North Carolina Family Vacation Day 5--a ray, fun in the sun

Wednesday July 9 we decided to go down to the beach in the morning. So after a breakfast of cereal and apples for the kids and danish for me, we got ready to head down to the beach. There were not that many people down there yet so we got our pick of the spots. We got our things settled and then Bill, Rebecca and Jacob headed out to play in the water, while I tried to get Benjamin to like being on the sand. He got up after a few minutes and decided to go walking. So we walked along the beach for a while, and Benjamin decided to start picking shells up and throwing them. Then he decided to come back to the blanket and play in the sand a bit. Then he decided to go walk again. He tried to take another little boys sand toys and he was very upset that he couldn’t. After a while, Bill came up to switch places with me and he chased Benjamin while I headed down to the water.

While playing in the water with Rebecca and Jacob, I noticed an area that looked murky and deeper than the ankle deep water we were playing in. Then I noticed a couple of larger fish (probably 5-6 inches long) swimming around that area. Just as I turned to tell Rebecca and Jacob to stay away from that area because there was a little drop off, I happened to look down and there was a small ray right by my foot. I must have jumped around 3 feet…. I think that scared me more than the guy catching that shark the first night we were here. I told Rebecca and Jacob that we were not going back in the water for a bit, so we went up to build sandcastles.

We finally did decide to go back toward the water, this time Bill went with the older 2 while I stayed with Benjamin. We decided to give them 10 more minutes before we headed in for lunch. Well that is when Benjamin, who has wanted absolutely nothing to do with the ocean, decided to walk closer and closer to the water. The waves were very gentle and I was able to coax him into the very shallow end and holding his hand was able to get him to at least stand in the water without crying. I would say things like….”Here comes the water…wee!” and then we would walk a little while the waves were out and say “Splish, Splash.” It was the first time Ben seemed to enjoy being down on the beach.

Finally we decided to head in for showers and lunch. While Bill got Benjamin bathed I made lunch for the kiddos….PB& J sandwiches, pineapple, chips and pudding. I had a leftover hot dog, chips and pudding. And Bill had leftover chicken wings. After lunch, Bill decided to take Rebecca and Jacob putt-putting, while Benjamin and I stayed at the condo to relax and do laundry. After they left, I started laundry and Benjamin decided to climb up on the couch to watch cartoons and he fell asleep. I took the opportunity to go sit on the balcony, where I could still see in to see Ben on the couch and read. It was a nice afternoon.

Bill and the kids returned and said they had a blast. Rebecca and Jacob both got holes in one and after Bill took the kids to Dairy Queen for a treat. Soon it was time to think about dinner. My sister came over from their condo to baby sit so that Bill and I could have a nice dinner out by ourselves. I made the kids “Kid Cuisine” meals for dinner and Bill and I left. After much discussion we decided to go “ Jackie’s American Grille” for dinner. When we walked in the hostess, who was an older lady looked at Bill and I and said that we were a “cute couple.“ While there, we sat out on the patio for dinner, where there was live music with a saxophone player and it was very nice. We ordered an appetizer of their “Jag” fries, which were steak fries covered with toppings that we chose…we had 2 cheeses, red pepper, artichokes and tomatoes, and spinach along with  a siracha ranch sauce. They were really good. For dinner, Bill had fish and chips and I had chicken salad on a bed of romaine. The salad was very tiny but good, so I was glad that we had ordered the appetizer. I also had a cocktail called the jumping jack which had tequila and other stuff in it and was blue in color. It was really good. 

After dinner, we decided to stop in at one of the many souvenir places to see what they had as we had not done any shopping for souvenirs. We stopped in at a place called Wings, where Bill picked out a t-shirt, I got a shirt for each of the boys and I bought Rebecca a mermaid necklace and I got a turtle bracelet. As we were walking in to the store, a guy rolled down his car window and said "Hey look who we see"….I turned not sure what was going on and it was a guy whose kids go to Rebecca’s school and whose family belongs to our church. They were also vacationing in the area this week. I told him we are both a long way from home…it is such a small world. 

After we came home, the kids showed us their treasures that my parents had brought over for them. Rebecca got a mermaid doll, Benjamin got a turtle stuffed animal, and Jacob got a set of pirate toys. The kids were soon ready for bed, and Jacob asked to sleep with is pirate toys. I told him he could….he then laid one of the pirates on the couch and said, but I am not sleeping with him... it was the pirate that was a skeleton…LOL….

The 2 oldest then went to bed, and the napper decided he wasn’t tired, so I rocked him and finally had to lay down with him to make him go to sleep. I must have dozed off too, because the next thing I knew, I woke up with all the condo lights off and Bill was in bed asleep. So I went to bed as well, tired after another fun day on the coast.