Emerald Isle in October

 October is the perfect time to go to the beach in North Carolina.  At least it was a perfect weekend when we went.  The second weekend in October we drove out to Emerald Isle to stay for a couple of days.  Charles was kind enough to let us use his beach house, which is less than a ten-minute walk from the beach.  The temperature was in the 70s, and the skies were clear.  There were no crowds and you could spend the whole day sitting on the beach without breaking a sweat.  Like I said, the perfect time to go to the beach.

Good eye-to-eye contact with momma.

One of my favorite little outfits. 

This was our beach set up.  It looks a little skiddly-wompass, but it was a tricky thing to set up with only two, not-so-tall people! 

Playing with mom.

Emmett was not impressed with the water and sand.  Maybe next year...

Chillin' with dad.

I really didn't want to ever leave.  It was such a pleasant day.

That same week some friends of ours had been staying at a beach house about an hour away from us.  We drove down and spent an evening hanging out with all of them.  It was very fun to see a couple of the families that no longer live in Durham.  The boys (ahem, men) ventured out for some nighttime boogie boarding followed by playing in the pool.

Here they are playing "dive into the child-size innertube."

And here they are playing 500.  It was quite entertaining!

The ladies:  Katie, Lindsay, Cami, Becky and me.  It was a very fun night, and I'm glad we got to visit with everyone.

On our drive into town I had spotted signs advertising a Mullet Festival.  I coerced Clark into stopping on our way home to check it out.  I was really hoping that the Mullet Festival was honoring the "business in front, party in back" kind of mullets; however, it turns out that it actually wasn't a festival where lots of people rocked sweet hairdos. Turns out that a mullet is a kind of fish.  I actually only saw one mullet (the hairstyle) the whole time we were there, though I did see some places where you could eat fried mullet (the fish).  We did enjoy a little walk through the crowds and craft booths and live music. 

The view of the sound was lovely.

We soaked in enough sun to prepare ourselves for the cooler months that await us and are looking forward to visiting the beach again in the spring.