The Beach

We recently returned from spending a week at the beach in North Carolina. We stayed in a house on the beach in the Outer Banks by the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. We were with my Mom and Dad, Dale and Tammy and their kids, Alison and Andy and their kids, Steve and Wendy and Tom and Sarah and their kids. Shayne and Maya were in heaven playing with all of their cousins in the sand and ocean. The beach was absolutely beautiful and the weather was great. We had a wonderful time! You should be able to click on any of the images below to enlarge them. Here are a few:

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was within walking distance of where we stayed

The Water

Maya was a natural in the water. She loved playing in the waves on her own and going out deeper in the ocean with Mom or Dad.

Shayne spent hours each day swimming and boogie boarding in the waves. He had a great time and caught lots of rides!

Maya venturing into the deep with Dad

The Land

Shayne pretending to be a menacing character

Shayne building in the sand below an ominous looking cloud

Maya industriously carrying water to her sand castle

Shayne building "The Grand Canyon"

Maya filling her bucket

Dad and kids working as a team on the Grand Canyon project

Cousins playing in the sand (from left to right: Shayne, Maya, Alex, Greg, David and Melissa)

In the Evening

Shayne sitting on what was left of a nearby peer that we walked to a few times in the evenings

The view from where Shayne was sitting in the previous photo toward the house we stayed in. There were hardly any people on the beach and it was absolutely beautiful!

Wildlife

We walked to a turtle pond one evening and Grandpa caught a turtle so that the kids could get a closer look.

Sand crabs were everywhere, especially in the evenings. The kids had fun watching them dart in and out of their holes.

This was a very interesting sight! While my Dad was walking down the beach, he found this shark, which was about 5 and a half feet long, washed up on the shore. Soon after, a bunch of us went down to check it out. It was pretty crazy seeing something like that in the wild, even if it was dead.