The Beach!!

 We went to the beach last week. It was so much fun! Nick's sister Suzi and her 14 year old son Zack came down from Pennsylvania to spend the week with us. Zack had never been to the beach, so he had a lot of fun. The girls LOVED their cousin Zack! They actually fought over him at times, and he was really good with them. It did rain quite a bit during our stay, but I think we were still able to make it out on the beach at least once every day. The rain gave us an excuse to go to the aquarium as well as the Wilmington Children's Museum.

 Isabella and Zack

 An overcast day...the view from the deck

 Hanging out on the deck

 We would wake up first thing in the morning and see the sun and get all excited, but Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were pretty rainy most of the day.

 Oh, Bailey! When Isabella was little at the beach, we'd put her in the sand on the first day and she'd basically just stay put, not going anywhere near the ocean for quite awhile. Bailey...we put her down and she took off - directly into the surf! She didn't end up being a huge fan of the ocean itself, but loved playing in the sand and some in the surf. The best was this afternoon when high tide brought some big puddles to play in.

 Isabella had a BLAST! She loved being out in the ocean, floating along with the waves (with her floatie). She also especially loved the afternoon puddles. 

 The girls SERIOUSLY would not leave Zack alone. He was very tolerant and patient with them.

 Isabella warmed up to Aunt Suzi far quicker than we really imagined that she would. We hadn't seen Suzi in about 6 years I think, so it was great to be able to spend time with her. And, it was also great to have a couple extra sets of hands to watch the girls. And double, triple, quadruple bonus, Nick and I got a date night! We walked down to the main part of Carolina Beach for dinner, then while waiting in line for the ferris wheel at the boardwalk, ran into one of my students from school!!! One of my favorites, who I have been tutoring all summer. What a coincidence! Then we got Britt's Doughnuts (mmmm...and I'm not usually a huge doughnut fan) and walked back along the beach, where we saw our footprints glowing in the sand...cooooool

Downtown Wilmington

View from the deck...finally a sunny day!

It was so awesome to eat breakfast every morning out on the deck

One night we all went down to the Boardwalk at Carolina Beach. Isabella had the best time riding the rides! This little train was the only one that Bailey got to ride on, but Isabella rode the Pirate Ship and a kiddie roller coaster (by herself!!) 3 or 4 times. We were pretty surprised at how much fun she had on the rides!

I remembered my camera but forgot to charge the battery before we left (or bring the charger). Luckily my phone takes pretty decent pictures!

Even though I occasionally feel pretty dorky dressing myself and the girls in long sleeves and big hats (oops, forgot Bailey's!), I actually LOVE it! I hate putting on sunscreen (especially once we're already at the beach) and the shirts protect better than sunscreen anyway. 

Yay, a family picture! Such a rarity!

Nick and Isabella in the water