Nags Head Week!

We had a really great time last week in Nags Head with Mommy's family!  The fun started on Friday the 3rd when Cole and Cooper and parents stopped by our house to spend the night on the way to the Outer Banks.  We had lots of fun playing here, then slept well and were loaded and on the road almost an hour before our planned departure time of 9am.  We only brought a "few" things...and despite Daddy's best efforts, the trailer hitch we had ordered arrived damaged so we couldn't bring our bikes via trailer hitch and bike rack.  A new hitch has arrived, so he will try to get that one on my car this weekend so we will have bike transport abilities.

We had a good drive out, only about 3-1/2 hours, so not much more than going to Ocean Isle!  I think we had 2 potty stops, then we had a yummy lunch at the Outer Banks Brewing Station in Nags Head/Kitty Hawk with Cole and Cooper's family.  They had a fun play area, corn hole, and a stage in the backyard eating area.  Then we went to our house, which was in a really great location just south of the town of Nags Head, but 5-10 minutes from all the stores, restaurants, donuts, etc.  We settled in, had pizza for dinner, and played in the pool!  The kids were wiped out, so they missed the fireworks that we adults enjoyed from the beach.  There was the main show from the Town of Nags Head, plus lots of amateurs setting off fireworks too!

Sunday, we were all up and ready to go, so we went to church at 8am at a pretty chapel right near our house.  Then, back to the house for pool and beach the rest of the day. My cousin Katie, her husband, and almost-1-year-old Emma came down from Virginia Beach to visit for the day, which was so much fun!  That was our night for dinner, so we also had a grocery store stop and spent a little of the afternoon preparing our Mexican feast, which was a hit!

Monday, we went to the Bodie Island lighthouse, which was about 15 minutes from the house.  All 4 Callaways climbed the lighthouse, which was 10-12 stories tall, and enjoyed the view.  Anna only became scared as we were almost done and about to climb down...which, for her, was pretty good.  We drove a little further south and crossed the Bonner Bridge, but didn't venture all the way to Hatteras.  Then, back to the house for pool and beach, then went to my cousins' place (Uncle Dave, Aunt Linda, Doug, and Kristen came all the way from Indiana!) for an Italian dinner. yum yum!

Tuesday, the Callaways and the Summers went to Jockeys Ridge State Park and climbed the dunes, which the kids enjoyed and had beautiful views at the top.  We tried to slide or roll back down, but it didn't go too well.  It was good that we went early that day, because the week kept getting hotter from there!  We met up with Grandma and Grandpa and the Ambrosinis at the Wright Brothers monument/ museum and heard a talk and walked around the grounds of the first flights.  Very interesting!  Then back to the house for beach and pool, and had a yummy cookout courtesy of the Summer family that night.

Wednesday, we Callaways ventured over to Roanoke Island to the aquarium.  It was really neat - I think we all enjoyed it!  There was lots of fish, sea otters, alligators, and also a sea turtle hospital, interactive kids' sea turtle hospital, and shark tank!  We saw a show where the audience could ask questions of two divers who were in the tank with the sharks.  I enjoyed it a lot and the kids tolerated it.  The outdoor area also had a shark teeth digging site and pier.  Then, we went back to the house for beach and pool (these girls and Ansley preferred the pool, but we did force them to endure the beach as well), then had a really yummy seafood dinner at a small place called Armstrong's.  Yum yum!

Thursday, we stayed close to the house.  We did go see Logan, Uncle Chris, and Uncle Dale fishing at Jennette's Pier, which was visible from our house.  Logan finally caught his first fish that afternoon, way to go!  The pier had a nice gift shop and fish tank, as well as some nice informative signs along the pier.  It is operated by the NC Aquarium Society.  I think the only aquarium we haven't been to now is the one at Pine Knoll Shores.  We played at the house in the afternoon, then had a super yummy low country boil dinner, courtesy of Uncle Dale and Aunt Maria...followed by none other than a silly string battle for the kids!

Most evenings after the kids went to bed, we adults either relaxed on the top balcony or had lots of fun playing cards and games together.  It was wonderful!  Friday, we just stayed around the house/beach/pool, and walked down to Uncle Dave and Aunt Linda's neighborhood pool.  Then we Callaways started packing because Erin successfully convinced us to come back on Friday evening instead of Saturday morning because she really wanted to go to her gymnastics class.  We figured the only thing we were missing was Grandma and Grandpa's fish fry (which we were sad to miss), but this way one family was cleared out while the rest of them were trying to pack and load.  We had a good trip back complete with Bojangles for dinner.

Bella enjoyed her vacation with the Sauls family, and was happy to be home to recover.  We had a really wonderful time with the family and enjoyed exploring the area!

June!

June is over, and that means that Erin's kindergarten year is done!  June has been a tough year for her the past four years that she's been in year-round school because it feels like summer and Anna is out of school (the past two years that Anna has been in school).  So, it sometimes feels like a long, frustrating month.  At least this year Erin liked going to kindergarten so she didn't fight the last month quite as bad as she did in pre-K. Anyway, we started out the month with our usual routine, including Field Day for Erin's school on Friday the 5th.  We were very lucky and got a nice cool, cloudy day and had lots of fun, even Anna who jumped right in with the big kids.  We had a fun day on the 6th with Erin's gymnastics, neighborhood pool party, and a fun dinner out for Mommy and Daddy to a tapas place in Durham (Mateo).

The rest of the weekend - and other weekends lately - Bob spent working on his project of rerouting the gas log fireplace vent through the roof as opposed to out the back wall of the family room, where the sharp aluminum buffer box was a source of danger to people walking by on the porch.  The project is nearly completed, despite a snafu related to modified air flow not hitting the thermocouple properly.  That was adjusted, and now we await the final washing and coat of paint on the new siding.

The following week was more of the same, plus my monthly neighborhood Bunco night and a playdate with my moms group from St. Andrew.  I also went to a fun baby shower for neighbor Karen and the girls had swim lessons on Saturday the 13th.

The week of the 15th was the week we had all been waiting for this summer - The Week of Anna's Dance Camp.  We showed up to Holly Springs School of Dance on Monday morning, fully expecting Pretty Princess dance camp, only to be crushed when nobody was there.  The owner got back to me saying that the camp had been canceled, but we never were notified, nor did we get a refund.  This has happened to us before, so we cried all the way home and I did some research.  Thankfully, Main Street Dance in Fuquay happened to be having not one, but two camps the same week for her age group, so she went Tuesday-Friday.  It was cheaper than Holly Springs and was 3 hours per day instead of 2, so it was a winner all-around!  The girls there were wonderful, and Anna had a ball.



 Anna continued her fun week with friend Weston's birthday party on Saturday the 20th, and Erin also had her end-of-year gymnastics show that morning, even though her class continues through July.  We wished Daddy a happy Father's Day on the 21st, and enjoyed some fun family time together.



The last week of June was a little more busy, with more swim lessons, dentist appointment, my 6-week summer book club, and Bob took a trip to Boston for 3 days.  I also volunteered at Erin's class and we had friends Oliver and Ike over for a little while so their dad could go to a meeting.  Anna and I had another moms group playdate on Friday, then Erin's class end-of-year celebration was that afternoon.  Daddy made a surprise early appearance from Boston so he could be at the show!  The kids did a great job of singing, and the teachers had a really sweet slide show of pictures.  Erin had her little friend Alyssa and her family over to our pool after the class party, so it was a really fun day for her!






Erin's actual last day was Tuesday the 30th, which I think she was a little sad about, but was also more than ready for her break.  We are so happy to have her home, and she's started to make comments that sound like she was sad to have missed the fun at home with me and Anna, so now that won't happen any more that they will finally be on the same school schedule!  Her kindergarten year was both what I expected and not what I expected...but she did well and loved school, and that's what matters most!  We are super excited for next year!



Our super fun family beach week happened in July, so unless I get motivated to do a separate post, you all will have to hold your breaths and wait for that one!