Cousin Camp 2011: Outer Banks Style

For our third annual Cousin Camp, Akie and Poppy decided to have a destination vacation at a place that we have great family memories of, the Outer Banks of NC. Although we didn't get back to Emerald Isle, the house mom and dad rented between Duck and Corolla was fantastic with plenty of space for all of us. It was beautiful but strange to go back as an adult when we haven't been in over twenty years! The dunes seemed smaller and more grown over and there weren't as many spectacular seashells as mom and I remembered; Jes did manage to find whole sand dollars, though! I love how each day began pretty early (because of the four early rising kids, of course!) with a walk on the beach to collect shells. Jes thought to bring little canvas bags that they each decorated with their name, and they were perfect for dropping all of their shells into. Some of the memorable highlights:

• the fox that we watched for several evenings at dusk who came sneaking though our front "yard",


• The Outliers family book club even though everyone made fun of my prepared questions,


• watching the kids splash in the tide pools during low tide,


• cooking for each other and enjoying all of the delicious food,


• Myrick getting some prickly pear needles stuck in her foot at Kitty Hawk and howling like she was dying,


• enjoying a trip to the Wright Brothers Museum with Poppy


• lifting the kids over the waves with the kids in between Akie and me


• Pender crying on the beach every time Nate or I would walk towards the ocean,


• making sand castles and moats with Myrick and Nate,


• using the outdoor shower to get the LOADS of sand out of the kids' bottoms before heading inside,


• and of course turning around to see one of the boys with his britches down peeing into the sand bank - hilarious!
  

Thank you mom and dad, for a great Cousin Camp - we will be talking about it for years to come. As much fun as it was for the adults, however, I know Myrick really missed being in SC at the place that she thinks of when she thinks of Cousin Camp and Akie and Poppy. Next year will have to be back to the place that she loves the best!

Sorting her seashells into organized piles - Mommy and Poppy approve!

Decorating Chris's and Jes's birthday cake

Maddox, Myrick, and Nixon - did I get the boys right, Chris???

Happily and safely in his chair - Pender didn't like the sand very much...

Focusing on decorating her sand castle with seashells

My trepidatious son - the waves were also not his favorite!

Low tide