Getting there is NOT half the fun

In order to get some cheaper airline tickets we had to compromise a bit on our departure time. So at 11:00pm Thursday night we loaded the car to drive to the airport to catch our 12:50am flight to NC. After two planes and a quick layover in Altlanta we made it to Raleigh, NC just before 9am on Friday morning. That left of plenty of time to get a rental car and go eat breakfast before we could check into our hotel. No one slept very much on the planes and we were pretty much all wasted. They let us check into the hotel at 11am- bless them! Jeff and I took a nap while the kids were entertained by some TV. Erin fell asleep for a little while too. After I felt like I could move, we got up and got moving again. I headed out to Costco for some major beach groceries with my sis Megan. Meanwhile Jeff and Andy took the kids swimming at the hotel pool.

And it was Ethan's birthday- so later we went to dinner at Chili's (and Ethan got his request of KFC chicken legs and mac & cheese via take out to the restauraunt). K hadn't napped all day and fell asleep right before we were leaving. So of course being an awesome mom I woke her up and took her with us anyway. She slept all through dinner on my lap and I put her to bed when we returned to the hotel. She slept all night and until 9:30am the next day! We also had some ice cream cake to celebrate Ethan's 10th birthday before going to bed for the night.

The next morning we left the hotel around 11am and made the four hour drive from Raleigh to the Outer Banks. All of our kids did extremely well in the car. They were in love with the "new van" that we had rented- a Dodge Caravan- and couldn't believe that it had automatic sliding doors and roll down windows in the back. Our van at home is now really old and they comment about how we really need a new one, "like at the beach."

After a long drive it was great to see the bridge that connects to the banks.
Yours truly driving the coolest red minivan ever.

The kids wondering "Are we there yet?"


But it was all worth it when we pulled onto Farrow Drive and saw this:

Castaway Too, Our new home for the next seven days! Heaven!