Wrightsville Beach 2009

Holy moley what a crazy week I've had, and thus late on the blog. Better late than never, I suppose?

The annual family vacation began July 31 this year and once again, we went to Wrightsville Beach, NC. We stayed in the same house we've been in the last 6-7 (more?) years now. The house - despite some fixes - is not in outstanding shape, but oh well. For example, the oven is unpredictable, so there is no baking to be had. That's mostly ok as we tended to use the stove more often, but still. I missed out on making my now infamous "Rustic" Carrot Cake and burnt Vanilla Butternut Pound Cake.

The drive down was easy. Elektra was a dream child and DJ did great for an active toddler. We only stopped twice, once for breakfast at a Panera for half an hour, and once for lunch (Wendy's) and gas for 45 minutes. We left the house at 8:35AM, and we arrived at the beach house at 4:30PM. I think we made awesome time. The kids napped in the afternoon for an hour and a half, and that helped, too.

While I unpacked, Steve took DJ to the pool with his older cousins. DJ and Spiro played with the watering can, showering each other much to their delight.

DJ and Spiro having fun with the watering can!

Unfortunately, my immediate family was on a different food schedule than everyone else and no one had gone to get groceries yet, so Steve and I packed the kids into the car and took our first run to Chick-Fil-A. We got home, put the kids to bed, ate dinner, and finally got to relax.

The kids slept in pack-n-plays (thanks for letting us borrow the second one, Eleanor!) in our room with us. They sleep like rocks, so we could sneak in later to go to bed. However, they don't sleep late. Oh yes, 6AM came early EVERY day. This is why it's not "vacation", it's a "trip". Ok, so maybe it's a vacation from our paid-job responsibilities but that's about it!! And of course, when one child gets up, the other child wakes up. To the kids' credit, though, they entertained each other for about 15-20 minutes, but they weren't quiet about it so it's not like we got another 15 minutes of sleep! It was hilarious to listen to them talk to each other, watch them jump up and down (watching heads bob up and down from above/ the pack-n-play edge), and one morning, DJ sang. Despite being awakened early and wanting to continue sleeping, it was really cute and gratifying to watch them. Eventually, one child would insist on being done with being in the pack-n-play (usually Elektra) and we'd start our day.

Once again, because the house is 4 floors tall, the stairs are prominent. This year, however, DJ could navigate them by himself without any full-attention supervision, really. What we didn't expect, however, is that Elektra wanted to take a shot at them. So, like the fearless girl she is, she did.

Elektra climbing the stairs!

What we can't figure out is why this incident was the only time she tried to climb the stairs the whole week. After that one time, she didn't do it again, and showed no interest. ::shrug::

We took the kids out to the beach, of course. Elektra loved it. She ate more sand than I'm sure I can recount, and tried to put everything in her mouth that she could find. She loved splashing her hands and feet in the ocean, and giggled every time a wave "crashed" on us. DJ, on the other hand, wanted NO part of the ocean. Zero, zip zilch, donut hole. I can only guess that the noise scared him, and that the water's movement really inimidated him. "Get out!" was all we heard from him if we were standing in the water , even if we were carrying him! It didn't take him too long to warm up to the giant sandbox, though! He had a good time pouring water and sand over Daddy! Unfortunately, I don't have beach pictures yet from my sister to post them.

The pool ended up being DJ's favorite activity, as long as his cousins weren't crowding his space. By the end of the week, he was comfortable in the water with us, though he wanted to hold his watering can as kind of like a talisman. But he had a good time watching Daddy scoop up diving rings and doing handstands! I do have pictures on my camera, but I haven't downloaded them yet!

The family only went out to dinner four nights, making our lives significantly easier!! The kids typically ate lunch early and had long naps in the afternoon in addition to Elektra's morning nap.

Steve and I got our share of WoW in, and we watched a DVD of our goddaughter, Alexandra, act her part as Ms. Hannigan in their 7th grade musical "Annie". She was awesome!! We also got to hear Sophia and Alexandra play the violin which was a musical treat!


Once again, the week went by too quickly, and we had to come home. Our trip home was even easier than our trip down, and we were home by 4PM. My brother and his family didn't leave Baltimore for Minneapolis until the next afternoon, so I took DJ to see them in the morning. He had a good time playing with his cousins!