3rd times the charm

 Do you see that?!

 And that?!

And how about that?!  Rays of light on the rippling ocean water... clear BLUE sky...the SUN in all its splendor!  These had been foreign objects on our previous two beach trips, and they were a very welcome sight!  We did have a day with pretty chilly winds, but the weather was an exponential improvement for us. 
We packed our spring with beach getaways and this time we actually did things like wear a swimsuit, play in the water, sit on the beach for extended periods of time.  This go-around we stayed in a lovely beach front house in North Topsail Beach with four other families from the ward.  It was a full house with lots of kiddos and craziness, but it was great to spend time with friends and relax on the beach.

Our first full day there was Mother's Day.  It started way too early (thanks, Emmett), but we spent those sunrise hours swinging on the porch swing on our deck and walking along the beach, so it was time well spent. 

I really do love being this little rascal's mother.

After church, all the guys combined their efforts to make us a delicious Sunday/Mother's Day dinner of  salmon, salad, rice pilaf, asparagus.  Yum.

I did a lousy job of taking pictures this trip and failed to document many of the adventures of our four nights there.  I'll have to work on gathering some pics from my fellow beach friends.  We visited the "shark" store (Emmett was enthralled), fit 10 adults in a 5-6 person hot tub, played tennis, sorted Box Tops, did morning yoga on the beach, had long conversations on the beach, boogie boarded (I was kind of terrible at it), played pool and caught some ghost crabs.  Some of the most memorable moments included the men doing handstands on the beach, the wave that very much surprised us during our beach yoga while in a rather compromising position (Becky and Kathleen got pretty soaked and the two passerbys enjoyed a good laugh at our expense), the night where we searched for a griddle and Kathleen spent over 4 hours cooking sweet potato pancakes one at a time on a small frying pan.  Jeff ended up driving all the way to Wilmington to get one. 

Emmett was pretty intrigued by the Kudzo bugs that dotted our deck.  Turns out that Kudzo bugs are an invasive bug (named after the invasive vine) that also happen to be attracted to white surfaces.  They seemed pretty harmless and Emmett had fun catching them.  

Poor Memmett, who had slept a bit better once we moved him to the laundry room, woke up super early with a fever.  After a couple hours in bed with mom, we ended up walking the beach.  He fell asleep during our walk, so I pulled up a beach chair and snuggled my sleeping boy while soaking in the ocean view and breeze.  He pretty much slept off and on all morning which was both sweet and sad.  He wasn't too sick to watch a show on the ipad though and seemed to feel a little better by the afternoon.

Oh, beach.  It's always hard to say goodbye.  I hope we see you and the sun again soon.

I had one more Mother's Day surprises waiting for me when we got home.  What sweet in-laws I have!