Sun Sun Sun (aka Disco Thumb Day!)

Day 5: Sun Sun Sun aka Disco Thumb Day

Josh and Ellie @ sunrise

The night before, Rob mined through the video clips on his ipad and found several hysterical videos Michael created, including a 3 minute video on his thumb entitled, “Disco Thumb.” Of course, Wednesday could be nothing other than Disco Thumb Day.  Try it, you won’t regret giving your thumb the chance to live it up. 

Our day began at 5 am.  Josh had a dream to watch the sunrise over the ocean and we decided to make that dream a reality.  It was easier to rise than we expected and we headed in the dark to the beach.  We saw some of the night creature of the beach including an enormous ghost crab who at first was a little wary of the kids, but then decided he could take any of us fools and stood his ground.  The sunrise over the ocean was breathtaking.  The soft and vibrant pinks and oranges stretched through the sky as the sun came up, dolphins played in the distance, and the pelicans and shore birds feed and soared over the surface of the ocean.  After the sun rose, we headed back for breakfast and the beginning of the adventure of the day.  We took off for Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke Island.   The Outer Banks is a stunning place and there is no better time to drive its length and see the beauty than early morning.  We got to the beach at Cape Hatteras and ran to find as many shells in the surf as we could.  We all hoped for the illusive sand dollar or sea glass, neither of which we were able to find.  But we did find shells in droves including Whelks (we always called them conch shells, but learned later during the Jr. Ranger program that they were actually called whelks).  When 9 am hit and the lighthouse opened, we made our way over there, stopping in the Visitor’s Center and getting the Jr. Ranger booklets.  Of the Jr. Ranger programs we did, Cape Hatteras was the first that had a patch for it.  But you had to work harder to get the patch.  A badge and Jr. Ranger oath was earned after completing the booklet, after two programs, you earned the patch.

The Tide is High

Day 4: The Tide is High

After a pancake breakfast, we decided to head to Jockey’s Ridge, where we heard that one could sled on the sand like you do on the snow.   We armed ourselves with boogie boards and sun block and headed over to the largest sand dune in the US.  Jockey’s Ridge has an interesting history.  In 1973 when there was a land boom in Nag’s Head, residents banded together to save the dune from being bulldozed.  We are so happy they worked hard to do that, Jockey’s Ridge is an amazing place.  We explored the visitor’s center and then lugged our boogie boards up the sand dunes.  As we climbed the enormous piles of sand, a woman who had clearly spent some quality time at Jockeys’ Ridge gave her young charges detailed instructions on how to get the best trip down the sand hill.  She mentioned that the bottoms of the boogie boards needed to be plastic coated and not the foam bottom.  Fortunately, two of our boards had a plastic coating and following her instructions, we found a great spot on the hill with a jump at the bottom right into a fresh water pond.  We also put together the trick kite and the kids had a ball steering the kite through the high winds.  We watched the hang gliding school teach their charges how to hang glide and watched gaggles of families climbing over the dunes.  As the sand heated up, we decided to head back for lunch, Michael had the genius idea of walking back through the shallow ponds instead of on the hot sand.  The kids

Make you Feel My Love

Day 3: Make you feel my love

One year ago today, we began our cross country adventure in a very special place.  We started it at our dear friends Rob and Elizabeth’s wedding.  What a treat to be able to be with them again a year later to remember that special day.  Although the titles of the blog posts are usually pretty random song titles that remind me of that day, this one is the song that their friend Mary sang and played at their ceremony, which was a treasured moment in a beautiful day.

I got up early and wanted to do something special to mark the occasion, run and get a special breakfast or flowers, something along those lines.  So went down to the car to run out quickly before anyone got up and discovered the car dead.  Fortunately, it was not that way on its own.  Unfortunately, our car was parking Rob and Liz’s in.  I settled on some lovely flowers picked from the back of a bush in the property.  Not the splash of celebration I was hoping for, but somehow if the flowers are beautiful and fresh picked, they are always perfect. 

The positive side of this debacle is that Rob and Josh, Captain Tinkerer and his trusty sidekick, got to do a project together.  Liz and I stepped back and chuckled at them, clearly enjoying the process of figuring out how to get the cars close enough together to jump our car.  Against the tinkering power of Captain T and his trusty sidekick, our van had no choice in the matter, in no time it revved to

Blinded by the Light

Day 2: Blinded by the Light

Rob and Ellie burying Michael

When going on a vacation to the beach, one must spend ample time at the beach and the plan for our second glorious day of vacation was to do exactly that.  We woke up, ate breakfast and headed for the beach, boogie boards in hand because promises were made to Sean especially who had been chomping at the bit to  boogie board over the waves.  Big lessons learned today:

1. When at the beach, drink lots of water.
2. Then drink more water.
3. After, have a glass of water.

Ocean waves can be very relaxing, but they can also be a scary bunch of work.  All of us swung between ecstasy and fear as the waves knocked into us and we went between jumping in time and missing a beat and having the waves school us.  The kids figured out the boogie boards and we had a ball playing in the sand and surf.  We watched surfers playing in the steadily growing waves.  After being there all morning, Andrew looked exhausted and laid down on the blanket.  Most of the kids were done with the beach and ready for lunch, so we headed back.  Andrew was toast, feverish and looking terrible.  Poor guy was down for the count, exhibiting all of the signs of heat sickness.  When on the beach, hydration is key, especially for kids.

You Got The Wright Stuff

Day 1: You Got the Wright Stuff

Ellie, Sean, Andrew, Michael, and Owen at a NC farm stand.

Any day that begins the night before has a huge disaster potential, especially when involving children. It was only the beauty of the Outer Banks and the magic of friendship the turned a day that shouldn't have been into a smashing success.

Aside from a bizarre 1 a.m. traffic jam in New Jersey and being totally agog at the length of the Chesapeake Bridges and Tunnels, the trip down was pretty uneventful.  We hit the Outer Banks around 9:30 and got to the Wright Brothers Memorial at 10:00.  The house we rented wasn't available to us until 2:00 so we had some time to kill and checking the Junior Ranger pins off of the scavenger hunt seemed like a good way to do it.

The Wright Brothers Memorial is a large open field with a small visitor's center to one side and a big monument on a hill on the other.  It is a humble setting for such a significant discovery for our society.  The Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics who were bitten by the bug of aviation and dedicated their lives to it.  Looking at that time, it's pretty amazing that an average person, without any specialized education, could just decide to tackle something as monumental as aviation and then actually do it.

With a world full of potential, breakfast was the first order of the day.  Elizabeth and I have a proclivity for needing to feed the world and feed it well, so breakfast in the car was simple, but good.  Nourished, the kids began their path to Junior Ranger-dom.  Breakfast slowed us down so we missed the 10 a.m. program about the Wright brothers.  Instead we explored the gallery and the kids began their work on the booklets and listened to the occasional shouts from the ranger giving the talk, we've met many passionate Park Rangers in our times through the National Parks, but never one so loud as this Ranger.

The ranger program the kids were excited to do was the kite flying exhibition, so we moved outside to check out the lay of the land and ready ourselves for the program.  The boys went to look at the markers of the first four short flights and discovered the small prickly pear which is prevalent in the little dune grass-like grass of the place.  The big things we learned were:

1. Prickly pear cacti are not delicious.
2. If you pick up a prickly pear, even if you take the large spikes off, the smaller spikes will get into your hand.
3. Do not pick the prickles off with your teeth, otherwise the prickles will be in your mouth, which is less fun than the prickles on your hand, and may lead to cotton ball swallowing.

We thank Andrew for 2 of the above learning experiences.  I'll let you decide which ones.  The kids flew these fantastic garbage bag kites in the ranger program until the thunder rumbled in and although the program was cut short, the lightning held at bay, only a cooling rain which felt too good to run from.  Instead of heading inside, we choose to explore the monument, filling a requirement for our Junior Rangers to be. The monument is on a hill and the view is spectacular, you can see the ocean and miles around.  After exploring, we returned to finish off the sheets and get sworn in.  In no time we had 5 Junior Rangers fully sworn in, Owen with the added swearing of not taking the car out without permission, keeping his room clean, and being nice to his younger brother.  The last stop was the bronze replica of the first flight, which was a blast.  The kids had a ball climbing all over and interacting with the bronze sculptures.  After a picnic lunch, we were ready to hit the beach and check out our new digs.

The house that we rented belongs to a dear friend of Rob's parents and it is everything you could want in a house that you rent at a beach.  The men took the kids to the beach and Liz and I unpacked the food we brought, which would feed a small army for a month.  After the food was ready to go, we met up with the kids and played on the beach.

The beach in the Outer Banks is everything you want in an ocean beach for the summer.  The sand is fine and plentiful and the waves roll and crash playfully toward the shore.  The kids were having a ball jumping through the waves and it was only a combination of hunger and exhaustion that compelled them to leave the beach without a fuss.  After a delicious dinner and movie, kids were trundled off to bed and adults sat on the beautiful porch, enjoying the company of friends and the sweet breezes from the ocean.

Traveling- Barely Superstitious

Okay, I know the song is "Very" Superstitious, but I always sang it as barely and it works for the trip prep as  we're leaving on Friday the 13th.  Little superstitions were a constant part of my upbringing.  Spilled salt was tossed over the shoulder, cracks were to be avoided, wood was knocked on.   To be honest, I see superstitions as little traditions that you do to tell the world that you've got some good things going and wouldn't mind continuing with those.  Part of me thinks Friday the 13th seems like an advantageous time to begin a trip, the other part of me will make sure we have a well equipt medicine bag.

Our trip this year is to the Outer Banks, NC.  Dear friends (the ones who's wedding started off our amazing road trip last year) have connections to a house down there so when they suggested sharing the house with us, it was a big yes.  Great friends and a stunning destination seems like a really good combination.  This year as I looked at the trip down and began planning stops along the way, my husband looked at me and begged, "Can't we just go to the beach?"  So I've scaled back a bunch.  We will not be spending lots of quality time in Delaware, as I had hoped.  Instead we'll drive through the night and end up in the Outerbanks early, early enough for a good breakfast and a trip to the Wright Brothers memorial we hope.  This vacation we're hoping for lots of sand, sun, and beach time.

The Scavenger hunt this trip is over the top, I built my usual scavenger hunt and Elizabeth, genius gifted artist that she is souped it up into a journal and memory book for the kids.  It is beyond spectacular!  We're thinking of going into business with family travel journals.   Anyway- this year's scavenger hunt!

Outer Banks Scavenger Hunt

      1.              The states you traveled through

2.              Become a Junior Ranger

3.              Do something you have never done

4.              Find evidence of a shipwreck

5.              Fly something

6.              Fly in a bronze plane or cheer on your bronze flyer friends

7.              Draw a flying machine of the future in your sketchbook

8.              Build a sandcastle taller than Ellie and take a photo of it

9.              Find the tallest natural thing of sand in the United States.  What is it and its name?

10.          Who said, “We came down here for wind and sand and we have got them!”