Everyone was delighted to end our busy June with a vacation at the Outer Banks. We stayed in the Southern Shores again this year, right below Duck, which gave us a nice vantage point to enjoy activities up and down OBX. The best part is always arriving at our destination and the girls' first expressions when they reach the beach. Here is Ellie jumping up and down in delight at her first glimpse of the waves.
She loved playing in the sand, although liked destructing the sand castles rather than building them for the most part.
Evie was also thrilled to be back on the beach. She went straight for the waves and to playing her favorite game with Dad, "Walk, Jump, Float, Run!" She had a special friend this year in Peck the inflatable toucan, hence the adding of "Float" to the game from last year. We went to the beach and enjoyed the sun, sand and waves every day.
It was also a vacation of many, many miniature golf outings. Our first on Saturday was Professor Hacker's Treasure Golf, where we got to ride a train car up to the start of the course.
Ellie is ready and rearing to go! Although going through the tunnel was a little scary, she carried her plastic club and purple golf ball with pride.
Halfway through the course, though, Ellie was a little disappointed that people weren't more appreciative when she picked up their balls and put them in the hole for them. By the time we got to the pirate ship, she was pretty much done for the evening.
The girls check out Professor Hacker before saying goodbye. Till next year, Professor!
The tour of mini golf continued the next day with Mutiny Bay - looks like Dad got put in the stocks. Wonder what he could have done to get in trouble?
Ack, et tu, Mommy and Ellie? Is there no justice in the world of pirates?
Evie does her best grumpy face (which Ellie later adopted) in protest.
Dad's first hole-in-one of the night! The second would occur due to the ideal placement of Ellie's foot next to one of the holes.
Evie also got an amazing hole-in-one! Hooray! Our future little Michelle Wie.
After some Dairy Queen blizzards and an Orange Julius that had Daddy going down memory lane (and a quick game of Dance Dance Revolution in the arcade), we found a new playground that was quite a find! The girls were all smiles despite the blustery wind while swinging, climbing on the pirate ship, and going down the slide.
Captain Ellie steers us toward safety. Unfortunately, the playground's namesake, Theodora Burr, was not as lucky when pirates commandeered her ship, alas.
Evie sports her new tropical sunglasses (a Dollar Store find) and bathing suit before we hit the beach the next day.
On Tuesday morning we headed to Manteo to undertake a Pirates Adventure on the High Seas. Pirates Enchanting Evie and Elegant Ellie don their pirate garb and get ready to sneak onto the ship.
"Arg!" Evie yells while Ellie looks on at the motley crew.
The pirate life for me!
Maybe not for me!
Halfway through the trip the pirates were attacked by Pirate Pete, but the water cannons kept them safe.
The young mateys followed the map to find treasure buried at sea - X marked the spot!
Ellie and Evie admire their bounty --jeweled rings and gold bouillon, oh my! A successful day at sea!
That night, we enjoyed the playground and town hall area of Duck, rolling around and racing with Daddy. This is a great picture of how Ellie likes to do everything her big sister does.
Ellie hangs on tight to Daddy who was the "finish line" for Evie... unfortunately the finish line kept moving and Evie had to chase it around the park.
We all enjoy a beautiful sunset before calling it a night.
The next day we checked out the Outer Banks Wildlife Center where Mommy and Ellie practiced their bear growling next to the real thing.
Then it was off to the crabbing class where Evie read off her answers to the "Crab Libs" exercise, causing a lot of giggles. Unfortunately, the crabs were too smart for us and just ate the turkey heads off our lines without getting caught! Sneaky crabs.
On the way back from Corolla we made another stop at a miniature golf course, where Ellie made Daddy use the plastic putter and took his club for a change.
On our final day, we headed down to Nagshead to see the Bodie Lighthouse. We couldn't go up (Ellie was too young), but we explored the bay before heading back home.
It was really windy - a storm was brewing! Would we make it back to the car in time?
Yikes, check out those clouds! Luckily, we did make it before the sky opened up! Overall, it was a fantastic week with lots of relaxing times and great memories!
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