OBX 2007
The Wednesday before we left the Lambert's and Connie Troyer came to visit. The Lamberts were in Ohio for a couple days before the annual Collective Camping Trip. It was amazing to see their two children and I loved watching Tyler and Lance play together! Lance is about 2 months older than Tyler and I was amazed at how similar they were! Tyler loved having two other boys to play with and Caleb was sweet as could be. He sure is a climber though! I've not seen a kid climb like that in a long time! Since working the toddler room at church I suppose! They all played well in the backyard, the living room and the playroom and we also had a pizza supper.
Thursday I spent the day finishing packing so we could take our HUGE suitcase full of clothes to the Bush's for them to take it in the van and for us to get Grandma Bush's car to drive since it's bigger than ours and much more comfortable! I was amazed that even though I'd been thinking about the trip and making lists and cleaning and organizing all week I still had SO much to do! It was a good thing I got about 4 hours of work in on Wednesday before company came! We had lots of shopping to do as well so we were out late and up past midnight but in the morning we were able to leave more than a half hour early! That's even with me showering!
We hit the bank and post office and Louisville Library before we really got going. We stopped in Columbiana to eat lunch meat sandwiches and feed Grace. We ate at the little gazebo near the Inn there and let Tyler run around in the grass. Since we didn't hit a bathroom there we stopped in Chippewa PA as well to hit the potty and change Tyler at the Wendy's there. :) We arrived to our hotel in plenty of time to check in, get settled and feed grace as well as do some swimming and sit in the hot tub. It took us awhile after the swimming to get us all put back together and re-loaded but we did and headed off to Shawnee State park. Of course there was construction going on which caused major traffic on this random road in the middle of nowhere so what was a 10 mile trip took us about an hour so we were freaking out because we had Friday's dinner! We got there expecting everyone to be standing around starving and complaining that we were late (as usual thanks to me) and only Curt was there! We hung around with him awhile and in the meantime Brian and Mike arrived. Later the Lamberts and the Wright's came. It was so fun to see everyone and I could not believe how much we had all changed over the years! I think I was nostalgic due to it being Gary and my anniversary weekend. We all looked pretty much the same but 3 of 'the guys' had kids there! We had to leave when it got dark to get Tyler back and to bed at a reasonable hour. Even with the shorter drive back, and a quick bath he still was up past 10! He finally was settled in his bed (not yet sleeping of course) and Grace in hers (we actually all had baths!) Gary left to go to Walmart to see about getting the last Harry Potter Book. He got there a little before 11 and found that it would be a waste to drive back to the hotel so he got an arm band and hung out waiting. I had him be sure to call Marie to let her know they had them there. He also got me a couple posters and bookmarks. We figured the Walmart had about a thousand books and they had arm bands you got to reserve your book. Of course Gary wandered around walmart for an hour and when he went back to get in line there were lots of people in front of him even though he'd been over an hour early and they were in the first of 4 bags of bands. He says he kind of slipped in line which helped him get back to me earlier but probably irritated quite a few people behind him! Anyways, I got it! I wanted SO badly to start reading it but i was also afraid. I was SURE Harry would die and really didn't want him to so I felt the best way to keep him alive was to not read. Plus I knew I'd never have time in the next day to read because I get carsick when I read so I refrained. I made Gary hide it across the room even. :) We were in bed around 1:30 and let me tell you Hampton Inn has the absolute best rooms and beds. The bed, pillows and even bedding were WONDERFUL!!!! The best part- FREE ROOM!!! We decided to consider this our anniversary present. :)
Saturday morning I woke to Grace needing to be fed and I did. Then I got her dressed and re-settled in her bed, showered, got ready -makeup even! - got Tyler up and pottied and dressed, and took him to breakfast before Gary showed signs of life! We got on the road around 9:30 and made good time till our stop for lunch, had lunch meat sandwiches again, and kept on trekking. We were starting to think we'd make it before dinner when things started going a little haywire. We hit some major traffic and Gary's patience began to loosen and we tried getting off the highway and 'winging it' I was half asleep and in asking what was going on must have confused Gary because we went the wrong way. In finding our way around Tyler FINALLY surrendered to being tired and we stopped at Wendy's for a sandwich saving his till he woke up. We got back on track and figured we probably just wasted time instead of making up time but at least Gary felt we were moving and his mood improved. We made one last stop a the last rest area before the bridge to the Outer Banks so I could feed Grace and go to the bathroom and Tyler could eat. We figured we'd make it to the house in another hour but having Grace miss a feeding and scream for that hour would have been a disaster. Thankfully we stopped because even though there had been SO little traffic since the detour we suddenly, within a mile of the rest area, were in stop and go traffic all the way to the bridge, across the bridge and up to Carolla. It was miserable. That stretch took us almost 3 hours. (On the way home we did the same miles in 64 minutes) Grace cried most of the time from the rest stop to the house. We finally got to the house around 8:30 which means we were in the car almost 12 hours with two kids under 3. Yeah us! Thankfully we both kept our patience for the most part.
We got to the house, unloaded, fed Grace and let Tyler relax a little and then we made a really fast trip up to the dune to see the Ocean and the beach for the first time. It was getting dark and as always, after climbing the 30 or so stairs to the top of the dune it just takes my breath away. The Ocean. There's just something about the beach and ocean that is Holy to me. I feel most connected to God and his creation there. Across that Ocean is whole other countries full of people living and working, thinking and believing.... in that Ocean are beautiful animals created by God, many we know about and I dare say most we don't. Waves that move to his hand, each drop important, each grain of sand important... the romance of it.... I just love it! I wanted so badly for Tyler to love it and the next day would prove God had answered that prayer! We went to bed early because even though we had sat all day, we were exhausted!
Sunday morning we got up and ate and got unpacked and organized... some. Gary hit the store for milk and checked out the new coffee and smoothie shop (something for both of us!) where they apparently had one worker and a line out the door. He said as he was entering a man left mumbling something about “a half hour later” so we didn't get anything that morning. That was our first sign we were officially in the Outer Banks! The concept of time and deadlines is completely lost. You only need to know what time it is if you are going somewhere that might be closed! Tyler and I were playing in the sand and on the swing under the house when Gary's parents arrived. Tyler was SO excited!!! We helped them unload, had lunch and Tyler got his nap and then we went out to dinner at The Tomato Patch. The Haywoods got there late that night after fighting traffic as well and Tyler and Marta got right into the spirit of vacation by playing hard! Tyler was very overtired and very wound up and overstimulated so it was a nightmare getting him to bed. He screamed and threw a tantrum, something he does so rarely it completely unnerves us! Finally, with help of Tylenol, he fell asleep.
In the morning we managed to get up and eat breakfast and get to the beach for a full morning. We came back to the house for lunch and naps, then back after nap to the beach, and back to the house for dinner! We did this most days. Wednesday we went to Manteo to visit the Aquarium which Tyler really loved too. That evening the Bush's watched the kids for us so Gary and I could go out. We find a little sandwich shop with literally no one in it and we got meals and a drink to share, walked around the shops and got a small Thank-You gift for the Bush's to thank them for bringing us and for allowing us to use their hotel points to get that room on the way down. We finished the night with coffee for him and a smoothie for me from that shop Gary visited the first day.
Tyler is an official beach bum. It was too hot for Grace to be out very much but three mornings she was out with us, under the shade in her car seat. She slept mostly and ate a little from a bottle when she was thirsty and I thought she did just fine. Gary's more concerned about her getting hot than I am. Most days I stayed in with the kids while Gary went back to the beach to keep his dad company. Some days we went back after nap, some days we didn't. We tried to go out for walks but most nights it just didn't happen. Tyler was really good about wearing his water shoes all week as well as a t-shirt, a hat and his life jacket when he was in the water. He rode the boogy (sp?) board a few times but mostly just like to sit on his bottom in the sand and let the waves come up over his legs. Sometimes he sat in a chair and did the same. He LOVED to push his dump truck down on the packed sand looking for rocks and shells, sometimes saving them, mostly throwing them back in. He loved digging in the lose sand up by the umbrellas, making smaller castles with us but mostly castle work was too tedious for him. Sitting still, I think, made him realize how tired he was from all that hard work! By the end of the week he was jumping into the edges of waves (3-4 inches deep) face/tummy first, looking up and yelling with laughter. He was always upset to go back to the house and the first one, other than Pops, to ask to go in the morning.
I think by the end of the week he was ready to come home. He slept well all week in his Thomas bed and on Thursday night began asking about his house, his big boy bed, his other toys and his backyard with grass. Thursday afternoon and Friday he had to be carried a lot more because the walk to and from the beach, the stairs, and the sand walking was finally getting to him. He was So good all the way home too. He seemed to enjoy the quiet of the car and when he got tired of it was content to yap our ears out and didn't want to get out and run much, which was such a blessing! The Bush's had decided to do the trip home in two days and let us stay at a hotel with them. What a blessing!!!!! We made great time even though we hit some traffic. At the hotel we went swimming which Tyler loved and then out to eat, to a grocery store and then back to the hotel. Tyler played so nicely in the room with his cars and other toys. He didn't fall asleep until after 10 but when it was time to get in bed, he did stay in bed, and he stayed quiet.
Around 1 in the morning Grace woke to eat and while I was feeding her I felt a small something on the back of her head near the neck and thought it was apiece of dirt or something and tried to slide it out of her hair. It didn't slide so I thought it might be a scab and immediately wondered how on earth she could have a scab and me not know she's been cut or pierced enough to have one so I looked at it and scraped it a bit with my fingernail and realized that the majority of it was moving, but at one point it was securely stuck to her skin. My next reaction was TICK! I ran to the bathroom and threw on the light and sure enough, it was a bug. It wasn't' all ballooned like a tick that had been sucking but it was a brown round mass with 6 little 'legs' on it. I FREAKED! I tried to act calm but inside I was terrified. I woke up Stephanie, which in God's great humor was hard to do because for the first nigh tof the entire vacation she was actually sleeping soundly! Finally she woke, couldn't tell what it was but pulled it out while I held Grace. Gary woke up in the commotion as did Tyler. Tyler's cries woke up Pops who came to check as well. Gary got Tyler back to sleep pretty quickly and came in too. It would have been hysterical with the 5 of us in there had I not been backing out and getting hot flashes and nauseas. Pops checked it and thought too it might be a tick because he had had one on him earlier that day! Then Stephanie and i were both FREAKING that the hotel was infested and they were in the beds and crawling all over us. Every time someone in the room moved the rest of the night, especially Grace, I was wide awake, Stephanie said she was up for a few hours before falling asleep again too. (A check at the Doctor Tuesday would indicate everything was fine with Grace by the way. Most likely I found it just in time to keep it from getting anything into her or out of her.)
The next morning we got up and left for the final leg of our trip. This was the worst because it made it a reality that we were going home, tomorrow Gary would go back to work, and vacation would be over. We made decent time home stopping only a couple times, hitting only one detour and me getting sick mostly only in PA and over the Ohio line. I was struck, as i was on the way down, at how many people's houses we were literally minutes from and didn't stop. That made me so sad. Maybe someday we'll make it a several week trip and stop along the way at friends and families houses and see some of the historical places along the way... battlefields and such which I am sure Tyler will like since Gary's into all that. It won't be long before Tyler's playing war right? As I finally finish writing this it's Friday which means we've been home 5 full days now. I'm still recovering, Tyler's still re-adjusting and there are still clothes in the suitcase! How embarrassing! I'm sure there is so much I'm forgetting (believe it or not)!!! Our 7th trip together to the Outer Banks and even though the trip has changed drastically since the beginning, it still was wonderful!!

/> href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJyrvU0Wpq9x4GNDetwedeJ1SdYoHDs-mT2O1ohyectw0P22WN0IFShBgdfbZhgQWHao8vdyPeW01ersOydI4FwkHrIChuyILVRdnWMCZmgMhGP-W-ZZAUWIkTFLwxUaOnglL/s1600-h/DSCF7622.JPG">