Beach Bums in the OBX

Well, we spent most of the first day at the beach. The beach in Corolla, NC (which is the most northern part of the Outer Banks) is awesome - since you can drive on the beach here, you can drive right up to your perfect "spot"...unload your stuff and you've got your vehicle there to just pack up when you're done. Our perfect spot was 400 yards from our front door...how great is that?? There are trucks coming up and down the beach every now and then, so you do have to be a little careful, though *most* people are respectful. It's fantastic, though, that the beach is so private ...you don't get that much traffic down where we were and you HAVE to have a 4x4 vehicle to drive on the beach (we saw many people who thought they could "try" to do it in their cars who ended up getting stuck not far past the entrance to the beach!!!) Not that we laughed or anything that they thought they were *smarter* than the NUMEROUS posted signs that said 4x4's ONLY. (snicker!)

Other than the beach, we spent our days in the pool, the hot tub or just hanging around. There are wild horses that roam the beach which is a pretty amazing site to see as well ... they're Spanish Mustangs that made their way to the Outer Banks some way or another (Sam started to read the story in the paper - if you're interested in learning more, Google it, because I don't know the whole story and I'm really too tired to go back and read it and type it.....blah, blah, blah.) <-- smile. They not only come up on the beach but they come up into people's yards - check this out! We did give them one (or two) little baby carrots (even though you're not supposed to!!) but they came right up onto our deck and the screened in porch where we ate dinner most nights! They were shy and a little skittish and they seemed so skinny and me and (Nanny) Debbie kind of felt sorry for them.

So that I can share my photos sooner rather than later, I'm just adding a link to my photo gallery here (Kodak) - I've just basically dumped the pictures off my camera ... so I haven't done any editing or sorting (I'm just warning you in advance....sorry there is almost 350 pictures here, yikes!!) Unfortunately, I had to work the first couple days of our trip (YES, I know, and YES, I did believe it or not!) because with our trip to Germany and Paris coming up in a couple weeks I didn't have the vacation time (the Europe trip is partly a business trip for Sam so he doesn't have to take all vacation time like I do) so I just didn't get a chance to blog. Though I do have to say (again) we're so getting ready for 10 child free days..lol! I can't imagine what it will be like to be without the babies for TEN whole days. When we went to Antigua when Zach was 6 or 7 months old (you know, when we decided to start trying to have another baby...ONE...more baby) we SORT of missed Zach ...but we had such a fabulous time that the "time" flew by.... romantic resort, 100% sunny skies with amazing sunsets out of our bedroom windows ... incredible snorkeling, fancy dinners, drinking freshly made frozen drinks with little umbrellas ... can you blame us for not missing him THAT much?? But we've never really been away from all three of them for any real length of time. I'm sure it will go by fast ... but we'll miss the monsters. (Just kidding!! Heeheee!!!) Please note, however, we did NOT get pregnant at the most romantic Jumby Bay, it took us until the NEXT month during our white water rafting trip for Sam's birthday ...when my egg must have magically split during a class IV rapid. (That's my theory anyway, though I probably don't recall, since I was holding onto his life jacket for dear life while everyone else in the boat was paddling!!!)

Anyway, back to the beach .... we truly had a fantastic time, with no major accidents or mishaps ... and nothing can say it better than the pictures, unless you were there because it was 83 and sunny...with a mild sea breeze. So .........here they are, the pictures. I'm going to put the whole sha-bang here and like I said I'm going to blog a couple of the photos over the next few days. I still have the pictures off of Donna's camera to download and she's got some fantastic shots of Sam on his kayak - I'll post those tomorrow!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/tramontana/main/beach_house_-_corolla_nc_2008?UV=27943049742_636949478306

Enjoy!

xoxoxo.........rachel