided to take a walk over. Jim was the first to put his feet in. It was really cold! He finally braved it, then it was Reagan's turn. She was a little apprehensive at first, but warmed up to it OK. They spent about 10 minutes splashing when Greg showed up. He was the next one to brave the waters. We finally decided we had, had enough pool and hit the beach. I have a gigantic beach ball so I blew that up and the kids just had a blast pushing and chasing it around. It was bigger than them! 

 Finally, everyone headed in to take naps and get cleaned up for dinner. Greg and Jake wanted to cook dinner for everyone and made a fantastic feast! They cooked up steak and chicken fajitas with all the accompaniments you could imagine! They were excellent! We were all STUFFED! 

An added bonus, while they were cooking was, we got to watch a HUGE pod of dolphins swimming right in front of the house! There had to be 30 of them, it was amazing!
We all had a great time sitting around talking. Jillian all of a sudden blurted out, "What do you call a pasta that moves?" We all laughed and said, "What?" She, as sure as sure could be, said, "Reagansauce!" We all got a huge laugh about that one! It was so darn cute! 

After we finished cleaning up and putting the kids to bed, we sat and watched some more of the Italy video. It was a great day!

There are three photos today. The first is Jim and I at the top of the lighthouse.

 The next is Jake and Greg cooking dinner...

And finally, one of the dolphins...

 

Beach Day - 156/365

It was another gorgeous day! 

There is some rain in the forcast, a tropical storm actually, for Friday, so we wanted to take full advantage of the nice weather. Jake, Adrienne and the kids went down to Jockey's ridge to play on the sand dunes. We did that couple years ago, so Greg, Nikki, Jim and I decided to try out the nature trail by the house. It was a really nice walk down to the sound through the forest. The trail opened up to this beautiful area overlooking the water. We saw an egret, beaver, salamander, frog, and lots of pretty dragonflies. It was really neat. On the way back, we noticed there was another path that you could take, but it was more traditional woods hiking. We decided to check that one out, too. Jim, Reagan and I made it all the way to the end. It was kind of anti-climatic. It pretty much ended in a mud pit overlooking the sound. We did see lots of wild horse tracks and horse poop. No horses though, LOL! We headed out of the woods and realized Reagan had fallen asleep on our little adventure. We decided we would walk down to where the road ends and where the horses are, to stroll on the beach for a little while she snoozed. We had a nice walk, but still didn't see any horses. We did see a GIGANTIC dead sting ray. YUCK! People were actually stopping their cars on the beach to check it out. 

After our walk, we got changed and camped on the beach the rest of the afternoon. It was wonderful! We built sandcastles, dug big holes, and did some boogie board surfing. The kids had so much fun! After our day at the beach, Greg and Nikki headed out to do their horse tour. They ended up having the same guide as we did, it was funny. Adrienne, Jake and the kids decided to stay and hang around the house. Jim, Reagan and I hit the town to look for some dinner. We ended up at a place called The Tomato Patch. They had the most delicious pizza. Reagan had some mac n cheese with goldfish crackers on top. She couldn't have been more thrilled! 

We got back and put Reagan to bed. By that time, Jim's mom and dad were back and we sat with them, had a drink and watched some more of their Italy video. Nice way to cap off the day! The photo of the day the sound at the end of the path....

The next is the girls doing their "surfing"....

 

Wild Horses - 155/365

We started off the day with a wild horse tour! 

Jim's mom and dad were nice enough to watch all three kids while Adrienne, Jake, Jim and I took the tour. It was a great tour! 

We loaded up in the Hummer and headed toward the beach. We set out on our adventure at the same point where Jim, Greg, Nikki and I started our off road adventure. Our tour guide's name was Gary and he lives up in the neighborhood near the horses. He said of the 100+ horse tour guides, he's the only one that lives up near the horses, which made him really knowledgeable about the horses and you could tell he really cares about them. He cracked a lot jokes, which made the ride fun. He took us up past the wildlife reserve, to a neighborhood where the only roads are sand and you have to get there by driving the beach. It was amazing that people live and stay up there. There is no store, no real sewers, no nothing really, but BIG houses and beach. This one house actually had horses just in their front yard. It was really something! 

We ended up seeing around 10-15 horses in three different groups. He said there is around 116 or so, and around 4 different families. They were a lot smaller than I thought and they were really calm. You could probably walk right up and touch them, but that would land you a $500 fine and a night in jail. No thanks... 

On our way back, he pointed to the grocery store that we have been shopping at and said, back in 1995 before the fence was built at the tip of Corolla, the horses all roamed around this area. He said, that grocery store is probably the only store in America that has had a wild horse shopping inside. The area is just getting too populated for them to roam the whole Outer Banks, that's why they now have their own space up at the tip, with little to no traffic.

After that, we all came back and gave grandma and papa a break from the kiddos. They all had a good time playing though! Reagan seemed pooped from her playtime so she took a nap and we just chilled and had some lunch.

 After she got up, we hit the beach for awhile with papa, grandma, Jake & Jillian. It was such a beautiful day, mid 70's and clear blue skies! The tide was coming in, so we had to move our camp back a few times. It was making some great tide pools though. The girls were having a blast running and splashing through them. I had gotten the kids some "sky sleds" at Walgreens before we left and we attempted flying Reagan's. We got it up in the air right away and had a blast watching it go! That's the first time we attempted flying a kite in probably 20 years. 

We got cleaned up and headed down to Kitty Hawk to eat at the Outer Banks Brewing Station. It's about a 45 minute ride, but well worth it. We ate there in 2011 when we all visited Nags Head. That was the year we were trying to outrun Hurricane Irene. It was really good! They have awesome sandwiches. It was really nice, too, because they have a huge "backyard" where there is music, picnic tables and a huge playground for the kids. Jillian and Reagan probably went down the slide 100 times. They were loving it! Evan went a few times with Jake but couldn't go too much because the slide went about 100 MPH! It was FAST! 

We got home and Reagan went right to sleep. Jim and I got some cool LED flashlights at the store next to the horse tours, so we decided to go try them out on the beach. We saw a couple crabs, that was it. The tide was WAY out though, it was pretty cool. The beach is extremely dark! 

It was a really fun day! The photo of the day is the horses.... 

The next is us at with our beach Hummer....

Here is the group at the Brewery....

 and our 2011 picture, too....LOL

Off Roadin' - 154/365

It was our first full day on the beach! 

We got up and decided to go for a walk. Jim's mom and dad had already gone on a walk, so they offered to play with Reagan. They said to look for a big crab they saw living under our stairs to the beach. Sure enough, there he was. He's huge! Jim and I named him Sandy Claws. LOL! 

ANYWAY, we walked down to where the beach fence is for the horses. There is a little opening where people are allowed to pass through. On that side of the beach, cars are allowed to drive up and down to an area where you can park and keep your car with you right on the beach. We walked quite awhile just watching the cars drive up and down the beach, it was fascinating. We then headed over to the dunes. On that side, you are allowed to climb on them. It was pretty fun! After watching lots of cars go up and down, we decided we would give it a try. 

We are at the very tip of the Outer Banks and Corolla is the top town. After Corolla, there is no paved roads. We are right around the corner from there, it's so cool! 

We walked back to the house and told Jim's mom and dad to come along. (Adrienne, Jake and the kids went to breakfast so they missed out on the off roading...LOL!) I was going to be the driver...YIKES! We piled in the car and set off. We rounded the bend and I thought, OH no. It was really kinda fun, but so weird! It almost felt like you were driving on ice and through 6 inches of snow. We hit some really deep ruts where other cars were going and you could feel the bottom of the car pushing the sand! I just kept my foot on the gas and kept on trucking, because you aren't allowed to stop for a mile and a half. We were new at it and a little nervous, so we went down a little bit, then decided to turn around. The Saturn is AWD and was doing great. I don't think we would have gotten stuck, but it's built on a car frame, so it just doesn't have the height for some of the deeper ruts. We're going on a tour up that way, so were going to see what's up there and maybe try again later in the week. 

We got back to the house, got out and were laughing because, the front tires were just FILLED with sand! It was crazy! I would like to try again, we'll see.

 The rest of the afternoon, we played on the beach. We had a lovely little camp set up and the girls loved digging in the sand. Greg brought some chairs down from the garage and got them all set up. They looked a little worn and a bit rusty at the joints, but who cared. He went to sit down and lean back, when we just heard, crack. The whole back of the chair just bent back and he fell backwards on the sand. Luckily, it was one of the really low kind, where your butt is just an inch or two off the ground, so thankfully, he didn't fall hard. LOL!  He acutally said it was pretty comfy the way he landed, so he just stayed that way for awhile. 

We got to play on the beach for an hour or so, then we noticed some dark clouds rolling in and it started raining. Bummer.

 After that, we just had some lunch and then took naps. 

This evening, Greg, Nikki, Adrienne, Evan, Jim, Reagan and I went to dinner at La Dolce Vita. It was a really great restaurant at the Tim Buck II shopping complex. We all enjoyed our dinner and the kids were really good, too! 

 After dinner, we came back to the house and decided to walk back out on the beach for a little bit. Greg, Nikki, Jillian, Jim, Reagan and I had a good time splashing around. It was the perfect end to a nice day! 

The photo of the day is our sand filled tires....

 And, here is Sandy Claws....

  

Corolla, Outer Banks - 153/365

It was off to the beach today! 

 We all slept in a little from our long travel/sightseeing day. We got up around 8:30 and just laid around a bit. Jim and I, had Reagan in the middle of the big bed and were hugging her when she blurted out, "Don't cuddle me!" :( It starts already. From that moment on, she was just a total sassafras today. Every. SINGLE. Thing we asked of her was greeted with a "No" or an "I don't wanna." Ay, yi, yi. 

We finally were all situated and headed over to Georgetown Cupcake, aka, DC Cupcakes! We love watching the show and have been lucky enough to visit three of the four stores they have. This time, we just went to the Bethesda store since it was right down the street. They had some new flavors we hadn't tried before like, Chocolate Butterscotch Chip and Strawberry. Both were delicious! Reagan, who, all the way there said, "I don't want a go to a cupcake stora!" had a great time. She thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake! We enjoyed some at a table in the store but we also got a box to go to bring to the beach. 

After that, we began our 5 hour drive to the beach. The drive went pretty well, no major traffic snags at all. Reagan was quite talkative the ENTIRE way! She wasn't really being bad, just a little motormouth. At one point she just started yelling out, "It's a piano!" over and OVER again. I bet it went on nearly 25 minutes! Jim and I were laughing so hard. I literally looked like I was sobbing! It was so funny. I don't know why she was doing it or where she got it! LOL!

 We finally pulled up to the beach and it's amazing! The Outer Banks are just beautiful. I love how there is really only one main road, and at some points you are just on this thin strip of land with water directly on either side. 

We pulled up to the house and it was really something. We laughed though, because there is a huge Unicorn on the front porch just staring out over the driveway. Reagan loved it!

We got inside and all unpacked and took a walk down to the beach. It's just so unspoiled, just amazing! 

Jim, Nikki, Greg, Reagan and I all decided to set out and find something to eat. Adrienne, Jake and the kids had eaten not long before they got there, so they stayed back. We went to a place called Sun Fish Grill. It was really yummy and the portion sizes were really something! We all enjoyed our dinner and headed back to the house. 

After we got Reagan in bed, Jim and I decided to walk out on the walkway to the beach. We stepped outside and were both blown away by the amount of stars. We both jaw dropped at the same time! It was a crystal clear night, so there were MILLIONS of stars. Jim and I both said that we have never seen a sky like that. It was totally breathtaking! I can't wait to try to photograph star trails and maybe even the Milky Way! We're going to have a great time here! 

The photo of the day is our walkway to the beach, from the back of the house. 

I had to add this adorable picture form Georgetown Cupcake...I think she liked it!