Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Sound Adventure

More pics of our trip to the sandbar in the sound at TopSail Beach.

Kendall and one of her many sea creature finds..she is on top of the world!!
 

This is Mally's Spindly Starfish...what a neat experience!!
 

 
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Summer = Sand

The girls netted thier first sand crabs.
 

Mally showing off her sand dollars and large shell.
 

First day and these babes were ready for the beach!
 

K showing off her new goggles..and her missing front tooth.
 
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We kicked off our summer early this year..yippee! School was officially out this past Friday but with approval from the teacher (and principal..geesh the hoops) we headed out Wednesday right after K's first grade awards ceremony. We were invited to join our friends on a road trip to Topsail Beach NC. It was perfect timing because my dear sweet husband had planned to build another bedroom in our house for baby brother. So he was able to get everything together to start the day we 3 girls headed out. Yep..that's right..he stayed home and we hit the road! Our trip was spread out over 2 days, and the girls were good as gold. We arrived around 3 on Thursday, in our suits and on the beach by 4. Finally came in for dinner sometime around 6. The Gardner Girls have been the most generous hosts and each day has been a new adventure..in the most laid back way! We are loving it!! We've had lots of beach time (a few sunburns to prove it), built sandcastles and dug out pools for mini aquariums to house the sand crabs and tiny fish the girls have netted. We've enjoyed our first Luna Pop..local popsicle store with the most unique and tasty frozen treats (we had pineapple, chocolate chocolate chip, blueberry, pomegranate blueberry). We are hoping to sneak in another trip (or 2) to Luna Pop before we leave. We've had a little retail therapy, always good for 7 girls roaming around. Last night there was a movie in the park and we hauled out our blankets and beach chairs...before the show the girls competed in a hula hoop contest and although they didn't win, one of our own (Savana) came in 2nd and everyone was reward with laffy taffy. Our most memorable moment thus far was yesterday's trip to the Sound. Just a few miles up the road we parked at a dead end street looking out over the Sound. It was low tide and there in the middle was a sandbar that spanned longer than we were able to walk. We waded over to the sand bar and once there the discoveries were plentiful. My girls caught hermit crabs (dozens each), they found sand dollars (over 20), mollusks, a large blue crab was caught (many more spotted and one even took a shot at Kayla's toe), a sea urchin (Yes!! a SEA URCHIN!!) and our favorite discovery was the Spindly Starfish. The girls found many small spindly starfish, but a lady that Mally befriended handed her one larger than her hand and let me tell you Mal was the hit of the show with that thing!! Our time here has been such a wonderful gift, so easy and so rewarding in all aspects. We're sure to leave here with memories to last a lifetime and no doubt a yearning to return for more!!