Outer Banks (OBX) North Carolina — 2 years ago
We are home safe and sound from a glorious very laid-back week in Avon, NC..
Highlights from our trip include:
1. Naked Hot-tubbing
2. Naked Kite Flying
3. Group showers
4. Long Afternoon Naps
5. Drinking too much
6. Eating too much – especially seafood
7. Just an awesome relaxing vacation!
First of all 2 thumbs up to MIL & her hubby – they got the kid a portable DVD player for Xmas and it was worth it’s weight in gold for this trip. The kid watched two movies on the way down and the way back. And how many 3 year olds do you know that request “Harry Potter” or “Chronicles of Narnia” for their “inflight” movie? But it did keep the little one (LO) very happy in the backseat of the car when the LO could have been very unpleasant.. An 8+ hour car ride is a lot to ask a 3-yr. old to behave for.
Thumbs-up to my dad for great directions to avoid traffic, missed all the DC beltway disaster (Woodrow Wilson Bridge under construction), by taking his short-cut to 301. And Route 17 was a great scenic route thru Virginia and best of all no traffic – Yeah!!
The place we stayed was wonderful. It was one of those wooden houses up on stilts with a double-decker deck. The only thing we could have used was a dumbwaiter or an elevator to get all our stuff up and down when loading and unloading.
It had an outdoor shower for when you got back from the beach, it was 4 bedroom, a living area with very open floor plan, including a spiral staircase up to the loft, and a hot tub out on the deck. Though the entire place did sway in the wind which I believe I noticed the most since I’ve very susceptible to motion sickness. But it was more of a gentle rocking and I got used to it after the first couple of days.
We took the kid’s inflatable kiddie pool along and that was well worth it, as the LO could play in that while we lounged on the deck. The LO loved the waves, making sandcastles, flying kites (the kid was the naked kite flyer), bike riding (using the bikes & tow-wagon that our friends had rented), playing in her pool, playing with all of our friend’s one yr. old’s toys, our visit to the Cape Hatteras Light House, etc.
We had awesome vacation-mates. Another couple that both are wonderful cooks. The hubby did marinated-steaks one night, and the wife did chicken/sausage quesadillas. We had pizza one day, seafood a few days (I did crabs, oysters, shrimp and scallops while on vacation), and NC BBQ. My dh (darling husband) did his spaghetti one night, I made hash-browns and waffles one morning. And, I think I had a glass of wine almost everyday and the boys were the bartenders for the week. They made wonderful grasshoppers and cosmos and breakfast mimosas. We also had Mud-slides and Pina Coladas and various Rum-juice drinks, Yum! And, I think my dh’s favorite part of the vacation was Pina Coladas in the hot tub 8am Monday morning.
Our Favorite restaurant: the “Froggy Dog” in Avon – wonderful seafood and they even had a kids play area. Our friends took us there!
Least favorite restaurant: “Down Under” in Waves unless you like your food served with LadyBugs – Ewh!! Yuck!!
I got the hubby and kid Pirate T-shirts from the Pirate Loft at the Kite shop. Our LO got a cool personalized, ceramic-kiln necklace, and we got a hammock chair and “Outer Banks” afghan for our screen porch. The kid also got a few Outer Banks kids books & postcards.
Our friends planned really well for the entertainment and brought card games, board games, puzzles, a large drawing pad for the kid, dominoes, etc. Dh and I each had a book, and the children got along well.
Our friend’s LO is only one and up to cruising but not quite walking and I really didn’t know how our LO would do with the baby. We only had to correct ours a few times regarding sharing and not pushing their kid down when their LO was grabbing ahold of ours to try to stand up, but we really avoided any major issues (thank goodness)..
I was so worried ours would be screaming at their kid or beating their LO up or something horrendous, since our LO isn’t around 1 yr. olds much at all. And when I told ours to keep an eye on the baby to keep the baby away from the stairs, our LO was so proud of getting to be a big kid and watch the baby. And the baby was really an incredibly happy little kid, lots of big smiles and a really happy personality, that made things with the two kids work out very well.
The thing our 3 yo. will remember is the Ocean attacking, and trying to drag them away, being only 38 inches tall a 2 foot wave is ginormous. So when a wave knocked our LO down when they were trying to wash their hands, the hero, daddy, saved our LO.
We’ll remember a few things, including our trip home and having to pull-over on the toll road due to diaper explosion of the most heinous kind – a full clothing change for the kid. But dh and I couldn’t stop laughing – poor child!
And dh lost his cell phone one late afternoon on the beach, he didn’t notice it missing until the next day. We retraced our steps and he found it still laying on the beach, lucky man.
And after we packed up and we’re driving home, maybe 20 minutes out of Avon, we realized we forgot a load of laundry and had to drive back to the rental office get the key, go back to our unit get the laundry out of the dryer, and then return the key, and leave Avon again 45+ minutes later. We can laugh now but I was a grumpy bear having to go back, but at least we didn’t get all the way home and then realize it.
Our plants are a little worse for wear after a week away, I think the strawberries took it the worse.. I’ve never been on such a low-key vacation before, our big decisions of whether to go to the beach or play in the kiddie pool, fly kites or build sandcastles, play dominoes or watch cartoons, how long of a nap to take?
Back at work and missing my afternoon siestas.
