Outer Banks

Driving in to the beach house...Ellie's first time at the ocean...
Me and the kids and Ellie on the line between Virginia and North Carolina (and still white because we just got there!)...

The road ends and there's just beach from here!...
The horses were so close, I could've reached out and touched them!...

A new found appreciation for hammocks!...

"I live. I ride. I am."....

Caroline on one of our drives on the beach...The view from the porch of our beach house. Both those little houses are for sale and are right on the beach. I want the blue one...
Wild horses grazing in our yard...
Our awesome house "Stargazer"...

We just got back from a fun week in Corolla, N.C., up in the 4x4 area. That alone was an experience --you have to drive an actual 4x4 vehicle because the roads are all sand and the only way in and out is along the beach. The wild horses roam all around up there and they showed up in our yard a few days in a row! Ellie is used to seeing deer in our backyard, so horses were a new experience for her! Now when we see a tamed horse, it will be no big deal.

Our house was really nice-- Nathaniel got used to sleeping in a King-sized bed! We went into Corolla for dinner a few evenings (Timbuck II is highly suggested for lots of good restaurants!). We learned Texas Hold Em (and now we have to watch for a developing Poker addiction in Nathaniel), played LOTS of Apples to Apples, watched "The Sound of Music" which never ever gets old, went for long morning walks on the beach (I could do that every single day!), and we even saw a wedding on the beach on Thursday evening! The tide came in very close to them and I was wondering if they'd say their vows in time! We also spent every day at the ocean and in our pool, or playing corn hole or lying in the hammock. I miss it so much!

I got one big surprise... when we went down to the beach at the end of the week, I looked down and there in the surf was a sand dollar!! I've been waiting for 43 years to find a sand dollar and there was a perfect one. So I took it home, and do you know that was the only one I found? Lucky me! After we checked out, we drove south through Rodanthe and ate lunch in Cape Hatteras. I still prefer the northern part of the Outer Banks and I'd definitely go back. In fact, I'm now thinking that my retirement will include beach living. Yes. Definitely.