The Barneses and the Paches Do the Beach

In our many years of visiting the beach on our own and with various portions of the Barnes family, Lori's little family and ours have never overlapped. Now that we're all in Raleigh, it seemed high time to make an combined trip happen, so we took advantage of Zach's (pretty rare) weekend off to orchestrate it. We divvied up meal responsibilities (thanks entirely to Lori's excellent planning skills) and met at the beach on Friday evening. After a fast spaghetti dinner, we headed to the beach for a stroll before the sun set.

We returned to the beach the next morning and spent some great time in the sand and surf. The tide was perfect (nice and low), as were the waves (nice and calm). The water was really clear, which made it welcoming for a chicken like myself (actually, I'm not a chicken; I just have a realistic appreciation for the fierceness of some of the critters that call the ocean home and clarity about my status as a visitor there). Naomi loved the ocean this time, but both she and Beckham preferred to experience it while wrapped tightly around a parent. 

Beckham also preferred to experience the sand from the comfort of our KidCo Peapod. It's quite possibly the greatest invention ever. This bad boy pops itself into formation all on its own (no tent poles here) and easily twists back into its convenient carry bag. We found this one at a second-hand store for a whopping $3. Naomi has been using it for both play and rest time in her room since we got it, but it made a beach debut this weekend. It was easily Beckham's (only) favorite place on the beach, especially while double-fisting snacks. 

That is until mean Aunt Jessie took his sand-covered yogurt tube away for a quick wipe-down... Sorry, buddy. 

As lunchtime and naptime neared, we packed up and headed back for showers. The guys (the big ones and the little one) napped while the girls (the big ones and the little one) read, rested, and eventually walked next door to the consignment store. Afterwards, our families divided and conquered some errands with trips to Walmart (for water, life jackets, and Boom Chicka Pop; you know, the essentials) and Tuesday Morning (for some fresh bedding for trailer 22), and met back at the beach house for a take-and-bake pizza dinner. The Barefoots (the friendly folks who live part-time in trailer 23) have offered us the use of their kayaks many times, and we finally took them up on it this trip. I was really excited to try it out with Naomi, but she was less than thrilled with the experience. She doesn't appreciate confinement of any variety, so the requirements to wear a stuffy life jacket and sit still kind of dampened the thrill of being on the water. Still, I'm glad we tried it; now we know not to rush out and buy our own kayaks any time soon, at least not with the expectation that Naomi would love to paddle down the Neuse River with us...

The Pasches manned the mainland, and we joined them across the street for a short walk on the beach after our kayaking adventure. After baths (and snacks and stories and snuggles) and bed for our kiddos, we played games on the porch until we could justify heading to bed ourselves.

We spent Sunday morning back on the beach; again, the water was perfect, and we parked our stuff right in front of a sandbar that allowed us to spend a lot of time walking and swimming and splashing in the shallow water (again with monkey-children who climbed and clung). 

We had such a great time; it's too bad our freetime and the Pasches' don't align more often!