Vacay update.

Yesterday was a bit of a wash. It pretty much rained all day, so we decided to take the ferry up to see the Hatteras lighthouse. It's a beautiful lighthouse and pretty incredible that they moved it inland by about 1/2 mile because the beach is eroding. We saw it ever so briefly from the comfort of our minivan as our two young offspring slept in their seats.

Daniel had about ten million tantrums yesterday. Schlepping around in the car is just not ideal for him. And he's got these honkin' (yes, that's a technical term) mosquito bites that are itching the crap out of him.

This morning J resolved to take D to the beach on his own and the sun was shining when we got up, er, I mean, when Daniel got us up, so they took off. Baby A had fallen back asleep and I had a few quiet minutes to myself before he awoke again.

When he did wake up, we head out to the local coffee shop just down the street to get some caffeine. Apparently everybody on the island gets their coffee there. It's pretty cool though. A and I hung out for a little bit while I drank my coffee and then headed out again when he started getting restless.

We walked around a bit stopping to peek into some of the shops that I hadn't had license to enter previously when I was with the whole gang. Daniel is obsessed with those whirligig wind ornament thingies that you put in your garden or hang from the eave of your house, so I got him a little one of those. What I really wanted to get him was the tractor one, but it was too much money.

We headed back to our motel after a while to find that this morning's trip to the beach was not too much better than the first. We tantrummed our way through the rest of the morning, had some lunch and the conked out for naps. Daniel slept for a really long time.

Anyway, tonight we all headed back to the beach. We had the BEST time. I hung out with Daniel and just let him do whatever he wanted to do (which was mostly play with the sand.) I carried him a lot because he seems to kind of be afraid of the water, but encouraged him to walk and run and play. He loves dogs and we saw a family with their dog there and he went nuts, practically chasing the dog into the water We even managed to get him to leave without too much fuss. (Of course, being promised ice cream always helps.) It was a really pleasant evening.

I'm kind of sad really that our vacation is ending tomorrow. Today, the island seeming to be filling up for the weekend and I found myself kind of jealous of the people who were just beginning their vacation as we are ending ours. It's been kind of rough but this is an awesome place. These are some of the things that I liked about it:

1. You can pretty much walk anywhere and everyone does. There are always people out walking and riding bikes. The streets are pretty narrow, so the cars drive slowly and carefully. What's the rush anyways?

2. You can walk to shops, restaurants, bars, the coffee shop, which means that if you have a babysitter, you could go out to dinner, have a few drinks and not even worry about who's driving home.

3. Everyone is so friendly and laid back. I didn't have enough cash for our dinner that I was picking up the other night and they would have let me take it for a little less than full price if I'd had that amount.

4. This place is kinda quirky and totally not pretentious.

5. The beach is beautiful.

6. Lots of fun little shops to poke around in.

7. Love the coffee shop.

8. Love our accommodations. Kind of simple, but then when I go on a vacation where we are eating out more, I don't enjoy myself as much because I'm worried about spending too much money.

I'm sure there is more, but it's time to say good night.