The Beach!!

We've been married for 11 years and have never been on a real vacation.... until now.

And what a vacation it was!!!

We flew to North Carolina and spent a week in a beach house on Emerald Isle, part of the Crystal Coast (Southern Outer Banks). The scenery is breathtaking, the weather was perfect and the company was the BEST!! The trip included many new adventures -- it was Kurtis and Katie's first time on an airplane, first time on a beach and first time seeing the ocean.

We went with some of my family: my Grandma Nowers; my Uncle Kenny's family (Kenny, Julie, Nicole, Jessica & Gavin); my Aunt Aimee's family (Paul, Aimee, Wyatt, Mya, Jordyn & Austin); my sister Courtney & my cousin James. 18 of us in all!!

First time at the beach!!

The beach house we stayed in had 3 floors plus a loft, a game room, a theatre room, a swimming pool, a hot tub, a putting green and even an elevator!

Surf's UP!!

Wes impressed us all with his boogie-boarding prowess, although the farmer's tan is a dead give-away that he's a rookie surfer!

We took a ferry from Harker's Island to the Cape Lookout. Once we got through the mosquito-infested jungle, we ended up on a gorgous beach with a fabulous view of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. We arrived at lowtide and found some awesome seashells!! Lowtide also provided us with some spectacular tide pools filled with crabs, starfish and stingrays.

Ooohhh... it's easy to find time to hug when we see each other for more than 10 minutes at day!!

Go, Gidget, Go!! Katie had no problem adapting to her new environment.

Kurtis found a beautiful conch shell, which was... SURPRISE... inhabited!!

We wanted family pictures done on the beach, and luckily, brought along our own photographer... my sister! Courtney did a fabulous job!! And worked real cheap!!

The boys went deep-sea fishing and had a very successful day!

They caught 11 wahoo, 4 tunas and 1 barracuda!!

Kurtis tested his strength and endurance reeling in a tuna!!

Thems some big 'ol fish!!

Funnest photo shoot EVER!!

We spent one day at Hammock's Beach State Park, aka "Sand-Dollar Island." We scoured the beach for hours and found some of these amazing creatures --most of them even survived the trip home.

Island Girl!!

Last day at the beach..... :(

Soakin it up!!

Look at this gorgous scenery and yards of beach to ourselves!!

I think we could used to this...

I even got a henna tattoo!! The best part... NO needles!!

Kurtis... he always shows up the rest of us with his tan!!

Katie absolutely LOVED boogie boarding... she literally spent hours trying to catch the perfect wave!! We all started calling her "gidget." I had to drag her out of the ocean when it was time to go in for lunch! She cried and told me she wanted to move here because she couldn't live without the beach!!

We took the kids minature golfing our last night there.

Kurtis got TWO holes in one!!

He's a natural!

Strike a pose!

As the sun set on the perfect vacation,

we are vowing to not wait another 11 years 'til the next one!