beach trip {2011}

Did I surprise you guys with the "Remember that time..." post yesterday? Personally I thought it was kinda obvious that I was going to my happy place {the beach, duh} what with all the beach-on-the-brain comments AND the beach-themed guest posts, but hey! Maybe I fooled a couple of you... :)

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This beach trip was definitely a God thing; we had totally resigned ourselves to NOT having our annual beach trip...then God works everything out & one day we were told our CBS friends had given us the opportunity to stay at their condo down in Emerald Isle, NC for a week. Clark & I sat there in disbelief screaming "A whole week?! Wow!" because we've never gone anywhere as a family for a whole week; all our vacays have been 3 nights MAX. Thanks again Miss Renee & Mr. Pete for the awesome place to stay while we made lots of family memories.

So, without further ado, I give you readers our family beach trip {2011}!

Lots of prep went into this; planning meals, washing clothes, setting up pool & pet care for a whole week makes for one hectic week, but we came out on the other side with a full car & ready oh so ready to spend a week at the beach...but first a glimpse into the back of our {very full} car.

Why yes, that IS a 12 pack of Dr. P, my camera bag, and a backpack full of books all together; I brought the essentials.

See? I told you it was a lot of stuff. I'm in awe of all the families bigger than us because I have no clue HOW THEY DO IT.

Toby the Pillow Pet was barely squeezed in there; poor guy!

On the road! I could seriously just drive someplace more than a couple hrs away & be perfectly content to let that be my vacation; sometimes the drive up is just as fun as the place you're going, am I right?

There were lots of bridges. I don't really like bridges, but I love taking pictures of them. Go figure!

Dad was a great driver, BTW.

Our place is the top. Yep, the top. 3 flights up, 3 flights down. My legs are still SORE...

Ah, we're here!! Praise the Lord, halleluiah our vacation could begin...after I got pictures of the place for you blog readers... ;)

The living room, kitchen & dining.sitting area took up the back of the condo; it was a really nice floor plan.

The bedrooms; Clark & I shared a room {the top one} and let me say this: he's a horrible roommate! ;) Never again will we share a room if it's up to me.

Other randoms from around the place...

 

I thought this was the cutest little shadow box thingy in the world; don't you agree?

Once we had unloaded our, well, lugagge, we watched some TV {OMG, cable!} & set out for a evening walk on the beach, one of my favorite things to do on vacation.

Sea oats = LOVE <3 The lighting wasn't all that great for this shot but they were beautiful all by themselves.

This little guy was so excited he was beside himself ever since he found out we were going on this trip, so this running shot was photographic proof he was happy to be there.

This little guy watched our every move & it was the cutest thing ever.

The traditional shadows & footprints in the sand photo. You're welcome.

The ocean/water temp was amazing all week long; never had to adjust your body to the water...you just dove right in {which believe me I could have stayed in the water the whole time}.

Once we had rinsed off & freshened up, we set out for dinner somewhere...but not before capturing my first beach sunset since last year!

Sunday is the day all the rentals switch out; last week's renters out in the morning, new renters in just in time for the dinner hour. Mr. Pete warned us about the business' being, well...BUSY, but we still had to wait 45 mins. We enterained ourselves with watching the turtles in the canal while waiting at Rucker Johns.

We finally got a seat around 8, ate some delicious food {RJ's never dissapoints}, made a quick grocery store run, and came back to the condo to crash & watch TV for the rest of the night. All in all, a very good day.

The rest of the trip's pictures will come in due time...over 400 of them to sort through so check back often, mmmkay?