beach vacation 2013

We started toying with the idea of renting a beach house early in the spring.  Out of curiosity, we looked up some houses for rent on some different beaches in NC.  We checked out several, quiet beaches mainly, and were so surprised with what we found!  They weren't near as costly as we'd thought they might be.  We also knew that splitting the week's rent with another family would make it even more affordable!  My brother and sister-in-law are the first ones that popped in my head.  David loved that idea too.  We asked them if they'd be interested in splitting a house with us for a week, they were all for it!  So, we began the serious beach house search.  David found the perfect house at Caswell Beach, on Oak Island.  We got an amazing deal, as the week we rented it (August 10-17) was technically "off season", and was surprisingly cheaper than it was even the first week of August.  We decided to go for it!  We booked it back in May, so waiting all summer for that week of August to arrive was a little painful, but it eventually came!  My parents came and joined us for the first 3 days, which was awesome.  I just wish they could've stayed longer!  We had so much fun.

How cute is this house?!  It had a beautiful view of the marsh and the Cape Fear River.  You could see the ocean from the windows in the crow's nest, but that's it.  You could also see Southport from our living room.  So cool.

I just love that we live in a city that's only 2-3 hours from the beach.  Unfortunately, Evelyn only took a 40 minute nap on the way there.  Oh well.  We were going to the beach.  Who cares!

Backtracking a little, but this was the first glimpse of water the kids got on the way to the island!  Getting excited!

The kids up in the crow's nest - which was their living space for the week.  They slept up there, played up there, etc.

Nice, big kitchen!

This was our view from the back deck.  I LOVED it.

Those buildings you can see in the distance is Southport.

We arrived at the beach around 4, ordered pizza, and then went out to see the beach before bed.  The beach access was RIGHT across from our house.  You cannot beat that!

My dad found a bunch of pretty shells for my mom.  So sweet.

Love them!

Day 1 on the beach!  Evelyn wasn't too sure about it all.  She was very sensitive about the sand and beach water getting in her mouth.  She was NOT a fan of that.  She did enjoy sitting with a bucket and shovel for a little while.  

Camden is totally in his element at the beach.  He loves it.  He will ride the waves on his boogie board for hours.  We eventually went and bought a bigger board for him.  This one has now been handed down to Anderson!

Anderson and Anna-Kate were in heaven.  They adored it all, the sand, the water, the shells.  They played together so well.

One of my favorite things about this beautiful beach is that there's NO ONE else around!  The other families out there were far enough away that you felt like you were totally by yourself.  So different than the beaches I grew up going to!

Leave it to the grown men to be the ones to build sand castles.  They worked on this thing for hours!

Blurry, but tried to capture the pretty moon over the ocean one night.

Morning cartoons in their jammies.

Love her beautiful beach waves!

We went and got some italian ice at the cutest little place one night.  Little kids played...

and grown-ups played.

Opa brushing Evelyn's hair.  She's moving in this picture, but she sat still for him for the longest time while he brushed her!  I remember him doing that to me when I was little. :)

One afternoon while the little ones napped and the big kids "rested", becca and I went back out on the beach to walk and to sit and relax.  It was bliss! 

Sis-in-law selfie!

Aaaaaand unfortunately, this is where my pictures end.  Some of you know this already, but here's the story:  I was taking pictures with my phone and I put it in David's pocket when I was finished with it.  I didn't say anything when I put it in, because I'd done it earlier that day and told him that it was in there and not to get in the water with the phone in his pocket.  Well, I didn't remind him that I slipped it in there, so he got in the water.  Just a couple of minutes later, I needed my phone again to take another picture of something, so I wondered to myself where it was.  That was where it dawned on me and I yelled "DAVID!  My PHONE!".  He got out of the water as fast as he could and got my phone out.  It wouldn't turn on.  Awesome.  He quickly left the beach to run to the grocery store to buy some rice, so we could let the phone dry it.  Well, it didn't work.  I was without a phone for 2 days at the beach.  I did get some with David's phone, so I'm hoping to post those eventually.  Ugh... darn wet phone.

We went ahead and rented the house for the same week next summer, and already can't wait to go back!  Such a fun time with all our family.