Beach Week 2007 was so much fun.

We stayed on the Sound side of the island this year. This is a big change for us! Since 1984 (yes 1984!), Sarah’s family has been staying on the ocean side of the island in Salvo, NC. Salvo is about 35 minutes south of Nags Head, NC. We took a risk (after 23 years, it is good to take some risks) and moved across the highway and got a house on the Pamlico Sound. The house was lovely and had a pier directly into the Sound.

Every day we went kayaking in the morning, swam in the pool, played on the beach all evening, and hung out with family.

Jonah loved the kayaks and would stand on the pier and yell “BOAT RIDE! BOAT RIDE!” It did take him awhile to get used to the feeling of the lifejacket. But he loved rocking in the boat and “helping” Andrew row. Andrew would dip Jonah’s legs into the water and Jonah would kick and kick. Ella was a good passenger and paddler. She did great with Andrew, Sarah, Papa, and Nana in different kayaks. She thought it was fun to float in the Sound with her lifejacket on and since the water is very shallow, she felt confident jumping out of one boat and getting into a different one. She enjoyed exploring the sea grass islands and finding fish, mussels, snails, crabs, and all sorts of sea birds. However, she did not like the SMELL of the rotting sea grass that we would encounter in some of the narrow and shallow creek areas. She has a sensitive nose!

The pool was too cold for Jonah (of course) but he had a blast at the beach. He loves sand as much as Ella does! The dune that we used to enter the beach was directly next to a turtle nesting ground. The park rangers set up barriers to keep people, animals, and cars out of the area. For the last three days, the tides created fantastic tidal pools and overwash areas that destroyed the barriers. Each day, the barriers were fixed! WOW!

The tidal pools offered a lot of fun opportunities for Ella and Jonah. The water was warm (even warm enough for Jonah to sit down in it voluntarily!). The water was also calm and the kids had fun splashing around. The first night that we discovered the tidal pools, we were on our way to the annual Spaghetti Dinner Party at the St. Clair’s house. We had intended to just walk down the beach and then brush off the sand and go to the party. However, as soon as we saw the tidal pools, I knew that everyone was going to get wet! We let the kids play in their clothes because we did not want to miss the opportunity (the tidal pools did return the next two nights but they were much smaller). They got soaking wet and had a total blast. We stripped them down and put dry clothes on them and then went to the party. That evening on the beach was one of my favorite!

Most late afternoons we would pack up some dinner and head over to the beach (it was about a 10 minute walk from our house). I love the beach in late afternoon because it is not as hot, the sun is on the way to setting, and we usually have most of the beach to ourselves. We would dig a big hole and make sand castles and let our hole fill up with water. Jonah loved sliding down the sand like it was a slide on the playground. He was our little otter—going feet first, head first, on his back, on his stomach… Ella loves to dig and look for sand crabs and shells. She ran and splashed and got covered in sand. Andrew even played in the sand although he HATES being sandy (he loves the beach, but doesn’t like sitting in the sand). However, he showed his true love for his children by getting down in the sand and digging and getting sandy sandy sandy.

We enjoyed two great visits to the Aquarium on Roanoke Island in Manteo. Nana, Papa, and Katie met us there on our way to the house on the first day. Jonah and Ella are in heaven in the aquarium. Jonah dashes from exhibit to exhibit frantically signing “fish” and saying “Hi! Hi! HI!!!!!” He even pretends to *bite* when he sees alligators and sharks. Later in the week, Sarah, Leah, Ella, and Jonah headed back to the aquarium to keep our “tradition” of spending time at the aquarium with Aunt Leah. We got to see a baby sea turtle that fascinated Jonah and Ella touched a ray with Leah.

Andrew, Sarah, Ella, and Jonah went on an adventure to Ocracoke Island. Left the house early one morning and got on the ferry at the south end of Hatteras Island. We arrived on Ocracoke and our fist stop was to look for the wild ponies that are on the island. We were thrilled to see three of them and Jonah “neigh”ed at them over and over. None of them returned the “neigh” but he had fun. Ella loves anything horse related, so it was fun for her. We walked along a forest path to look for more ponies, but did not see any more. We drove around the harbor area and went to the lighthouse. We also stopped on the beach for a short visit. The beach was much more crowded and it was HOT (the week we were at the beach, NC was experiencing 100+ degree weather!). We rode in the A/C room on the ferry on the way back to Hatteras Island.

Aunt Leah brought her Wii (computer game) and everyone had a blast with that. Ella bowled and scored a 157 the first time and got a turkey! Andrew is lobbying hard for a Wii for our house now!

Dad set up a portrait studio in the downstairs bedroom and we took lots of pictures. A few of them are included this time. More to come from our “photo shoots” in the next update.

The rest of the time we visited with the many people staying in the house: Nana, Papa, Sarah, Andrew, Ella, Jonah, Leah, Justin, Katie, Pete, Joe, Julie, Grandmama, Charlotte, Kay, Greg, and Paul! WHEW!

Next week, Sarah returns to teaching after a lovely summer with the kids. Ella (aka Eleanor) goes to Orientation one day then starts Kindergarten on Aug 30 for her assessment day! AHHHH! Summer is almost over!

Take care all!
Sarah, Andrew, Ella, and Jonah