Beach bathtub

Grace and Elizabeth made a beach bath tub.

Rosie was happy to watch them work. 

Elizabeth tried it out for size.....

The water was a little cold when the bath tub was filled!

Beach life

We were lucky that Steve has a four wheel drive pick up truck that he could take driving on the remote areas of the beach.  The kids enjoyed piling into the bed of the truck and cruising along the surf.  Hatteras has a large population of sea turtles and they work hard to protect their nesting areas.  Here is a nest site that has been blocked off.  We didn't see any turtles... maybe next time.....

 

If you look closely, you can see the lighthouse in the distance!

We did see lots of crabs- mainly ghost crabs.  Gracie is holding a tiny one in this picture.  Once the sun went down, the kids would grab flashlights and head lamps and go down to the beach to see the ghost crabs.  They would chase them down and catch them with the nets- then turn them loose again.  The adult crabs are quite large and all of them can run really fast.  It was funny to watch the kids squeal and chase them in the dark :)

Here the afternoon storm was rolling in.....

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

One rainy morning the kids and I went to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  The National Park Service runs the site and you can climb to the top of the lighthouse for a great view of the island.

It is only 257 winding steps up to the top!

 

It was a little windy and a little wet at the top, but we enjoyed it!

 

Fishing off the pier

Brock, Marshall and Sam enjoyed fishing off the public pier in Hatteras Village.  This is the dock where the fishing boats come in at the end of the day.  You could watch them offload their catch and see all sorts of interesting boats and people.  Next time I think we will go out on a charter to fish!

 

 

 

Playing on the beach

We had a great time on the beach.  Grace is a beach girl thru and thru!  She enjoyed every minute she could get in the surf.  The three girls (Grace, Elizabeth and Lizzy) had a great time.

Elizabeth and Grace rode the boogie boards in the surf.

Jake was a good sport as the kids worked on burying him in the sand.

Elizabeth was a mermaid!

Hatteras Island

We just got home from a week on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  It was a great trip!  We shared a house with our neighbors, stayed close to another set of neighbors and had a great time.  Between the three families we had five adults, nine kids and two dogs (Daisy stayed in VA).  This is the view of the beach right near out beach house. 

We had days that were half cloudy and half sunny for almost the entire trip.  It was great because it gave us time at the beach and time to play board games, go get ice cream and be bums.

 

Halloween 2012!

It is a fairly recent tradition that when Grandma Cone visits in the summer, we make Grace's Halloween costume.  This year Grace wants to be a mermaid.  Grandma Cone brought her fancy sewing machine, her amazing sewing skills and a ton of patience to make this year's costume. 

Believe me, if not for Alma, this costume would never have been made.  It required a lot more sewing skills than Grace and I have.  We tried to help by cutting out pieces and fetching coffee for Grandma. 

Grace is thrilled with the final product!  Thanks Grandma!

More University of Maryland

We peeked into the football stadium in the middle of campus. 

University of Maryland trivia- Jim Henson is one of their famous graduates.

This statue is located just in front of the student union. 

University of Maryland

Last Friday the kids and I made a little trip over to Maryland to visit the campus of the University of Maryland.  We went for a couple of reasons- 1.  We hadn't been there before. 2. Who wouldn't want to take their picture with the Terrapin? 3.  The campus dairy is know for making amazing ice cream and 4. Both kids need a little more exposure to college campus.

We started our visit with the turtle picture right outside the dairy.  They were right- the ice cream is amazing!

This guy is in the student union.  I guess your appreciation of his graduation cap is supposed to distract you from the fact that he seems naked.  It didn't work for the kids.....

Very nice U of M "M" in flowers!

Rugby Run

Looks like#29 gets a kickin the head