Our afternoon at Nag's Head we had to build a proper sandcastle.
We left Nag's Head to drive down Highway 12, down Hatteras Island to spend the night in Hatteras Village. On the way we stopped at beaches and lighthouses. The beaches along Hatteras were so great! You could drive out on them but we brought Jeremy's Sonata and not my Escape so we didn't. They're also not commercialized. Just beaches and people that have driven out on them. No hotels, houses, stores, nothing. It was so nice. And it was Jeremy's favorite beach with high tide and huge waves. Maddox and I? Not so much. This is Bodie (pronounced body) Lighthouse, under renovation.
This one is Hatteras Lighthouse, the one you can pay to go up to the top. We talked it up with Maddox, got her so excited about going up. She kept saying "I want to climb the lighthouse!" (And still says that now that we're home.) We found out when we got there that no one under 42" could go up and you can't carry anyway. So neither kid could go so we couldn't go at all. It was a real bummer. This is my absolute favorite lighthouse. It is SO gorgeous and had the perfect blue sky behind it. I took a ton of pictures which I have no use for now. There's a little tiny group of people in the grass posing in front of it . . . that's us. The only family picture on the vacation we're the size of smurfs.
The next day we got up early to take the 40 min. ferry ride to Ocracoke and spend a little time there.
We stopped to look at the wild ponies on Ocracoke which are now gathered and penned up. Not so wild anymore I guess? Then we went to the beach for a couple of hours. This was my favorite beach. A much calmer surf, low tide, and nothing to see but sand and water for miles. Again, no houses or hotels, just beach. This is actually the only place I got in the ocean further than my knees. I got all the way in up to my chest and even got my hair wet jumping a wave! That's impressive for me. There's critters in there. Sharks, sting rays, fish! I don't tell Maddox that though. If she's going to be afraid of the ocean it won't be because of me. I went for a walk for about an hour and when I came back I couldn't find Jeremy's legs anymore!
While I walked Daddy buried Maddox's legs too, but I guess she wanted to do it again herself in the shade.
This is Ocracoke Lighthouse in the village. There's not much to Ocracoke Village except shops and more shops. After exploring we caught our ferry back to the mainland to head to our last three nights in Atlantic Beach, NC.
The first morning in Atlantic Beach we went to the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores just down the road from the hotel. Maddox ran all over looking at everything.
My creature loving Maddox would not touch anything in the touch tanks. She was scared when I'd try to put her fingers near the water. Not even the horseshoe crabs shells of mollusks (the sting rays and skates were not so surprising). This is the same child who, the day before, was carrying a dead horseshoe crab around on the beach. I thought being a creature lover like me she'd be willing to at least try, but I guess not yet.
Just about every afternoon we were able to fit in a nap time for Maddox (and sometimes us). It's not hard to get her to sleep on a busy vacation where we spend most of our time outdoors!
Usually after naps we'd go to the beach or pool (and first thing in the morning) so we wouldn't be there in the heat of the day. Maddox and I dug a hole for her to get in. Or, in the next picture, lay across like a bridge.
What a hot guy! Who IS that? Oh yeah, my husband.
Our last night on vacation we went up the road to see Fort Macon which is an old pentagonal shaped brick fort built into the ground on the tip of the island. It's pretty cool looking. The thing Maddox is sitting on is actually where a cannon would sit and rotate on that metal track in the background. We told her it was a sit n spin and she kept saying "Mommy, it's broken." hee hee
We're attempting to learn how to play red light, green light.
Somewhere there's a picture of me sitting on a cannon on some vacation when I was a little older than Maddox is, so I wanted to take on of her doing it too. She's a lot cuter than I was. Especially on this rare night of lots of smiles. Maddox is usually so camera shy and gets a very serious face when you get the camera out.
I also knew there was a free live concert there that night so after we wandered around and saw the sites we had a picnic dinner and enjoyed a live band outside. The stage was inside the pentagonal fort and people were sitting all over the grass and up above on the upper level of the fort. Some kids on the upper level started blowing big bubbles which made for lots of fun for the little girls below. It was a fun way to spend our last night. Maddox made a friend, Mckenzie, who danced with her all night and played Ring Around the Rosie with her.
Outside, listening to music . . . what else to do but take pictures of cute Hadlee on my lap. Really, this is only a few.
Time for Maddox to dance with her little sis!
We had such a nice vacation and made such great memories with our kids. I know, I didn't write much about Hadlee, but what did she do but tag along? Both girls were good sports about being on the go, slept well at nap time and night, and were great travellers. I enjoy, so much, showing my girls new places and things and making these memories with Jeremy. Now that I've explored the Outer Banks I just have to talk the rest of the Garrison clan that we need to rent a house out there for our next big family vacation! Are you reading this Lowes and Griggs? ;) Someday, someday . . .
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