Outer Banks - Corolla, NC

To celebrate my Mom's 60th Birthday, my parents took my whole family on vacation.  We chose the Outer Banks & rented a beach house that slept all our families comfortably.  We had such a wonderful time together, it was sad to see the week end.  The kids always love spending time with family & Sean loves to play with his cousins.  It was an added bonus to spend that time together at the ocean! 

I have so many pictures & stories to share, I'll try to wrap this up as best I can! 

We started off by heading to the airport as a group.  We were quite the production, having 10 kids, 14+ pieces of luggage, 3 car seats, & 2 strollers (one being a double stroller).  Here are all the cousins, in front of our aircraft:

Zach, Sean, Evan, Cade, Logan, Mara, Nora, Olivia, Sydney, & Lauryn

We stayed at a house that had a pool in the back yard, but we really enjoyed the ocean best.  The kids loved digging in the sand, jumping the waves, watching the crabs scamper along the beach, we enjoyed the breeze, and we all soaked up the sun.  Here are a few of our beach shots:

Our family, at the beach

Lauryn & I

The boys enjoyed digging: Evan, Zach, Cade, Logan, & Sean

Burying Sean

Burying Zach

Besides spending a lot of time at the beach, we did some sight seeing & tours.  We spent some time in Kitty Hawk, where we went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial.  The kids got to fly kites, we hiked Kill Devil Hill, & saw where the first flights took place.  We always love when we can teach the kids about history by experiencing it.  Here are a few pictures at The Wright Brothers Monument:

Jim, squeezing the Wright Brothers Monument

Our family at the Wright Brothers Monument

While being along the ocean, we also thought it would be fun to see one of the Light Houses.  We decided on going to Currituck Beach Lighthouse since it was only a few miles from where we were staying.  However, it was such a hot day, we chose to not go inside & hike to the top.  I am sure we missed out on a gorgeous view of the ocean. 

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

Another fun tour that we did was renting open jeeps to see the wild horses.  The kids thought this was great, driving in the open jeep.  There we were, driving along Highway 12, when all of a sudden the Highway becomes a beach.  So we were driving on a highway that did not have specific lanes, instead you found "grooves" in the sand to fit your wheels in so you didn't get stuck.  But this was the route we had to take to get to see the wild horses.  These horses just roam right in to people's back yards.  It was pretty cool! 

Sean in one of the Jeeps

Zach & Lauryn in another Jeep

Pat & Jim - Pat is driving us down the Highway/Beach

Our family, in front of a group of wild horses

And before we knew it, the week was over & it was time to head home.  I was sad to see the week end, as I always love spending time with my family.  I have to admit I even shed a few tears.  But I will always cherish the memories we made & am so happy we had this time together! 

The cousins in front of the beach house:

Sydney, Evan, Logan, Zach, Cade, Sean

Lauryn, Olivia, Mara, Nora

All us adults:

My Dad & Mom, Kelly & Kyle (my brother), Tyler (my brother)

Jim & I, Cori (my sister) & Pat

15th Anniversary

Jim & I celebrated our 15th Anniversary while in the Outer Banks.  Hard to believe that it has been 15 years already.  I am lucky enough to say that I married my best friend & today, I still lean on him more than ever!  He is an amazing husband, wonderful with our kids, & the love of my life.  I am so thankful for the life we have created together. 

We had a wonderful time celebrating our special day.  We started with the kids by hang gliding.  It was so much fun!  First we had to hike quite a distance up sand dunes with burning hot sand.  We were advised to be careful to not get blisters on the bottoms of our feet.  The kids put their socks on because the sand did get pretty hot.  I wasn't all that crazy then about having to lay down in the sand to get started.  I HATE being dirty.  But it was well worth it.  We did 5 runs each & on each one we improved our skills little by little. 

Here are a few pictures:

Lauryn

Zach

Sean

The best was when Sean was SO tired from walking up the hill after the first run.  One of the other instructors helped him out after the 2nd run & carried him up the hill.  I think it made Sean's day! 

We had so much fun!

The kids & our instructor

Then later that evening, Jim & I left the kids and went out for dinner & drinks.  It was nice to have that time together.  Dinner was wonderful & I had such a fun day.  Every year we take a picture of us on our actual Anniversary (it's always fun to see how much we have changed - and AGED!).  So here we are in 2011: