The Outer Banks and More!

We promised the kids a relaxing vacation this time—just kicking back on the beach, but not today. Despite the fact that several of them were quite sleep deprived (Crystal worked the night shift before her flight, Brittany and John were on Mountain Standard time, and Amanda had flown in from Germany), we had them get up early to take a trip to the Outer Banks.

They were very good natured about it, even if it meant 7 of us driving in one car. It was okay for those of us in front, and Amanda and Nolan didn’t complain a bit about being in the jump seat.

Did I mention it rained? Well it kept on doing it all morning. We got to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial in a steady drizzle. It was fine, as we had enough umbrellas to go around if we shared. We enjoyed walking to the top of Kill Devil Hill to see the memorial. It was fun hearing the history of the first airplane flight. It turned out the Wright Brothers chose Kitty Hawk because if they crashed (they did), the sand would be soft. Also the steady wind and dunes to glide off of in early practice helped a lot.

We went out to lunch and Crystal ordered the soft crab sandwich. If she had known it was an entire crab on a bun she might not have been so adventurous. Brittany split it with her, and that helped her get it down.

We went for a little walk down to the water, which was surprisingly cool. It didn’t really make us wish we had our swimsuits.

Nolan and Amanda got in a little deeper than the rest of us. Amanda, however, has to be careful with her one set of clothes. Sadly, her luggage is still in Frankfurt as of this blog posting. She is not a happy camper!

John picked up a newspaper, and found out he shares a birthday today with none other than Barack Obama! He has something in common with Ed, who shares a birthday with another US president-George H.W. Bush! 

We got home in time to go out with our neighbor and set some crab pots. We’re going to collect them in a few days and eat them! Hopefully we can find out how to steam them before that time!

We celebrated John’s birthday with a candle and a song on the pier at David’s house.

Then, we watched another perfect sunset before walking home. We promised the kids they can sleep in tomorrow!