Treasures from a North Carolina Beach....

What a wonderful summer it was!  My daughters and I joined my sisters and their families in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week on the beach.  On a Friday we flew into Raleigh where my nephew lives, grateful for the yummy curry vegetable and rice dinner and soft beds to sleep in.  Saturday we all hit the road, caravan style, and drove on to the Outer Banks.  Here we approach the bridge over the sound ~

Once we fought through the bumper-to-bumper traffic (everyone seemed to be making a beeline to their beach house on the two lane road) we finally arrived at our home away from home -- a large 3-story where we all had our own bedrooms and bathrooms, a pool, two hot tubs, and wood steps right down to the beach! 

There were 16 of us in all.  The real reason we planned this very special family reunion was to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday this year.  Although he is no longer with us, we knew he would want us to get together and live lovingly and joyously in his honor.

Here are just a few treasures we'll remember ~

Yummy, yummy suppers from the grill and juicy watermelon

Squealing grandnieces and grandnephews when our flashlights spotted crabs in the sand when we went "crabbing" at night

Lazy moments in the swinging hammock chair, reading our assorted novels

Rooting for our favorites on the Olympics on TV at night

Long walks and collecting shells on the beach every day 

Swimming, boogie boarding and sand castle building

Working on our family jigsaw puzzle for several days

Discovering the old village of Corolla

Jeeping to see the wild horses of Corolla

Spa day with massages, facials, pedicures and haircuts

An afternoon visit from a thoroughly entertaining magician who performed extraordinary tricks

No schedule, just awaking when we wanted and going to bed when we were tired

Game night with all around the table.

Pelicans roosted on the tops of these wood poles in the water.  We enjoyed watching them fly in formation and dip into the water at dinner time.  Sand pipers joined us in running from the waves on our walks.

 The view from our back yard!

Moon light dancing on the Atlantic...

How did he do that?  The "Amazing Stanley" amused us with his tricks and witty jokes!  As close as we were to him, and none of us were in on his tricks, we could  NOT figure out how he did things!

 The little village of Corolla is quaint, nestled in the trees near the light house.  Here is the first school house of Corolla:

One day my daughters and sister were going to go parasailing -- we paid and walked down a long wooden walk way to the water where the boat was docked.  As you can see, storm clouds suddenly came in, the wind began to blow, and the captain cancelled the trip for safety reasons.  (Later we saw water spouts over the ocean!)  All was not lost -- we went shopping nearby where I found that darling picture at the top of this post -- it was on a wall by the gourmet popcorn shop where we bought bags of Cheesey Garlic Popcorn!

Tons and tons of photos were taken.  This is such a small sample...  I hope you enjoyed peeking in on our week.

And guess what?!  From Corolla, my girls and I drove our rental car to Washington D.C.!  Can you remember your geography to know some historical places between North Carolina and Wash. D.C.?   Stay tuned for my next blog!