North Carolina Family Vacation Day 7--sandbars, last walk on the beach

Today was our last full day on the island. Bill got up extra early to go running on the beach. He said it was a dream of his to go running on the beach, so he got to accomplish that. While he was running, I read on the balcony and waited for him to come home. Once he was back, the kids woke up and I got them breakfast of cereal and strawberries. After breakfast, I laid back down for a bit. Once I got back up, all the kids wanted to do was go to the pool. I told them that they only had 2 choices, go down to the beach for the last time to play or pack up and go home. They finally decided to go down to the beach.

While we were down on the beach, the tide was causing small sandbars to appear close to shore that the kids decided to play on. I think the storms from the night before caused a lot of seaweed to come loose as well, as there was a ton of seaweed on the sandbars. While playing on the sandbars, Benjamin decided to be brave and walk across the small area of water onto the sandbar by himself. He was getting better and better with the ocean waves and water. While we were in the water talking, Rebecca met a new friend who had a small sand shark in her hands. Apparently a fisherman had left it on the beach after catching it and killing it and the woman was showing it to the kids and Rebecca got to touch it.

After we went in to get some lunch (chicken nuggets and French fries leftover from a few meals out) and so that Bill could watch Sportscenter and see that LeBron James had decided to come back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, I got dressed to go do some souvenir shopping with my mom. She came over to our condo…and right after she came over, Jacob fell face first in the kitchen and reopened his scraped up knee. Thankfully I was able to calm him down and we were able to head out to get some souvenirs. I was especially looking to get the kids each a Christmas ornament to save for Christmas this year.

We headed out to a complex called “Emerald Plantation” to shop. This shopping center had several smaller stores and boutiques. On a side note, while we were shopping we kept hearing military planes going over head…Camp Lejuene must have had some training going on. I ended up finding the Christmas ornaments as well as a holder for shells that I wanted to keep all of the shells that the kids found on the beach in. I also bought some homemade fudge. While we were shopping my dad, sister and brother caught up with us (they had been into Beaufort to go on a plane ride) and my dad suggested we all have dinner together. So I left my mom, dad and sister at the shopping center and my brother and I ran back to the condo to get Bill and the kids. We met back up with everyone at the complex and had a nice dinner at RuckerJohns restaurant. The food was really good again. I had a chicken salad, and they have amazing croissants that are drizzled with honey butter that are so good. Bill had trout which we said was really good as well.

After dinner, we decided to head to a store called “Pacific” so that the kids could each pick out a souvenir. Rebecca picked out a tye dyed tshirt and a shell encrusted heart shaped jewelry box. Jacob picked out a tshirt and a ball, and Benjamin got a set of trucks. I bought a t-shirt and got one for Bill. We then headed back to the condo for the night.

When we got back, Bill took Rebecca and Jacob to the pool one last time. After a bit, Benjamin and I met up with them and with my parents and siblings to take one last walk on the beach. The change in Ben was amazing as he was running along the beach and letting the water hit his toes, unlike the first day where he wanted nothing to do with it. As we were heading back to the steps, Jacob started crying and said he didn’t want to leave the beach.

Once back up, Rebecca and Bill went back to the pool, and Jacob, Benjamin and I went up to the room to get baths and to start packing for the return trip. I got the boys bathed and got some things packed up before Bill and Rebecca returned. Once they were back, I did one more load of laundry (so I wouldn’t be faced with lots of laundry when we got home). The kids went to bed and Bill started taking things down to the van for me. Around 11, Bill went to bed and I continued to pack and fill the van. I also got all the trash taken out and things laid out for the morning. I then swept the floors and wiped down the mirrors and glass tables.  I took a final shower and then sat outside on the balcony for a few minutes and finally decided to head to bed around 1:45am.

It was a wonderful last day on the Crystal Coast!