OBX '09 Days 9 and 10

Day 9 - Another gorgeous sunrise this morning. The evening storms made for beautiful skies in the morning.



Much of the day was spent just hanging out on the beach, relaxing, bumming...
We've seen so many dolphins this year. It's so fun to watch them swimming and flipping around.

The pelicans too have been fun to watch - I love this guy below (left) doing the dive for fish. The splash to the right is one that just dove in. Must have been dinner time!

We got a permit to have a bonfire on the beach. The kids LOVED it! We toasted marshmallows and made smores. YUM!

It was a fantastic way to spend the evening, relaxing around the fire with the waves crashing in the background.

Day 10 - A great day though we were slow to get moving...
It was a scorching hot day so we decided to go do some running around before spending the afternoon on the beach. We went to Manteo, which is a really cute little area with lots of shops and artsy stuff as well as some great historical parks.

Here's Ella and Si sitting in the BIG chair outside one of the shops...don't they look so itty-bitty!?

JP, Si and Ella - Ella wore her Michael Jackson glove most of the day (stunning that he died yesterday...)
Ella and Si crossing the bridge to Festival Park
They had some lots of beautiful flowers in the park area. I could have stayed and taken pictures all day!

After we got back to the house, we ended up spending the rest of the day on the beach...Mason and I were the last ones to come in, well after 7pm while Mason practiced his skim board.



And we took some family pictures on the beach - VERY difficult to get us all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone with somewhat of a smile!!

It took awhile to get a good one of these two goofs too!
We ended the last evening at the beach with some hot tub time (ahh....)


And I got up for one last sunrise before hitting the road home. Another beautiful (but cloudy) morning.
I bet these are the trips that the kids will remember forever...I know I will. I saw an older couple walking one day when we were playing on the beach. I saw them looking at the kids and then talking and laughing - like they were remembering their own times on similar beach vacations with their kids (or maybe they just thought that our kids were goofballs!). Either way, I know that when I am the old lady walking on the beach and see the young kids and their parents on the beach playing...I'll be reminiscing about our trips and all the fun that we've had. It doesn't get much better!!