The Hamrick Family: OBX - spring break!

I had a fabulous drive down with just me and the girls. They fell asleep about halfway there and I had my Jimmy Buffett playing and the sunroof open! As I crossed the bridge I had my IPOD on shuffle and the song "Sidewalk Song" came on with the lyric ""take me back to where I'm from, memories when we were young, good times come and good times gone, we find a place in the sun." It seriously brought tears to my eyes because Nags Head is like my home. I have been coming to this beach since I was born. I have had multiple family trips here and it made me think of Mandy and Granny and how many times we had been here together. Some of my favorite memories are from this beach. It was just so weird that it played on shuffle just as I crossed the bridge.

We had the BEST week at the beach. The house was just perfect with the media room on the top floor so the kids could keep their shows on and have a whole separate play area without being far away from us. They loved the space! There were 7 huge bedrooms with their own bathrooms. Even the girls' bunk bed room had their own flat screen in it with their own bathroom. The weather was not "bathing suit/pool" weather, but it was warm enough to be on the beach comfortably for the kids to play. We had a great routine everyday - sleep until 9, breakfast, beach, lunch, naps for kids around 1:30-2:00, happy hour on the deck or pool with Connie and mom laying out until 4:00 ish, shower, kids up from nap, shopping, dinner, bath for kids around 8:00, kid movie time in the media room, bedtime for kids around 9:00, adults play cards or watch movies until 11:00 or midnight and seriously did the whole routine over everyday.

I got a great tan started. The sun was hot as could be out on the decks or by the pool. It was nice having a little breeze and now sweating like crazy too. Mammie cooked for us a lot, which was super nice. Those there for the whole week were mom, Mammie, Connie, me, the girls, Lindsay and Andy. Jenny Lynne and her boys came for a day and a night and then Brandon, Sarah and Drew came later in the week. There were no husbands for the whole week! They had to keep working hard! Thanks Bo, Dad and Steve! We missed you but had such a nice time! The dogs were even boarded for the week so us or the guys did not have to take care of them either! It was just so nice being somewhere aside from home for awhile. We had some GREAT laughs. Hannah was hilarious during one dinner when I told them to stop talking and eat. She put her head down on the table and said, "I'm not talking now." I guess since we could not see her, that meant that we could not hear her - the girls seriously cannot go five seconds without saying something. Both girls were offered their first job at The Dunes restaurant one night. The manager could not get over how cute they were and wanted to put them by the door to be greeters. I guess he also noticed how funny they were being. Andy loved irritating the girls and taking their toys and running away. He thought was was hilarious. The kids were all wonderfully behaved the entire week. I was actually surprised how little they misbehaved. They loved it so much they did not want to leave. We were all pretty bummed about leaving. The week flew. I keep reminding myself how much I have to look forward to - especially Disney in a few weeks and then the school year coming to a close!

The only downfall to the week was that we missed Bo's birthday on Thursday. I felt horrible that we were not there, but he was out of town working and treated himself to a ball game. We celebrated with him when we returned! What a great week!

Highlights from the week.....