Our family joins my parents and siblings on an annual beach vacation in the Outer Banks. I think the kids and I look forward to it more than Christmas. Here’s a small overview of our trip…

We started off with amazing weather and the beach days we had dreamed of.

Our home away from home:

My sandy baby:

Then we experienced a small earthquake. Don’t think I’m complaining, because here’s where I was when I felt the shaking:

Next up on the natural disaster’s list was Hurricane Irene. Four days into our fourteen day vacation we evacuated. At home, my kids used the rain as an excuse to continue having fun with water. (Disclaimer: I REALLY DO feed my children! In fact, eating is their favorite past time. It’s just that the amazing metabolism my parents enjoy skipped a generation.)

After 5 days, we were able to pack up and head back to the beach.

We left super early in the morning and got experience a drive-by sunrise.

And then we picked up where we left off.

After the hurricane, we found lots of baby sea turtles on the beach.

Then home again we came with adventures and memories that I hope my kids will always remember.