The Outer Banks, Part 2

THE BEACH!!

Buckle up guys, this is going to be a long one. These are just some of the highlights since we spent hours and hours at the beach. My one regret is that we didn't get to the beach in the evening to catch the sunset. We had a few nights of bad weather, and just didn't make it the other nights. There's always next year!

Mila scampering around the beach collecting shells. Her favorite beach activity.

 Sam trying to get Emmitt to go in the water. No success.

 Emmitt would stand with his arms out like this every time while waiting for the waves to come to him.

 Then he'd turn and run.

Building a sand castle with Dad. He was so excited when Sam removed the bucket unveiling the tower of sand.

 This is my idea of keeping an eye on the kids.

Mila spent half the time "washing" the shells she collected then rubbing them until they were dry and smooth. She takes very good care of her things.

Father and daughter.

 Crabs were everywhere! It was so fun to watch them scurry all over the beach. They were seriously fast too!

 Sam caught one.

 Bennett, Lincoln, and Emmitt snoozing on the beach.

 The boys got skimboards. Skimboarding is hard! Since you are doing it in just inches of water, it hurts bad when you fall. I found that out the hard way.

Also, Sam and I got a little too much sun the first day so we wore t-shirts the rest of the week. Lesson learned hopefully.  

Sam going down.

The kids flying kites.

Emmitt digging for treasure and crabs (or "trabs" as he calls them). He would find a crab hole and start digging to see if he could catch one.

Taking a newly bathed shell to her bucket. Her swimsuit was adorable on her!

Emmitt loved dragging the body board through the water, but he would not get on it.

 He would get on the gator, but not in the water. We could not convince him to get on anything in the water.

Showing off one of her precious shells.

 Beautiful.

Emmitt and the dunes. He was actually storming off because he was mad at me for something. Either way, it looked cute.

We built an awesome sand castle.

What a lovely time indeed.