For a while we weren't quite sure if our scheduled beach week with the Caldwells was going to happen because of the Corona virus shutting down beaches because of "stay at home" orders. As there have been phased reopenings, the beaches in NC opened up a few weeks before we were scheduled to go. We warned the kids that it would be a different kind of beach week. Less "constant entertainment" and more "beach-pool-house." We'd never rented a house with a pool before but it ended up being perfect! We'd do puzzles and games around the house until around 9:30 then head to the beach until around 11:30, then head to the pool until lunch. After quiet time, the kids would usually get another couple hours in at the pool before dinner. We also enjoyed checking out the Intercoastal waterway and looking for crabs. There was a floating dock so it was interesting to check it out at high tide and low tide. We did a puzzle (or two!) almost every day. Hunter was quite the encourager for the ones that were a bit too hard for him. The kids all shared a room with two bunks and it worked out great. We did have to make a rule about not waking sleeping cousins! Hunter came out at 6:30 one morning saying that Owen was sleeping way too long ;) We ordered out from three restaurants, which were all great, otherwise we made kid-friendly meals at the house. We went out for ice cream one afternoon and enjoyed putt putt another evening. It was a great week and we enjoyed the time together with a change of scenery!!
Two of my Corona hobbies have been lettering and Yoga. I broke down and got this chalkboard with markers and it arrived just in time to use as a beach countdown!
We arrived about an hour before we could get in the house so we headed straight to the beach. We warned the kids that they didn't have an extra outfit, so to keep their clothes dry. You'd think I would've learned by now. Next year we'll either wear suits under their clothes in the car or have an extra set of clothes to change into. It's impossible to resist the temptation of getting in just a bit too far to stay dry when you've waited with anticipation for so long!
There were so many shells!! I wonder if it was from there not being as many visitors to the beach for the past 3 months. It was hard to pare down the collection at the end of the week! I'm not sure what these things were but there were a ton of them that you could watch as the wave receded.
Jumping waves was definitely the kids' favorite activity at the beach (more video here and more here). I really thought all my pictures for the week were going to look like this:
We had brought some pool toys but were pleased to see the house had some too. They had lots of squirt guns so the kids enjoyed many battles (usually against the dads).
Hunter is quite the little fish! It was fun to watch him in the water but he sure gave me a scare sometimes. Here he is at the beach face down (gasp!) and face down in the pool here (eek!).
There was no shortage of sweets! Strawberry shortcake, Bernie's bars, Snickerdoodle bread, Nutty Buddies, ice cream sandwiches, bundt cake, etc!
We'd brought games but were happy to play some that the house had as well!
This is what nightmares are made of!! Thousands of little crabs!! These were along the walkway to the Intercoastal Waters.
Can you spot the herron?
(playing with my phone)
The hose worked as a great "squirt gun" too!
Kim and I thought we were doing a "sneak attack" by filling up water balloons to toss down from the balcony. Our plan definitely went awry when they used their squirt guns against us AND tossed the water balloons back at us since they weren't popping if they landed in the pool. When I went to "capture" the fight, Chris even attacked me there (in regular clothes!!). (Clearly I thought I'd stopped the video at the end when it gets shaky).
Chad's homemade french fries are THE BEST! I could eat the whole batch myself! (You know you're not a "selfie" type person when you're so used to taking horizontal pictures that the pan of fries you're eating directly from doesn't even make it in the picture...which was the whole point of the picture)
Don't be deceived by this picture. They were rarely all helping for more than a few seconds (mostly at the end when they could see it was almost done).
So many beautiful shells!!
The "jumping" picture:
I love the look on the girls' faces in this picture. We all had so much fun jumping waves together once and we were in pretty deep before I went to grab the camera. Willow said "We're ALL out here! This is so much fun!!"
The kids enjoyed eating together at the kitchen island:
An afternoon treat at "Beaches and Cream"
Back at the dock at the Intercoastal waters at low tide.
The beach house!
(Unpictured is Chad who helped a lot with this puzzle too...wrapping up at 10pm!)
Chris and I got up early to watch the sunrise. It was cloudy most of the last half of the week so this was all the "sunrise" we got:
We did find a water tank, though, that had washed up overnight (it was covered with these crazy things!):
We spotted 3 man-of-wars on the beach. Thankfully only one was in the water. It was incredible how long its tentacles were!
There were a couple trips to the beach with a lot of sea foam coming off the waves. It would just pile up on shore and the wind would carry balls of it across the beach. Instead of "ghost crabs" you could see "ghost foam" blowing like tumbleweed. During the time pictured below it was almost ridiculous!!
Our stuff was covered in it!
We enjoyed putt putt followed by flamingo snowballs (aka snowcones):
Willow's shirt says "Sea you at the beach!"
I should have erased the chalkboard before we left. This was my sad adjustment:
Is it time to go back yet???
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