Beach Wrap-up

This is an over-due post since so many people have been asking for pictures and how the beach vacation went.
I think saying that we had a great time is an understatement! We really relaxed and played and laughed and enjoyed ourselves. The only "negative" aspect would be the highway traffic to and from Corolla, but now we know and can plan accordingly for next time! Yep, we had such a great time that we already know we'll be back every year. And driving our scoping out future rental homes helped ensure that. We stayed at an awesome beach house with a private (solar heated) pool and lots of pluses.



As much as I'd like to say this is where we stayed, this is just a little place I have book-marked for next time. This shot helps convey our digs.... Cori was playing with Aunt Molly and loving Uncle Mikey:
Oh, wait, before I go much further, I should probably show a picture of the first thing Dave did.... you may need this picture to believe that other pictures of him really are in fact, him. Dave requested that Mike shave his hair off (with a beard trimmer no less - note Molly's laughing expression!) 45 minutes later, we had the next recruit for the army...

We ate out a few times at some great seafood places, and we cooked in mostly. But when you have 7 pounds of king crab legs and 3 lbs of shrimp and a ton of clams as the main dish, I think it's okay to say that you ate in that night!

The beach wasn't as big of a hit as the pool. Cori didn't mind the sand, but the picture below shows her general reaction to the ocean. I guess when you're little, the ocean is a loud and big unknown. We did meet up with Dave's step-sister and her family who happened to be vacationing 2 miles away from us. Cori's cousin Theo is 2 and loved the water; Cori seemed a little less inhibited watching Theo run into the waves. So maybe next year we'll spend more time at the beach.

So for now, we just have a little fish on our hands, and because of this, we spent most of our time at the pool. It probably worked out better since I am a classic over-packer, our house was 3 blocks from the ocean, and Molly had a boot on her broken left foot.

Even though we were pool side with Cori, we still were able to go to the beach often. Every time we were there I saw dolphins swimming not far off shore, which was just incredible! (Everyone would just watch them for minutes at a time; one group would go past only to be followed a few minutes later by another group.) Dave and I had a romantic evening walk on the beach and I got up early one morning with my mom to watch the sun rise. We'll no doubt make this a tradition together since it was just so beautiful.
On the very last day there we took a boat out onto the sound and went parasailing at 1200ft. I have a lot of pictures and video of this adventure (and luckily none of the sea-sickness that followed- gah!) so that will be a post for another time.