Back from the Beach

at 10:43 AM

It is Monday morning, and life is back to normal. No more beach. How sad! We had an awesome time. It was so nice to get away. It was so nice to sit out by the water and read. It was so nice to spend time with Josh. It was nice to ........ well, it was all nice. I am not sure how to sum it all up, so here are the top 8 things that will fill you in on the excitement of the Hudgens/van Almen Beach Trip 2007

1. The house - It was beautiful. All that was separating us from the waves was a small sand dune. It was called the Dolphin View. Yes, we did see dolphins (and Josh saw a few kayaks that he thought were dolphins. Ha!) Here is some pictures.

This was our room. Josh and I took over the whole upstairs loft. We had our own sitting area with a balcony that looked out to the beach. There was a little corner for the pack n' play and space for all her toys. It was the perfect spot for us.

2. Family Time - I was kinda nervous. If you know my family, you know that we are all very close and get along well, but being in a house with no phone, Internet, or other social interaction could have made us all go insane. Everything really was great though. During the day, Mom hung out at the house with Alyse watching movies and reading. Dad worked on his sermons and watched TV. Josh, Danielle, and I sat out on the beach. At night, we had dinner, watched TV together, sat and talked/made fun of each other, and played with Alyse. Everyone was very relaxed and happy. A good time was had by all.



3. The weather - It was kinda up and down. When Josh and I first got there it was beautiful. Then a tropical storm started to make it's way to the Carolina coast. It rained, but it really wasn't that bad. One day it was supper windy! Danielle and I tried to make our way to the beach, but it didn't last long. We couldn't read cause the pages were going crazy. We couldn't walk or even hear each other talking.

It did rain almost every day that we were there. It was always for just an hour or 2. Basically it rained every time we tried to take Alyse down to the beach. Mom or I would get Alyse all lathered up and put her swim suit on. Josh would go and set up her little tent on the beach, and then we would all head down. After about 10 minutes, out of no where the clouds would roll in and rain would start to fall. It was crazy. I think her favorite part of the beach was us all rushing back up to the house. Finally we just set her tent up in the living room and let her sit in it inside.

(Outside)

(Inside- with Aunt Danielle)


4. The dogs - We took Bo and Zeke with us on their first family vacation. (Well, Bo's first family vacation.) Neither one of them had ever been to the beach before. Bo loved it! He was so excited about the car ride. He loved the water. He loved running on the beach. He loved all the smells and new things to discover - like stairs. (We don't have stairs at our house. He kept running up and down them. It was so funny.)

Zeke was ok. He liked the sand, but would not go anywhere near the water. He would run away and get all nervous. He did like digging in the sand and laying on the porch.

5. Topsail activities - There really isn't a ton to do in Topsail. We went to a couple shops and restaurants (we would suggest The Blue Gecko - the burritos were very good, and Daddy Mac's), but there wasn't a lot going on. Our favorite thing about Topsail was reading all the names of the houses. Some of the best ones were: Hop on Inn, The Farmer's Tan, Can't Harley Wait, Marsh-Mellow, and a bunch of others that I should have written down.


6. USS North Carolina - On Thursday we took a little day trip to Wilmington. We went to go see the battleship, USS North Carolina. The USS North Carolina is a battleship that was used during WWII. My Dad, Josh, and I all love history and museums, so we were excited to go. It was huge! I felt lost walking around all the levels and long corridors. Plus Josh and I had to take turns carrying Alyse up and down ladders, through tight little spaces, and all over that dark, hot, ship. She was very quite the whole time. I think she was wondering where in the world we were. It was a little overwhelming, but we enjoyed it. Here are some pictures.


7. Funny stories - I could tell you a lot, like about the family that sat 5 feet from us even though there was no one around. (No, I'm not exaggerating.) The little girl came and sat in Josh's chair, and the nearest people to us was a guy fishing like 100 yards away. Why on earth they had to come sit by us, I don't know. It really bothered me. I decided that if they wanted to met us, they could met the whole family. I went and got the dogs, hoping it would encourage them to move down the beach a little, but it didn't work. Oh well.


8. Last but not least, some more pictures. (I told you there would be a lot.)


2 Comments:

  1. Jill Pagels said...
    September 17, 2007 at 8:39 PM  
    It looks and sounds like you had a great time! We took the boys on a freight ship turned museum this summer and it was so scary carrying Matthew up and down those ladders in and out of small tight spaces. I'm not exactly the most graceful person on earth. Most the time I got stuck carrying him because Dustin had to carry Nathan when he was too scared to go up or down, I guess it was easier carrying a one year old than his almost 50 pound big brother!!! I'm glad you had fun, I must confess, I am a bit jealous! It looks soooo nice there!!!
    Christine said...
    September 18, 2007 at 1:45 PM  
    I glad you had fun!! And I understand the family sitting to close I HATE THAT!

Post a Comment



Newer Post Older Post Home

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)