Another one of our can’t-miss Outer Banks traditions is a trip on the ferry over to Ocracoke Island, which neighbors Hatteras.  Again – and I know I’m a broken record on this topic – I have so many fun memories from our jaunts over to Ocracoke.  Like the year our family friends’ son talked like Goat Boy the entire trip. You had to be there.

Anyway, it’s not an OBX vacation without an evening on Ocracoke!  Off we went.

The rest of the family pulled out of the driveway while we were still tossing sunscreen in our diaper bag, and as a result they got on a ferry that left fifteen minutes earlier.  It was bad luck.  I was really sad that they missed Peanut’s first ferry ride (and Nugget’s first boat ride of any kind!).  But at least we got a money spot on the boat.

Peanut thought the ferry was pretty awesome.

Nugget was unimpressed.  Look at those cheeks!  (And that pout!  He’s going to be trouble in fifteen years.)

We looped around and around the ferry, staying in the shade as much as possible – but we did spend some time gazing out at the wake off the stern, and at the water and shoreline.

I love the ferry.  It was so much fun to ride with my little ones.

Ferry family!

Eventually, after my arms got tired of lugging Nugget around, I wised up and put him in the Ergo.  (I have the Ergo down to a science now, and I love it.  Peanut never took to it, but Nugget really likes being worn.  Especially now that he’s grown out of the infant insert – it’s so much more comfortable for both of us.)

After about an hour of ferry fun, we pulled up to the dock on Ocracoke, and then it was off to rendezvous with the rest of the family at Howard’s Pub.

We always eat at Howard’s Pub when we’re on Ocracoke.  It’s a fun place, and the food is casual but yummy.  (I didn’t do too well with ordering this time, though.  I got the fried shrimp basket and it turned out to be mostly fries – hardly any shrimp.  I should have stuck with my usual veggie burger.)

After dinner we had about an hour to wander around the island before we really had to get the ferry back so the kids could get to bed.  I was clamoring for a visit to the Ocracoke Light – my favorite of all the OBX lighthouses (of which there are quite a few) but the rest of the fam wanted to walk around the village, so that’s what we did.  The pic above was as close as I got to the lighthouse.  Next time!

We watched a bigger ferry coming into another dock…

Checked out the boats in the marina…

And then wandered into the village.

Peanut befriended a large metal rooster.  Actually, she asked if she could ride on him.  We said NO.

We named him Alan.  He looks like an Alan, don’t you think?  This wasn’t just a local art installation – it was outside a gallery, part of a metal menagerie that was on display for sale.  I was legit worried that Alan the Rooster was going to have to come home with us.  Fortunately we escaped without buying him (or any other metal animals).

We rode the ferry back to Hatteras just as the sun was setting.

Gorgeous!

Next time we visit, I’d like to spend more time on Ocracoke.  Our flying trips over there never seem like enough.  I want Peanut to see the wild ponies of Ocracoke (well, once wild – now most of them are in enclosures on the island, but they’re still a sight to see), and I want to get back to the Ocracoke Light.  And I’d love to mix up the dining; Howard’s Pub is fun, but there was a cute little flatbread pizza place in Ocracoke Village that looked like it would be a lot of fun to try.  It’s always good to leave something for next time, right?

Happy couple on our way back from Ocracoke.  Always a fun evening!

Next week, we do make it to a lighthouse!

When my family used to vacation on Hatteras Island when I was a kid, we had a pretty iron-clad routine: sound in the morning (the dads would windsurf, the moms would sit in the sun and read, and the kids would splash in the shallow water), then lunch, then ocean beach in the afternoon.  We mostly stuck to that routine on this trip, too, although it was a little harder to get into a good groove because we couldn’t split for the beach right after lunch – instead, we had to wait until Peanut finished her nap.  Most afternoons, that meant getting to the ocean (a 5-minute drive away) after 4:00 – not leaving much time for beach play before we had to go back to the house and get showered and changed for dinner.  Still, we made the most of the time we did have at the ocean beach.  I love watching the waves crashing up against the sands!

On our very first day at the beach, Nugget had his toes dipped in the surf.

He wasn’t quite sure what to think.  He wasn’t opposed to it, exactly, but he wasn’t overjoyed either.

Peanut, by contrast, had definite opinions about the ocean.  Specifically, she was violently anti-swimming.  She spent most of our beach time sitting on the towel and digging in the warm sand.

If one of us did carry her to the water’s edge, she clung to us like a barnacle and whimpered until we took her back to the towel.  I know some members of our party were pretty bummed that she didn’t want to play in the water, but I personally did not want to push the issue.  The beach is supposed to be fun, after all.  So we let her have fun in the way she wanted to.

Fortunately, Peanut was willing to partake in a very important Hatteras tradition: burying Uncle Dan in the sand.

It’s not an official vacation until Uncle Dan is neck-deep in sand with a ladies hat on his head.

Aunt Danielle was totally into it.

What a goof.

Peanut did get braver as the week wore on.  By Wednesday she consented to let Steve carry her into the surf as long as he did not attempt to put her down or get her wet at all.

Nugget did not have similar scruples.

Well, maybe.  No, I swear, he had fun.  Uncle Dan and Aunt Danielle are good swimming buddies.

Finally, by Saturday afternoon, Peanut was ready to cautiously dip her toes in the water.  And guess what?

It turns out… the ocean is AWESOME, MOMMY!

She spent a good half hour scampering in and out of the waves, shouting “One, two, three… WATER!” and running toward the crashing surf until someone scooped her up.  Seriously – the last half hour of our beach time, on the last day of our vacation, she became a total fish.  I wish we were staying for a second week; I felt badly that she missed out on swimming fun all week.  Maybe I should have pushed her more, but she was so frightened of the ocean earlier in the week, and I just wanted her to have a good time.  At least I know that next time, she’ll be into it!

Next week, a fun excursion to a neighboring island!

Vacation recaps continue!  After we finished our wonderful weekend of visiting friends in DC, we headed on down south for the second part of our trip: reuniting with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law on Hatteras Island, NC.  Hatteras was the site of so much summer fun when I was growing up.  My parents and their friends would rent a big house together for a week each summer, starting when I was seven and my brother was two.  We’d spend the whole week in a haze of sun, sand, and salt water – and it was always perfect.  My parents’ friends have a son my age and we had a blast running around on the beach, watching movies that were too old for us when the adults would go out, and – later, when we were older – driving out onto the beach with my brother and, occasionally, other friends.  Some of my best memories from childhood summers happened on Hatteras, so I was naturally excited to share the island with my own kids.

I’m not going to post a day-by-day recap, because our days on the beach are mostly all the same, so it would get repetitive.  Instead, I’m going to share snippets of our vacation – starting with the Sound.

For this trip, my parents rented the same house we’d always gotten during those childhood summers.  On Hatteras, if you’re renting a house, you have two options – stay oceanside, or stay soundside.  The ocean is, of course, the Atlantic.  The sound is Pamlico Sound, a huge brackish body of water that runs along most of the Outer Banks.  We always stayed soundside so the dads could windsurf right off the house beach.  Now, as a mom, I appreciate that there might have been another reason the moms liked the idea of staying soundside – the lack of surf and tide, and the bathwater-warm temperature, and the fact that the sound is basically no deeper than knee-deep for miles, all made it a much friendlier place to stay with wee ones.

Peanut, who loves-loves-LOVES our pool, was initially hesitant about the Sound.  (It probably didn’t help that within five minutes of her first sight of the Sound, Uncle Dan had come running up with a hermit crab in his hand.  Peanut is apprehensive about the hermit crab in her classroom, and that one’s behind glass – it was no surprise that she was completely weirded out by Uncle Dan bringing her a wild one.  And I probably didn’t help matters when I held out my hands for Uncle Dan to drop the crab into.  Mom, what are you DOING?!)

But Peanut quickly warmed up to the experience of swimming in the Sound.  Knowing that she often needs time to get on board with a new experience, I gave her that time.  First, I held her in my arms, well above the water.  Then I told her that I was going to set her down on the sand.  She was nervous, but I stood her on the damp sand about a foot or so from the water’s edge.  Within moments she was cautiously advancing toward the water, and it was no time at all before our little fish was splashing, playing, and chasing minnows.

She also declared that Aunt Danielle was her “seahorse.”  Aunt Danielle was happy to oblige with plenty of “seahorse rides.”  Such a good sport!

Most days, we stuck with the routine we’d always had growing up – Sound in the morning, ocean beach in the afternoon.  My dad, Dan and Danielle all windsurfed.  The rest of us took turns splashing with Peanut and dipping Nugget’s little feet in the water.  I even got to try the stand-up paddleboard!  (I’d been dying to give the sport a try.  Verdict: it’s a great workout and such a blast!  Now I want to rent SUPs and paddle down Elevator Alley here in Buffalo.)

And of course we did lots of lounging.  Nugget took several soundside lap naps, falling asleep to the peaceful breeze in the sea oats and to his sister’s laughter as she splashed with her aunt and uncle.

On our last afternoon, I brought Nugget down to the sound beach for a little one-on-one swimming fun.  Steve and Peanut were napping in the house, and the rest of the family had already gone to the ocean beach.  I crouched down in the shallows and sat Nugget on the sandy bottom of the sound, letting him feel the warm water on his legs.  Then, when he’d had enough swimming, I wrapped him in a towel and walked up and down the beach, bouncing him to sleep.  It was a nice hour to share with just my little guy.

I’m sure the families who choose to stay oceanside have a wonderful time, too – but I’m certainly glad we stay soundside.  It’s quiet and peaceful – perfect for little kids and for adults craving a bit of rejuvenation.

Coming up next time – a look at the ocean beach!

Whoa!  Remember those travel recaps I promised?  They’re still in the works, I swear.  But between updates on the kids, posts I wanted to write in commemoration of our anniversary, Austen in August, and just my normal blogging, there weren’t enough days in the schedule to get them all in!  I guess I could have scheduled posts to go up more than three days per week, but I like that schedule.  So I just have to be okay with being a bit behind – on travel posts as well as the rest of our summer adventures – and catch up slowly.  In a way, I think it’s better, because we can keep talking about summer fun into the early fall!

Anyway, to continue on with the travel posts, here we have a much belated recap of our second day in DC on our way down to the Outer Banks. You already heard all about how we spent that morning: getting in our July hike (just under the wire; it was July 29th!) at Great Falls National Park.  Great Falls is my favorite place in the entire world, and we knew we had to make a stop there, even a short one, while we were in town.  I’ve already shown you these pictures, but indulge me and look at a few of them them one more time?

What a fun, fun morning.  I just wish we’d had the entire day to spend there… but we had to hustle back to the city, because we were expected for lunch in Adams Morgan with my friend Maureen.  No pics from lunch, but we ate at Lebanese Taverna and I had a delicious plate of vegetarian nibbles – yum.  It was wonderful to see Maureen, and to introduce her to Peanut (she’d never met her!) and Nugget.

After lunch, we had a couple of hours to kill before our dinner plans – meeting yet another baby girl! – and we headed to our old stomping grounds, Old Town Alexandria.

We spent our last three years in the DC area living in Mount Vernon, which is just a few miles south of Old Town on the GW Parkway.  (And seriously, the most beautiful commute ever – I miss seeing the Potomac sparkling next to me as I drove to work each morning.)  Old Town was “our place” – the neighborhood where most of our weekend fun could be found.  Our church was in Old Town; our favorite restaurants were in Old Town.  We were there every Saturday and Sunday, almost without fail.  (The staff at Pizzeria Paradiso knew us, for goodness sake!)

So with a little bit of time on our hands, there was really only one place we wanted to be.  We wandered up and down the brick sidewalks, drinking in the King Street atmosphere that we’d been missing for two years.  I’ve never found any place I’ve loved as much as Old Town.

I sort of felt like this “Welcome Home Weekend” sign was put there just for me.  It was so good to be home.  No matter where else we live, or how long we’re away, Alexandria will always be home.

We wandered down to the Torpedo Factory, which was one of our favorite haunts when we lived in the area.  For those not familiar with Alexandria, the Torpedo Factory once was an actual torpedo factory – during World War II – but is now an art center housing a big group of artists’ studios.  Torpedo Factory artists work in every medium, from painting, printmaking and photography to pottery, textiles and jewelry design.  We wandered around checking out the works on display, and I picked up a new coffee mug from my favorite pottery artist, David Norton.  (I had one of his mugs already – bought just before I moved as a way to remember Old Town with my tea each morning – and it’s still my favorite.  Now it has a buddy!)

We whiled away the afternoon gazing at the Potomac and strolling through Founders Park until it was time to hop in the car and head up to Maryland for dinner with friends.  My friend Michelle had graciously invited us for dinner at her house and we were so excited to see her and her husband (their wedding was seriously the most beautiful I’ve ever been to) and meet their sweet baby girl.  Michelle outdid herself with a delicious pasta dinner and then the most insane homemade (cherry lambic!) popsicles I’ve ever tasted.  She sent me the recipe, so I’m now obviously in the market for popsicle molds.  It was the perfect way to end our weekend in DC – sitting around the table with friends, eating popsicles made with beer, catching up on all the news from my old job (Michelle and I met when we were both working for the same government agency right out of law school) and laughing about our kids’ goofy exploits.

We headed out around 7:00 – too soon to say goodbye to such wonderful friends, but it was their daughter’s bedtime and we had to get our own kids settled down because we had a big day of driving – on to North Carolina! – the next day.  Next recap, I’ll share some pictures from the beach!

At last, at last, at last I have some travel to recap!  We hadn’t been on a “real” vacation (read: of a week or more) since 2011.  There have been weekend getaways here and there, but never enough time to really get away and unplug.  So this was long overdue, and I swore all vacation long that I will never let this much time go by, ever again, without getting away.  It’s just too important for our family’s well-being!  Prepare for a loooooooong post.

Anyway, we had a very special trip planned for this summer.  My parents recently celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary, and they wanted a trip in which we would all come together on the Outer Banks – Hatteras Island, specifically – in North Carolina.  Hatteras was our favorite vacation destination when my brother and I were kids, and we went almost every year, for a week, starting when my brother was only two years old.  Now I have the two-year-old, and my brother is grown and married, and it felt like such a great opportunity to come full circle.  But before we get there, we have to get there!  Steve and I talked about it and decided that the drive from Buffalo to North Carolina was simply too far to do in one shot with two tinies, and we had to break it up.  And what better place to break up the drive than DC, our old home base?  We headed down a few days before we were expected in OBX and took the opportunity to see friends and visit some of our old favorite haunts.  This was the first time we had been back since we moved away two years ago, and this visit also felt long overdue.

We rolled into DC just around dinner time on Thursday evening, and lucky for us we had plans to eat at one of our very favorite DC spots – our friend Stephen’s house!  Stephen lived in Switzerland for years and he makes killer fondue.  Stephen was one of Steve’s co-workers in DC, and he often hosted the gang at his house for fondue nights.  When Steve told him that we would be in town, he immediately suggested fondue and we, of COURSE, agreed.

This crew, more than any others, were the closest thing we had to family in DC.  I know Steve loves this group so much, and I love them too.  Although I didn’t work with them, they always made me feel so welcome at happy hours, dinners, and get-togethers – and that was the case with all of the other spouses and significant others, too.  Between the core group of coworkers and all the husbands, wives and sig-os, we are a pretty big, loud, and I think FUN, group.  People have come and gone over the years – we’ve lost one to Las Vegas, one to Seattle, and of course our family has moved too.  And there are a few who are still in the DC area but have moved on to other jobs.  But when we all get together, it’s as if no time has passed.  I miss them so much.

Between this group and some of my other friends, there have been six babies born in DC since we left – all girls!  (I joked that, had we stayed, Nugget probably would have been a girl too.)  So “meeting the new baby girls” became the unofficial theme of the weekend, and I couldn’t have been more excited to both snuggle those other new babies and introduce my own little guy to some of my favorite people.

(I did snap plenty of pictures of the other little cuties, but I’m sure you will understand – I’m not sharing pictures of any kids but my own.)

On the way back from dinner we drove by some of DC’s most beautiful spots all lit up.  (Please pardon the grainy snapped-from-a-moving-car pics.)

On Friday morning we woke up excited to revisit some of our favorite spots.  After a quick breakfast at our hotel (we chose not to subject any of our friends – many of whom graciously offered to host us – to our noisy children this time) we headed out to Steve’s favorite place in DC – the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum!

We’ve taken Peanut here in the past, but she was just a little baby.  Steve was excited to share it with her now that she can enjoy and experience more.

Nugget enjoyed checking out the people and the sights, too.

Peanut is apparently really into planes lately.  Steve kept trying to steer her toward the space exploration parts of the museum, but she insisted on returning to the planes over and over.  Like mother, like daughter!  (Newer friends: I love airplanes – although I’m actually a nervous flier – and used to work in the airline industry.)

The Spirit of St. Louis! And an early American Airlines bird.

Peanut had a ball.  She basically went insane in the museum.  At one point I tried to sit her down in a group of children to listen to a story and she popped up and started running in circles and shouting “Gaga! Gaga! Gaga!”  She pretty much lost the ability to speak English, ha.

After Air & Space we meandered out onto the Mall.

The Washington Monument is looking great!  Last time I saw it, it was covered in scaffolding – repairs from the 2011 earthquake (that was a frightening day – I was up on the eighth floor of an office building, getting ready to defend a deposition, when the entire building started to rock; we thought it was a terrorist attack).  But…

Now my beloved Capitol Dome was covered in scaffolds!  Sigh.  Someday I’ll get back here and see all of my favorite spots at their best.

Our next stop was my favorite museum – the National Gallery of Art!

I stopped by to visit Ginevra de Benci – the only da Vinci in the USA – and then headed straight for the French Impressionists.  Monet is my absolute favorite.

(^Been there!)

Some garden inspiration?  Maybe in my next house.

This is my favorite Monet painting.  I had a poster version in my bedroom as a teenager.

Of course, we also visited the Degas paintings for Peanut.  She loved the ballerinas.

After a busy morning, we’d earned a fabulous lunch.  And there is no more fabulous lunch spot than…

Teaism!  We walked over to the Penn Quarter location.  I used to eat lunch at this location all. the. time. when I worked for the federal government.

Steve ordered a bento box and I had the most ridiculous tea-cured salmon sandwich ever.  This thing was gigantic.  Don’t ask me how, but I managed to eat the entire thing while holding a squirming baby.  I also got a side of tomato-mint salad, which I will be recreating at home, and a Salty Oat cookie.  I was too full for the cookie, so it went to waste – sadly.  Steve sipped on a ginger limeade and I had Zhenzhou Pearls.  It was all delicious.

We spent the afternoon walking around Georgetown, trying to walk off the gigantic lunch and make room for a special dinner.  We did treat ourselves to some macarons, though.

(Lavender vanilla.  Oh, yes.)

From Georgetown we headed to Dupont Circle – my other old work neighborhood – and puttered around while we waited for our dinner date.  First we stopped by my old office and introduced Nugget to my former co-workers; it was so wonderful to see them all again.  I miss them too much.  Then…

When in Dupont, you must visit Kramerbooks!  This was my favorite DC bookstore, and I used to eat at Afterwords, the attached cafe, quite often.  (Didn’t happen on this trip, sadly.  Something for next time.)

While Nugget and I wandered around checking out the offerings, Peanut and Steve parked it and read selections from the children’s section.

Finally it was time to head to dinner – at Pizzeria Paradiso!

This was our favorite DC pizza, and I haven’t found its equal anywhere.  We usually frequented the Old Town Alexandria location, but the friend we were meeting requested that we meet in the city instead and so we gladly headed for the original Dupont location.

I attempted to get a picture of Peanut in front of this DC map, but she was not in the mood to cooperate.  (And yes, this is all the same day, although Peanut is wearing a different outfit.)

Oh, well.  Olives!

We studied the menu intently…

And ultimately decided on a Margherita pizza.  (Hubby ordered a beer – I don’t know what – and I had my favorite sparkling lemonade, which I could totally drink every day.)

Even better than the pizza (which was amazing, don’t get me wrong) was the company – my best friend from law school, Carly, and her husband and new baby (girl, obviously)!  I know Nugget loved snuggling up in Carly’s arms.

It was a perfect way to end a perfect day.  I just wish we lived closer and could see these people and sights all the time.  But we made the most of our limited time there.  Coming up soon – day two of our DC fun!

I’m really inexcusably late in recapping our all-too-brief trip to Maine this fall, but I so want to share these pictures.  I’ve thought back on this sunny, warm, happy weekend many times since our return.  It was just a perfect weekend – filled with friends and family and the wedding of two wonderful people.

At the end of September we traveled to Camden, Maine for my brother Dan’s wedding.  Dan and his then-fiancee (now wife!) Danielle had planned a sweet, personal ceremony that perfectly reflected the things they love most – their friends and family, and nature and the outdoors – and we were so happy that we were able to share it with them.  We arrived on the day before the wedding and Dan suggested that before the family dinner we had planned for the evening, we meet up for a walk on the beach and some shell collecting.  We picked our way slowly along the beach – it was rocky and tough for Peanut to negotiate – while Dan and Danielle ran back and forth bringing Peanut sand dollars.  Once we had collected a handful and gotten our jeans hems thoroughly wet, we headed over to a lobster restaurant for dinner with Dan’s and my parents, Danielle’s parents, and our close family friends.

Peanut rocked her “i love my uncle” shirt.

I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual.  Also, who is that poking Peanut’s belly?

The wedding day dawned bright and sunny – perfect.  At Dan’s suggestion, we drove to the top of Mount Battie, a local lookout.  We’d have loved to hike it, but we didn’t have time for a big climb that morning – we had to get our scenery in, grab lunch and get back to the hotel for naps and cleanup in time to be on the dock at 2:30 promptly.  Wouldn’t want the schooner to sail without us!  So we drove.

The view was breathtaking.  This is where Dan proposed to Danielle.  Good work, right?

We did a little bit of exploring at the top of the mountain.  Peanut has adventure in her heart.

She was pretty annoyed that we didn’t let her run free and wild the whole time, but we were nervous – there were a lot of large rocks and… uh… a big hill that we didn’t want her to go rolling over.  So we cut off the explorations when they started to get a bit too adventurous and drove back to Camden.

Camden is a beautiful seaside town in coastal Maine.  We took some time walking up and down the main street and grabbed lunch overlooking the water at the Camden Deli.  Hubby was on a mission to eat lobster at every meal in Maine, so he had a lobster roll.  I went with seafood chowder and a bagel.  Yum.

That view!  Right?

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a nap; I don’t know if hubby slept, but Peanut and I sacked out for about an hour and a half before hubby woke us up to get ready for the wedding!  We quickly showered, tamed Peanut’s wild mane of ginger curls, and headed down to the Camden Docks to meet up with the family.

Peanut was thrilled to see her grandparents, but a bit concerned about what we were doing standing around the water.

She was even less thrilled when her day included a hat and a life jacket.

Eventually we did let her take off the life jacket, as long as she was in the schooner’s cockpit and within arm’s reach of a parent or grandparent.

She had fun steering the boat with Grandad.  And yes, she is wearing a bracelet.  Can you even handle it?  I giggled at it all day long.  (Carter’s, for my mom friends.  It’s recommended three and up, but Peanut loves wearing “bracelets” – a.k.a. linking rings, plastic donuts and Mom’s ponytail ties – so I knew she’d leave the bracelet alone.)  She kept one hand on the wheel and the other hand with thumb firmly in her mouth.

The rest of us enjoyed the sun and the trip out onto the open water, until it was time for the ceremony.  I took tons of pictures, but I’m not going to post them, because it’s not my wedding.

After the ceremony, Peanut enjoyed some snuggles with Great-Grandmother…

And she pulled this lever, which was the one thing the captain asked her to please, please, please not touch.  Nothing happened, though – whew.  Toddlers, I tell ya.  I don’t even know how many times we shooed her away from the lever, but she found a way.

After the schooner docked, we headed up to a park overlooking the Camden harbor to take some pictures of the new Mr. and Mrs.  Peanut, of course, thought the picture-taking was all about her.  Of course Grandad can’t resist that little face, either.  But we did get some pictures with the happy couple, and I hope they’ll forgive me for sharing just a few.

Isn’t Danielle a beautiful bride?  And Maine is a beautiful place – I’m so glad we made it there at least once.  (Dan and Danielle moved to Colorado just a few days later.)  We had so much fun exploring the Camden area, even for a couple of days, and spending so much time with the bride and groom.  Now I’m scheming a way to get to Colorado to visit them in their new life out west.