The Last One

I took the day off Friday. It was such a down day that I only took 2 photos – 1 of the crab cakes cooking and 1 of the crab cakes done.

We spent Saturday sun burning ourselves at the beach. The AC guy came to replace the unit as it was getting more and more unpredictable. And Gayle’s house was shown by the realtor in the afternoon. Since no one wants to be in a hot, hot house and since the realtor really did not want 8 people and a large dog around while showing the house to prospective buyers, we stayed out for most of the day. But a glorious day it was. The water was perfect.

Karl: I’m never coming out of the ocean.

Me: Who are you and what have you done with my child who does not like the ocean?

Watching them catch this ghost crab was hilarious. 

No harm was done and it was released fairly quickly.

I'm still working on a good pelican photo. Why I want a photo of these weird-looking birds, I don't know.

Wave Crasher

My 25^th High School Reunion was held at a house 3 blocks down the beach so we walked down midday to see everyone there and catch up with friends from a lifetime ago.  I had a lot of fun with David Tyre’s daughter catching sand fiddler crabs.

Me: [digs them up and drops a pile on the beach]

Parker: Oooooh! I’ll get my bucket!

Me: You can’t keep them in the bucket for long. It will get too hot and they’ll die…

Parker: [shows me bucket with 4 dead crabs floating in the top]

Me: …like those there.

Parker: Oh, those are just playing dead!

The reunion party Saturday night was so, so fun. I loved catching up with people I haven’t seen in so long. Camille even put on the original drill team uniform and danced for us. My mom made me swear to get a ride home – I admit it is a dark 3 blocks – so Robbie Ferrell’s daughter drove me home on the tailgate of her pickup truck. It was a perfect ending to a great night.

Lara, Angie, Kathleen, Karen

White heron atop an unused erne nest.

Sunday, we were off to the EI Pointe Lagoon again, courtesy of Jamie and Mom. It is one of the kids’ favorite places to spend time on the island. After tubing, Karl caught minnows in the cast net, Lindsay and Katie imitated the egrets by chasing the minnows with a little net, and Billy and Bradley dug in the sand and swam all day. Making up for a lost day on Friday, I took 260 photos. I thought my camera was going to overheat. Jamie cooked hot dogs on the grill and generally spoiled us all day. Fun!

Karl is a cast net pro

You would not believe how many fish she caught like this

It was so many that I think this guy was jealous

Katie caught just as many, then swam them across the lagoon to show-off her catch

Bradley swims with his shovel. They float, thank goodness.

I also had a great conversation with Lindsay. If you’ve spent any time with her, you’ll find out pretty quickly that she constantly hums, sings, or whistles.

Me: What do you like about music?

Lindsay: Well, the tone. And the tune. And the beat. And the rhythm and the singing. That kind of stuff, you know?

Me: [mental dope slap]

Today was our last day on the beach. The surf was lovely and we spent most of the morning swimming and burying the kids in the sand.

Billy caught great waves today

Preparing their burial chambers holes.

Awaiting burial

Despite our fair weather and great venue, we are all ready to be home. We all miss Gerry terribly. And Billy announced tonight that he misses Daisy too.  We are coming home with a few acquired items – 21 crafts made by Lindsay, 14 new Hot Wheels cars, 1 papier mache dragon, 3 guns (toys), 1 light saber, 3 hermit crabs, 8 GB of photos. But we are leaving behind beloved family members. The good news is we’ll see them again soon – Disney World in December!   

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Tuesday was Dad’s and Linda’s last full day with us here. We started the morning with a visit to the beach and ended the day with a visit to the aquarium. The penguins are still cute and thankfully, still behind glass. The otters were off-the-hook cute, though. Apparently feeding time is around 4 pm and they were very excited. They jumped off the ledges, chased each other through the pools, and ran all over the enclosure in that cute way that only otters run. I also learned the names of several of the bigger fish in the large shark tank. Apparently, I’ve reached a new milestone in my life where I can stop to read the museum signs. I like it.

Sand Castle Consultation

Hie-Ya! (Do not even tell me you did not fight the waves when you were this age.)

Sassy

"Aaaauugh! Get it off! Get it off!"

Playing Otters

Diving Otter

Shark Tank Pose

Touch Tank Pose

Wednesday was Karl’s favorite day of the vacation so far. I signed him up for a day-long eco-excursion to Jones Island through the NC State Parks division. It’s a short boat ride under the double bridges in Swansboro to the island from Hammocks Beach State Park.

Me: My younger two are in the ocean there. My oldest is doing day camp with the state park, exploring a barrier island.

New friend on the beach: Where did you learn about that?

Me: My mom reads the paper.

While Karl was wading through the sound, CC and the rest of us took the ferry to Bear Island for a little beach time and a picnic. I cannot express how much I was impressed by HABE, as the State Park Folk call it. While waiting for the ferry, we stumbled across a talk given by an intern on the local bivalve and gastropod population (aka shells). I had no idea those holes in small clams were made by whelk. Big ones eat 12-15 a day! For my whole life I just thought it was a weak spot made into a hole by the beating surf. Thank you, whelk! Those shells make great necklaces.

This is a white heron. Egrets have yellow feet, herons do not. 

A whelk did that!

A blue crab fishing in the reeds

The walk to the beach was long, but paved. Paved! On an island with no bridge. But I digress. The beach was lovely and not crowded. The surf was calm and shallow. They have a lifeguard. Lifeguard! She came over to tell us when she was going for a lunch break. But I digress. The shells were plentiful and we picked up more than our fair share. Lindsay and I walked fairly far to collect a bucketful of sand dollar pieces. They were shooting guns at Camp Lejeune (the next island south) all morning.

Gun: Ba-BOOM

Lindsay: Is that thunder?

Me: No, they are practicing war at the base and are shooting guns.

Lindsay: Why do they practice war? Won’t they kill each other?

Bear Island

I knew the name of this bird yesterday

When I met Karl at the end of the day, he was all smiles. He did not look like he had spent the last several hours catching creatures and identifying plants and sea grasses in the hot sun. He was full of new info.

Karl: You’ll never guess what makes those holes in the small clam shells on the beach.

Me: Whelk?

Karl: Oh, man! How did you know?!

He did tell me how they did it, which I didn’t know already. As he disembarked the skiff, he announced with pride that he had been bitten ‘pretty hard’ by several blue crabs. To some this would be a deterrent.

Lindsay and Katie

Instead, Karl spent most of the day today catching crab in the sound with his bare hands at Camp Phyllis. We all spent the entire day over there kayaking, paddle-boarding, tubing, and generally playing in her backyard, Bogue Sound. Billy melted down twice because I was having so much fun that I forgot to feed him. Katie and Lindsay got a taste of real tubing this year as Phyllis tried to fling them off around the turns. They both had perma-grins and couldn’t get enough. Billy and Bradley both loved the tube as well.  I had a great time paddling Billy around in the kayak and Bradley is now a pro at the paddle board. Many thanks to Phyllis for her generosity and for making us laugh so much.

Serious kayaking

Katie in the kayak, Bradley on the paddle board

Billy and Karl, relaxing.

Catching air!

The view from home.

During the past few days the clouds have moved in, making the outdoors not quite so hot. Unfortunately the AC has gone on intermittent strike, rendering us sticky and sweaty at random times during the day and night. I assume this is what menopause is like.

In other news, my 25^th High School Reunion starts tomorrow. (!)

Billy's Birthday and More

Editorial correction: In the last blog, I captioned a photo of Karl in a field of what I incorrectly thought was tobacco. But after much Facebook debate, we have determined it is cotton. We regret this error and apologize to all who may have pointed out their car windows at cotton and erroneously called it soybeans or tobacco.

Dude, your hat is in my face.

Sunday was spent primarily at the beach with Dad, Linda, and all the Swaynes, including David. In the morning, he consulted the tide chart and then dug the yearly hole at the high tide line for the kids’ pool. As of today it is still there. We hit the Live Oak Drive-In for lunch (closed on Mondays!), bought a new beach hat for Dad, and then went back to the beach for the afternoon.

The Pool

Wave!

Why is it always my child doing that face?

Happy Face!

Shrimp Burger, Large, All The Way

The flying ace of water slides

Today was Billy’s 5^th birthday. Since we are here this year for the big 5, the original plan was to invite all the family and any friends made along the way to Golfin’ Dolphin for a round of putt-putt, bumper boats, and the game room. But after last week’s excursion to Water Boggan, the venue was abruptly changed. Jamie ordered sliders, cupcakes, and cookies from Golden Corral for us, we brought salads and a frozen gallon of lemonade that weirdly never melted, and down the slides we went. It was totally awesome. But the best part was that Billy asked every teenage lifeguard to sing Happy Birthday to him.

Mary John, Bubber, and Billy

Cousins on the slide

All we had at the house was a 7. So we did a math equation on the cupcakes. 7 - 2 = 5.

Mr. Water Slide of 2012. Karl even braved the green tubes.

Awesome presents!

Later this afternoon, we checked the crab trap and then took a dip in the ocean. We ended the day with flounder for dinner (yum!), more cupcakes (yum!), and NCIS (yum!).

Karl, who picks up every creature found. This was a whelk.

Hey!

Christmas Card 2012

The real card

"How long do we have to stand here?"