OBX

We were able to get away for a few days and used some points from our timeshare to go to the beach. Since it was super last minute and planned all of 6 days before we went, there was only one place open on the coast and that was Duck, NC. I had never heard of Duck so we googled it and found out it's on the Outer Banks. I was worried it was going to be too long of a drive for just 4 days, but it was only about an hour and a half further than Myrtle Beach. We stayed in a condo which wasn't the most modern place ever, but it wasn't awful... The resort had an indoor pool and beach access a few buildings over from our building.

Here are driving from our condo to the beach access. It was just across the parking lot so we let Addison ride on Jordan's lap, which she loved!

The ocean was calm and the weather was beautiful!

Unfortunately, Addison was scared of the water and absolutely hated the sand, so we only stayed on the beach for about 15 minutes. Probably best that we weren't out long because I didn't even bring sunscreen with us since I wasn't expecting to have 70 degree weather.

Addison was grumpy and wouldn't look at the camera at all. It didn't help that in order to get the water int he background we had to look right into the sun, hence the squinting.

This is not a great picture but it's what we've got. A sweet lady volunteered to get some shots of us as a family and even knew how to use our camera!

There were only two things on the beach that interested Addison that she wasn't also terrified of and that was the other "babies" on the beach and the sea gulls. This is her pointing at the birds. She was so concerned that the other babies we saw were sitting and playing in the sand. She kept whining "Babies, sand" and fake crying for them. I guess she hated the sand so much that she assumed everyone else hates it too and she felt bad for the poor other little children whose parents made them sit in the sand! Cute little thing!

This is what she did most of the time. I should also note that Addison's bad mood wasn't helped by the fact that it was 3 int he afternoon and she had yet to nap. We were all pretty tired for most of the trip because Addison "sleeping"in her pack-n-play in the in same room as Jordan and I did not go well. She woke up almost everytime we moved around in the squeaky bed and then whined until we brought her in our bed. She then flopped around so much that I could not sleep. We were all pretty much up by 6 every morning without much hope for a nap anytime soon. But we still had a great trip and I enjoyed all the time I was able to spend with my girl!

Because no trip is complete without a crappy attempt at a self portrait! At least Addison is looking up and not crying... :)

I couldn't get the great artistic shot I was imagining with the water coming right up to her name, but it works.

Although it wasn't super relaxing with a 22 month old in tow, it was a fun trip! I cherish every moment I get with my toddler because these days are flying by. She is so sweet and so much fun!

Beachy Goodness!

Beach trip in photos:

Addison loved to walk on the catwalk out to the sand. She really got good at walking all over the place during our trip. Oh, and she will no longer hold my hand while I walk beside her. So sad! She thinks she's all gone up now.
Isn't she so Beautiful! I just love her little curls!Here's Addison with her 5 cousins. These are all of the grand kids of Jordan's side. (Addison's the only one one my side...until February!) Kaylee (9) with Ellett (8 months), Bryson (11) with Conner (4), and Keenan (13) with Addison (1). They're a good looking bunch, huh?
Chilling on the Beach on the Forth of July!
I just love her red, white and blue bathing suit. so cute!
She was NOT diggin the hat. or the sand. or the water. or the not being held. She was trying to get to me through the camera. Little Miss Whiny Pants!
This is what Jordan did to Kaylee. He and his cousin used to always bury each other in the sand, so he thinks it's great fun! I'll let them keep their fun to themselves. :)

And this is what Addison did to cool off! She's into climbing into things. She was in the dishwater later that week.

We had such a great time at the beach! We really missed Jordan's dad, who couldn't come since he had to work. Next time hopefully he'll be able to come. I was really, really stoked that Jordan's Grandma was able to come! It had been years since she had been to the beach and she so loves it. Hopefully she'll realize that she can get out and about easier than she thought and will go places now that we're back home. I think she really had a great time. We enjoyed eating...at the house(Brent, Jordan's Bro in law, is such a great cook. He cooked for us every night but 2. SO GOOD), at restaurants (Yacht Basin Provision-best place ever!!, Japanese steakhouse, Thai by the Beach, Ice cream shops and more ice cream shops!) just a lot of eating! No wonder I packed on the pounds! :) Great trip! Can't wait to do it again!

Beach Trip: take 2

I know, I've been leaving you hanging on our beach trip. It's been a week since I've posted anything and I need to get this written, because otherwise I'll forget it all.

So on Thursday of our trip we went to the Greek Orthodox Church to be converted.

Just kidding! We did go to the Greek Orthodox church to be a part of their Greek Festival. Who doesn't love a great Greek festival? I tend to go to one at least once a year with my mom and sister and Jordan. I've never been to the same one twice. (1st time was at the International Festival at UNCC, 2nd time was in Charlotte, 3rd in Winston-Salem, and 4th at Myrtle Beach) My main purpose in going is to eat all of the yummy food. I love it all!! I love the (WARNING: major misspelling of words about to happen!!) Souvlaki, Chicken Gyros, Spanikopita, Baklava, Grape roll things, and the Tsatsiki sauce. I pretty much like everything Greek! So we walked around with content little Addison riding in the stroller. Mom and Kyla were looking around at all the vendors. It was lots of fun and sooo yummy!!

Next we went and played putt putt, which is my all time favorite beach activity! I LOVE putt putt. I don't know why I like it so much, but I do. I could have gone to play everyday, but I suppressed the urge and we only played once. Addison did really well until we were nearly done playing and she was ready for a nap. But we just took turns holding her and she was okay.

Cute Addie/Daddy picture during putt putt!

This is not the best picture, but it shows Addison's skiing pose! This is what she does when she wants to stand but gets tired. She just squats down and leans forward. She refuses to sit...

Here's my sweetie with her Aunt Kyla. I am so glad that they (mom and Kyla) were able to come down with us.

When we got back to the hotel, Jordan, Kyla and I went out to the beach for a little bit while my mom stayed in the room with my napping Addison. We played with the nerf football and in the waves until we saw sting rays, then went to the pool/hot tub. As we were leaving to come back in, Mom came walking out with Addison in her little swimsuit. So we took some pictures on the beach:

Then we went to the indoor pool and let Addison go swimming for the first time. We bought her this little baby float and it was the best $4 we spent!! She loved the water. She would smile and coo and splash! So CUTE!

That night Jordan and I went out to eat while mom and Kyla kept my sweet baby girl. (By the way, she did so good with all of her naps and bedtimes, even with us being loud and noisy in such a small place. She really is the best baby ever!!) I don't remember the name of the place we ate but it was really nice and really good. It had very unique dishes. Then we walked around at Broadway at the Beach and ate pumpkin cheesecake ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. That was good!! I was ready to get back to Addison (even though she was Sleeping) the whole time I was gone.

Friday was a laid back day. Kyla and mom left around lunch time and Jordan and I went to the outlets one last time and then went swimming with Addison again. That evening we ate at the restaurant on the pier by our hotel. Addison had been really fussy until we got her in her stroller. We walked over (in the light rain) and ate while listening to live music. Addison just stared up at the lights and got really still until she finally zonked out for the night. We weren't going to go anywhere to eat since she was being fussy. I hate to think that we were going to try to plan based on her temperament. I like to think that we can still do most things and be spontaneous, even with a baby. So it made me happy to see what a little angel she was in the restaurant.

Saturday we hit up a few consignment stores and Baby boutiques. While eating lunch we made the decision to go ahead and pack up and come home. We really weren't sure how long we'd stay since we had the room until Sunday, but I really wanted to have that day home to do laundry and get settled back in. So got everything packed up in 45 minutes and left. We made dinner plans with our friends Chuck and LeeAnn so we came straight to their house and ate. We ending up staying over night there, even though we were a mere 20 minutes from home, but it was raining and late and Addison was sound asleep in Salem's crib, so it was well worth it.

So we ended up have a blast. Jordan and I agreed that the end of September was a perfect time to go to the beach and I think we may even turn it into a tradition.

Beach Trip!! (Part 1)

So we took Addison Kate on her second Beach trip. It was nice to go back again after only 3 months. Addison was such a good girl the whole time we were gone. After we left Keli in Dunn, we drove the other leg of our trip to Myrtle Beach. We got there on Sunday afternoon and unloaded, changed clothes and relaxed for a bit then went to Carrabbas to eat! I know some people think it's dumb to go to the beach and not eat at local restaurants, but I love me some Carrabbas and we almost always tend to go while we are at the beach. We did get the crab cakes, so we ate seafood, right... Addison was getting sleepy, but she still did really well. The waitress kept commenting on how wonderful she was being. We tend to get that just about everywhere we go with her. I don't think people believe me I tell them what a great baby she is. Anyway, this is about the beach, not Addison (Yeah, right! Everything is about that girl!! :) and I love it that way!!)

Monday: We hit up the outlet stores (Hello, Coach!!) and went grocery shopping so that we didn't end up eating every meal out. We got stuff for roast beef sandwiches, tomato or cucumber sandwiches, spaghetti, veggie/beef (canned) soup, chicken fingers, all kinds of breakfast goodies and of course, double stuf oreos!! (plus a lot of other snack stuff you don't care about. Not that you have cared about anything else I listed, but oh well!)

Tuesday: I don't really seem to remember what we did on Tuesday. I think we tried to go out on the beach in the morning, but Addison was sleepy and did not want to lay on the towels I brought for her to nap on, so that was short lived. She fell asleep on the way to the room, though.

Here she is napping (well, she was napping until I started taking her pictures and the flash woke her up) in her bathing suit. SO CUTE!! Oh, and word to the wise: even if your baby falls asleep in her little swimmy diaper, DON'T let her take her nap in it. They are misleading in the sense that they are labeled as diapers. They are more like glorified underwear and they leak. A LOT! Right after I took this picture, I picked her up and she had been laying in a huge pee puddle. I should have known better, but I didn't want to wake her up.

After that I got a little rainy, so we went to the other outlet store location and bought an umbrella and really cool swim trunks for Jordan (when they get wet, a flowery design magically shows up. The sales woman in the Tommy store had her little water bottle out to spray the shorts and show us. She was so excited about them. haha!) I think that night we ate at Damon's on the water and then came back to the room and watched Heroes (Season 2, we're catching up.)

Wednesday: My mom and Sister, Kyla, came down around lunch time and we met up with them and drove to Calabash for some good ole Capt Nance's seafood. Ah, so good!! That afternoon Jordan stayed in the room with Addison and they slept while us girls went out on the beach. I ended up sitting with my back to the sun and my whole body in the shadow of my chair. What?!? I got hot and didn't want my white skin to turn blood red. :) Needless to say, I hardly got any sun at all, mostly just on my chest and arms from walking around at the outlets! We ate spaghetti that night and then stayed up late playing board games (Taboo, Balderdash, and Cranium).
Funny story here. After we finished playing Cranium, mom went to check her email in the lobby and Jordan, Kyla and I were all on a sugar high from all of the fudge that we bought earlier that day in Calabash. So we were standing on the balcony looking down at the ground 10 stories below us and I don't know how we thought of it, but Jordan decided it would be really cool to go down there and have one of us throw a little nerf football thing to him. So...
We tried it.

(If you look really hard, you can see Jordan in this picture, 10 stories below)

and it was so much fun! Yes, we are really just little kids at heart! Okay, so it was waaaay more funny when it was happening than it is sounding right now. What can I say, I don't normally stay up late, I have a 4 month old, I try to sleep where and when I can.

I'll get the rest of the week in another post with more pictures!

Addison's Beach Trip

Jordan and I were able to slip away to the beach during our time off. It was Addison's first beach trip and I have to say that she loved it!! Actually I don't think she knew that she went anywhere because really the only thing she saw was the back windows of the car and her stroller. She did really well the whole time we were there. We had wonderful weather and it was really nice just to get away from home and have a change of scenery and get out of the house. Here are some pictures from the only time we actually went out on the sand.