It's been a long time since I've had a beach vacation!

This is the week of the big trip!  The family is flying to North Carolina to meet with more family to stay at a beach house in Emerald Isle.   It's about 5:30 a.m. and the kids are EXCITED!  We parked the car and are waiting to take the shuttle to DIA.

 We met up with the cousins inside and they seem just as excited as my kids.  How often can you get all four children smiling in a photo?

 We were lucky to get window seats for both kids since this was their first time on a commercial flight and they wanted to take everything in.

 Making our connection in Atlanta, GA.

 Beach at last!

 There was a lot of goofing around,

digging in the sand,

and building of sand castles!

The waves were enjoyed by all.

We even had some night time sand castle building/protecting.

The kids even found time to 'nap' with Grandpa unbeknownst to him.

There was tons of great light and photo opportunities...

We tried not to make them pose for too many shots since they can get pretty restless.  Too bad Grandma's not a hair taller or her grandson shorter!  :)

The kids got restless after a couple of days so we decided to explore.  Local attractions included the aquarium (North Carolina Aquarium @ Pine Knoll Shores).  The kids had a great time between the huge fish tank (with sharks), touching the rays, doing a craft, and exploring on the boardwalks.  It is very affordable and worth the visit.

Our earlier stop that day was at Fort Macon.  The adults really enjoyed the visit while the kids were so/so.  Their reaction might have been better if it hadn't been so hot but overall it was worth the visit and even free. 

You are able to look out at the ocean on some boardwalks around the fort so we saw this large ship coming in and being helped by some tugboats.

We did putt putt in town (Emerald Forest Putt-Putt, 8720 Reed Drive).  We picked the middle priced venue to go to.  The kids had a great time but the price did seem a bit steep...$9 a game for everyone regardless of age.  We had at least two kids who didn't play every hole so it wasn't the greatest value.

After putt-putt we stopped at the Bogue Inlet Pier.  It was a busy place at night with many fisherman.  They were throwing the guts of fish they had cleaned in the water and we were able to see some sharks eating it.  

We did eat out a couple of times.  We had a 'girl's' luncheon at the Crab Shack.  We ordered two big plates with scallops, shrimp, and fish.  Tasty food and they even had beer.  The view out to the 'sound' side was pleasant.

 After the week ended we headed back to Chapel Hill for the night and stopped at Thig's BBQ.  It was a low key setting with decent barbeque.  The ribs were tasty but not of the falling off the bone quality.

Suffice it to say, everyone had a great time and the kids will need to recover for the next week!

We didn't even make it on the airplane before the napping started.

Looking forward to the next big 'reunion' in.....

The hubby and I did manage to run everyday we were there.  It's definitely different running on the beach.

Run: Emerald Isle East

Trails Used:  East Main Highway and Beach

Distance: 6.18 miles

Difficulty: Moderate (I had heat issues...my ideal temperature to run in is 45 degrees not 80!)
Overall average: 7.0 mph
Overall Time: 52 min
Total Ascent: 5 ft.  (holy cow!  I'm not used to this little elevation change!)

Run: Emerald Isle West

Trails Used:  West Main Highway and Beach

Distance: 5.99 miles

Difficulty: Moderate
Overall average: 6.6 mph (I got slower and slower as the week went on but I was on vacation, right?)
Overall Time: 54 min
Total Ascent: 24 ft.