Outer Banks 2010...

Last week we spent a week in Outer Banks, N.C. visiting with John's grandma, Grams the Great, and Aunt Deb & Uncle Dave. Since John and I have been married we've visited the beach on the other side every other year. The last three times we've gone, we've stayed in a vacation rental on or just a walk away from the beach. We had a great time relaxing, swimming, sunning, and eating...all the things that make up a great vacation.

Our trip started with a flight Washington D.C. on Jet Blue. Can I just take a minute to tell you how wonderful Jet Blue is?! We were able to take a straight flight from Long Beach and watch TV the whole time. =) Love it! We got a great deal and stayed in a beautiful suite at the Washington Dulles Marriott before we set out on our 5 hour drive to the beach house that John's parents rented for us.

We love staying in hotels...

Oh, I'm sorry, did I say a 5 hour drive? That's what it was supposed to be. However, since we hit traffic for approximately 95% of our drive, it actually took us 8 hours...not including a lunch break. The kids proved to be great travelers, though, and we finally made it to this year's house "Got Beach?".

Kate and Luke loved sharing a room...

Our room had a great view of the Atlantic Ocean...

In the 5 1/2 days we were at the beach house, the kids enjoyed the beach for a total of 1 hour.

The house had a pool so we spent most of our time right in the backyard.

Kate with Uncle Jeff & (soon-to-be Aunt) Stephanie...

Kate was a little fish...

Luke spent most days playing with the hose around the pool, but on the last day he finally got in and swam a bit...

John & I even got a night out with Jeff & Stephanie. We had a delicious dinner and dessert.

Us on the 3rd floor balcony of the house...

The night before we left, we had a delicious dinner at our favorite Outer Banks restaurant, Basnight's Lone Cedar Cafe. We took our traditional family picture out front...

***True, I wore the same dress 2 times last week. It was the coolest thing I brought for 90's weather w/ 85% humidity. =)***

By the time we got around to taking a big family picture, the humidity caused the camera lens to fog up...

After dinner, we had an early birthday celebration for Grams back at the house...

Kate, Grammie, & Grams Kate & Steph licking the candles

John, Grams, & Jeff Aunt Deb & Luke

Our return trip started Friday when we drove to Richmond, VA. to stay the night. Our return trip was so much smoother that we wished we would have continued on to stay in D.C. again (our Richmond hotel was not nearly as nice, but decent). The kids slept and we hit very little traffic.

We made such good time that we grabbed a quick dinner and took the kids to see "Toy Story 3". We hit a little more traffic and had a longer drive than planned on Saturday but made it in time to have dinner in the airport and catch our flight home. By the time we landed in Long Beach both kids were knocked out as it was midnight east coast time. We're finally getting settled in and thinking about how we may plan our trip next year...perhaps a couple of days in D.C. next time. =)