Our 3 Miracles: Outer Banks Part 1

After leaving Charleston on Monday, we headed up to North Carolina where we would meet Jon and his family for several days on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. At breakfast before we left, Sarah observed that we were at the Atlantic Ocean and the Outer Banks were at the Atlantic Ocean so that meant we were at the Outer Banks, right? When we explained that, no, we weren't (the ocean is really big!) and we would be driving seven hours to get there, she thought we were crazy: why drive seven hours to be at the beach and ocean when we were there right now? And why should her cousins drive seven hours to be at the beach when they could drive three to Charleston?

Entering into North Carolina (again) on our way up.

We arrived in the Outer Banks at dinner time. The kids enjoyed greeting their cousins and playing a bit before bed.

Tuesday morning, we walked on the beach before breakfast. We saw dolphins! And crabs. After breakfast, the kids unanimously agreed they wanted to go down and play in the ocean. All of them were pretty funny about it as they ran screaming from each wave as it rolled in. This attitude would soon change.

Zach, Sarah, Kinley, Megan and Aspen running for their lives.

When is the next wave coming?

Matthew and Zach

We saw this crab on the beach.

Oh no! Another wave!

The beach time ended rather abruptly when it began pouring down rain. It's pretty funny to see a bunch of people who are in swimsuits running inside because of rain. Because of tropical storm Cindy, we had a pretty rainy forecast for our week at the beach. We wanted to make use of the good weather and also prepare for the rain. We were lucky that we didn't end up getting nearly as much rain as predicted. Regardless, we had several non-beach activities that we wanted to do as well.

Tuesday morning, we drove up to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. This is the location where the Wright brothers first flew a powered airplane. They also worked on perfecting their glider in the area on the sand dunes. There is a big monument to them there as well as a re-creation of their camp and markers showing the first four flights they completed that day.

Matthew as a park ranger.

U as a park ranger.

Aspen as a park ranger.

Megan as a park ranger.

The kids all worked very hard to get their Junior Ranger badges. Depending on age, there are different requirements at each park. All of them were excited to work on it. At the end, they have a pledge and the kids get a badge from that park.

Matthew working on his packet for Junior Ranger. The sign he is writing on has a picture of Orville Wright and Amelia Earhart from when the small memorial plaque (2nd picture below) was placed for the 25th anniversary of the flight.

Sarah and Kinley working on theirs.

This stone marks the takeoff point for the first flight and was placed at the 25th anniversary of the flight.

U with the marker for the fourth and longest flight (longer than the first three combined).

U and Josie walking down the path.

Sarah and Kinley with the large memorial monument. It is on one of the sand dunes that the Wright Brothers used with their glider. It's been stabilized with vegetation.

Ever since India, Matthew loves to have pictures where he is taller than tall objects.

He offered to take one of U. After he took it, he said "Dad, I cut off your eyes but you can still see your smile and you are definitely taller than the monument."

These doors had several panels relating to flight from mythology.

Me with Megan and Matthew. The inscription around the monument reads "In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright. Conceived by genius, achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith."

U with Orville.

A helicopter came around the monument which was very exciting.

It landed not far away at First Flight Airport. Megan and Me were really close by at the bathrooms right by the landing strip.

A side view of the monument with Aspen, Matthew, Kinley and Sarah.

Here comes Jon and Marci with their younger kids.

From the monument you can see their camp and the markers showing those first flights. It really is remarkable what the Wright Brothers did and how they went about it by first working on gliding and then adding an engine for propulsion. True engineering!

There is a bronze replica of the first flight and the crowd watching it that the kids had a lot of fun playing on. Special thanks to Marci who set up a lot of the fun shots with the statues. Here, Megan helps the photographer with his setup.

Apparently he is photographing Sarah and Kinley.

The model of the first plane was fun to play on. Megan thought it looked backwards because of all the contraptions in front of the wings.

Sarah playing patty cake with a statue.

There were enough dance partners for all three older girls.

Me and Matthew on the plane.

"Stop Wilbur! Stop!"

Me taking her turn to fly with Orville.

Matthew helping to fly the plane.

Matthew takes a ride in the tail.

Sarah, Kinley and Aspen were mostly inseparable on the trip.

Quincy, Megan, Zach and Matthew after being sworn in as Junior Rangers. Megan takes this duty very seriously.

After the Wright Brothers, we went back to the hotel to grab lunch. Since it wasn't raining, we decided to take advantage of our beach.

Quincy the mermaid

Digging a pool to capture water.

We built a lot of things and played in the water.

Marci and Quincy with a sand castle.

Matthew wanted to be a race car driver.

Zach decided to challenge him to a race. He was so excited about the car that he stayed in it almost the rest of the afternoon.

Aspen became a beautiful mermaid.

The kids worked very diligently to prevent their sand castle from being washed out to sea. (This is a losing battle as the tide is coming in.....)

Every time a wave engulfed it but didn't destroy it they would cheer "It didn't break!"

That night we went out for dinner at the Jolly Roger, a pirate themed restaurant. The kids had seen a banner towed by a plane while we were at the beach and it was reasonably priced. When Megan took Me to the bathroom, she said, "Mom, we go in the door that says 'wenches'." Nice cultural lesson there....

U and Me shared a seafood platter.

All the kids wanted spaghetti. Matthew ate almost a full adult plate.

That night we watched the LEGO Batman movie since it was raining and the Allens had not seen the movie yet. Several of the kids watched it again the next afternoon.

Wednesday morning, Melinda and Megan went down to the beach early.

Pelicans skimming above the waves.

Megan with the surf.

When Sarah got up, she went down to join them.

Another crab

The rain that was in the forecast never materialized with much force so we decided to make the day into a beach day for as long as it lasted.

The breeze made kite flying great.

Megan carrying water up the hill.

Sarah and Kinley loved to hang out in the bigger surf. They stayed out there so long jumping the waves that their lips turned purple. But they had no intention of coming back in!