Ahhhh, vacation

Ok, so I have been a bad, bad blogger lately but hopefully will get back to posting more frequently. I figure it will take me a week to recap our vacation alone with the minimal time the girls give me on the computer lately. Last week was our family vacation to Topsail and it was so much different from any that we have taken there yet. To start out the coast experienced a Nor'Easter on the Thursday before we arrived, that was what someone referred to it as but I thought those were only in the North East (???). It eroded much of the dunes and many of the stairs to the beach were damaged. The dunes by the beach house we stayed at are normally much higher.

Many of the homes lost their stairs from the storm - luckily for them that was all.


Thankfully on Sunday when we arrived there were already some very nice guys there working on the stairs that we were missing. We only had to cut around the house 1 day and that was really easy since the dune was completely gone next door. Not only did the storm do a lot of damage but it stirred the ocean which gave us some interesting beach combing during the week. That will be a post in itself. There was not a day that went by though that we didn't have a pocket full of screws to bring home and throw out - I would hate to see that in any little kiddos foot or even an adults for that matter.

Our week was glorious! The weather couldn't have been better! Early in the week it was still in the mid 80's and then cooled to the mid to high 70's for the remainder. Ahhhh, perfect weather for this pregnant mama! It rained for maybe a total of 1 hour and it was a little overcast for an afternoon. Until Friday the beach was basically ours, I LOVE vacationing there in the fall!

Our Violet decided that it might be a good week for her to try potty learning - um what? So much for vacation when it came to that - ugh! I was pretty laid back with Piper and didn't even attempt until she was over 2 1/2 so it was super easy with her. Now the baby is another story. She wants to go potty at the very least 100 times a day - seriously no lie! Thank goodness that Matt was there though b/c he did most of it as he never got sick of her and her "Come on-k Daddy". She is ending certain words with a "k" sound lately too. Piper would come out and say "Mama, Violet went potty! Come and give her the big thumbs up!" She is doing pretty well at it so far for a 21 month old. There is a possibility that when the novelty wears off we will be back to dipes but that is ok b/c well I love all my dipes that I will probably miss them (sad cd addiction).

Friends of ours have moved to the coast also and of course we hooked up. Barry was kind enough to take the time to give Matt a tour of the Wilmington port which of course my husband LOVED.

The operator of the crane even let Matt drive :)

Here are a few views from when they were up at the top - WAAAYYYY to high for me to EVER feel comfortable!


Afterwards we all ate at a little seafood place on the river and then Barry and Lisa joined us for ice cream - yummy! They were filming One Tree Hill across the river while we were on the boardwalk and Piper decided to throw a tiny mini crying fit so either that take was a cut or at some point someone might hear our kid screaming across the river :) I don't watch the show but it was kind of cool to see them doing that.

More pictures and memories to follow. I do hope that I remember most of it so that the girls will always have this since they are too young and pictures don't really tell the true story. This is why I blog, for my girls - oh and also b/c I am 37 and will forget what happened a day later - stinks getting OLD!