ScrumpyDaddy

Here are just a couple more fun things that happened while we were in the Outer Banks to wrap up our trip.

Abby saw jet skis on the bay side and got very excited. She called them water scooters. I thought it was a perfect name that Abby came up with. I told her when she gets older we can take a ride on one. I personally love riding them. Not sure if I will be able to get Dave on one. Maybe if he has his own to drive and doesn’t ride with me. I can get kind of crazy on them.

At the beach there were planes flying by all the time with banners advertising things. Every time one would fly by Zach would stop what he was doing and point to them and say airplane. He loved doing that almost as much as he loved watching the ocean and saying wawa.

We also found out at the beach that Zach loves M&Ms. We had made GORP for the trip. One day we took the GORP down to the beach with us in the cooler. Zach went over to the cooler, unzipped it, and took the GORP out for himself. He then proceeded to just eat the M&Ms. He loves raisins normally and would choose them or dried cranberries over most things, but as soon as he tasted one of the M&Ms that was the end to the dried fruit. All he wanted was the M&Ms.

The kids loved seeing the animals at the Outer Banks. On the first day as Abby and I were moving the deck chairs into place a frog jumped out and landed on Abby’s shirt. I was able to catch it for Abby to see up close. She was so excited. It was a bright green frog. She wanted to hold the frog. She held it for a little bit, but then it jumped away and off the deck. We saw many more frogs and toads through the week around the beach house.

Down at the shore line we saw pelicans and various kinds of gulls.

We also got to see ghost crabs at night and during the day. Zach loved watching the crabs and kept trying to touch them. Abby liked going out at night with us to chase the ghost crabs with the flash lights. There were so many of them at night. You shine your flashlight out across the shoreline and the entire shoreline would move.

Each day we were at the Outer Banks we tried to do some touristy stuff in the area. My parents had never been to the Outer banks before.

Jockey’s Ridge

Wright Brothers’ Memorial

Kitty Hawk Kites
We went to Kitty Hawk Kites twice. Once with the whole family (the kids and my parents) and once just Dave and I. Dave and I had to go back just us as it was impossible to really look at anything with the kids there. Wrangling at times can be so difficult. Each time we went we bought kites. The first time we bought 2 butterfly kites for Abby. She had never flown a kite before. We had tried once before locally at a park, but there just wasn’t enough constant wind. At the beach there is always wind. Abby had a blast getting her kite into the air and watching it there. The second time we went we bought another kite that was a 3-D kite of a blue angel jet. It was awesome. Zach loved it and when we flew it he just kept saying airplane and pointing at it.





Mini Golf – Jurassic Putt
Abby did a great job hitting the ball with the club and trying to get it in the hole. She had lots of fun and loved the theme of the place. She still talks about it at home when we drive past our local mini golf place. She will tell me how it is the same as at the beach except that the beach had dinosaurs.

This year we went on a family vacation with both sets of Grandparents, Aunt Edie, and Uncle Pat. We went to South Nags Head, Outer Banks, NC. We had been to Kill Devil Hills, OB almost 2 years ago just us for a couple days. We loved it then and had been wanting to go back ever since. Zach had only been a month old when we went last time. Abby had been almost 3 and it made quite the impression on her. She had been talking about the beach ever since that trip. This year we were able to make it happen.

We got a house right near the beach and I mean just a couple hundred feet from the beach, so it was an easy walk for everyone. The house was just big enough for all of us to enjoy and had a nautical theme. There was also a deck off the front, which was wonderful to sit on and listen to the ocean and watch the birds.

Each day we went to the beach for sun and swimming at some point and also tried to do something touristy whether it was sight seeing or shopping. The kids of course loved the beach the best. The sand to play in and the waves crashing. It was honestly hard to keep Abby out of the water whenever she was near it. She didn’t care if she had a bathing suit on or regular clothes. She wanted to play in the waves. She loved running up to edge and waiting for the wave to come in. Then as the wave splashed her she would come running back out with a huge smile on her face. She also loved it when she would hold someones hands and jump the waves. She did eventually go in deeper with Dave holding her, but most of the time she just played in the shallow water.

Zach on the other hand was the complete opposite. He loved the water and every time he would see it he would yell, “Wawa.” Seeing it was the extent of his love for the ocean. He only went in once with Dave and didn’t cry the second he got near the water. All the other times he just wanted held up with his feet completely out of the water. If you tried to put his feet in the waves he would start crying. The only thing he did like was when Dave would dig holes in the sand deep enough that he would get water. Dave would make little wading pools for Zach to play in.