Beach!?!




About two weeks ago, we were asked by some friends if we'd like to chaperone their 16-year-old son and friend(s) at the beach. Apart from the fact that we were asked separately and needed to consult on it, this was an obvious no-brainer! Paul, having been involved with the youth group on a weekly basis, had no reservations about the teenager in question (I didn't know him from Adam, I'm afraid!), and we were both able to clear our schedules for the week. As you might expect, we had a great trip!

The day we arrived, we beat our host(s) to the house, and made it out to the beach before they arrived. Daniel's comment on the beach was: "Baff!" To him, it was the world's biggest bathtub. Of course, he was inordinately delighted, and, as it turns out (thankfully!), deathly afraid of the giant bathtub, though he did become more comfortable with the concept as the week wore on. His older brothers also held the sea in an appropriate awe, and were not tempted to brave the waves on their own. In fact, they were more than happy to sit way up on the beach, playing in the sand. (No, as a matter of fact, we don't have a sandbox!)

We went to the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, which was only a couple of miles from the beach house. The most memorable part of that trip was the stingray pool, where you could dangle your fingers and pet a friendly ray. They felt pretty much like what you'd expect- smooth and slippery! John and Isaac also got to touch a spider crab, and Jay touched a horseshoe crab as well. Jay told me at one point that he loved certain fish "almost as much as I love you, Mama." Thanks, boy. ;)

We all went out to dinner one night in Morehead City at Floyd's 1921 Restaurant, where the staff was very tolerant of our vacation-stimulated children, going so far as to bring us two large boxes of crayons to avoid a scuffle between the big guys. It was serendipitous that the restaurant is located at N 4th Street.

The following day (the last full day of our vacation), I steeled my resolve and took Jay and Isaac to visit Beaufort, which I had wanted to do all along. Paul wasn't interested, and kept Daniel at the house/beach. I would rather have had him along, but I had seen plainly enough on the map that all we had to do was return to Morehead City and stay on US 70 for a few more miles. It was that easy!

Beaufort is an old city which has placed a high importance on its history. The exploits of Blackbeard are an oft-cited example of the stories linked to this beautiful town. There are preservation awards given to the historic residences which uphold certain historic-preservation standards, and many, many houses bear the plaques with the house's history in two brief statistics: the year it was built and the name of it's original occupants. I could spend days with my camera here. Maybe weeks...

I was thinking of taking the boys to the Maritime Museum, which would have been fun, I'm sure, but before we located it, we came across a horse named Tsali pulling a carriage, and I decided to splurge on a tour for the three of us (Isaac was free!) Apart from Jay periodically announcing that we had just passed a small cabbage white butterfly, for instance, in a voice loud enough to match our tour guide's, the boys did beautifully on the tour. An older boy, maybe 8 or 9, loudly complained about the tour, announcing to the assembled company that "This was a huge mistake". Hopefully, this is not what we have to look forward to, but I wouldn't be too surprised if at least one of our three feels the need to be too cool for school at some point. I'm trying to remember to enjoy the age of demonstrable sweetness while it lasts!


More photos here

Labels: boys, vacation

- posted by Lenise @ 8:15 PM |