Old meets New

We brought the inflatable pool on the long trek to Oak Island, knowing how much Addison loved splish-splashing in it last summer. This summer, however, it was never even taken out of it's carrier - my baby is a beach baby.

Our annual vacation to North Carolina was filled with all the things that make it fabulous: perfect weather, good waves, amazing friends, fresh fish and laughter, lots of inappropriate, endless laughter.

Addison and Evan rekindled their friendship quickly with games of "throw the squishy", "dig in the sand", "chase the crabs", and "go go go". Our mornings were early, and our nights weren't too late. There was a lot of bubble blowing, Corona drinking, DoodlePro drawing, and playing in the sand.

Addison has proven to be much like her father: a fish in the water. She had virtually no fear of the crashing surf or of the sand crabs scurrying toward the water. She started off the week cautiously grabbing for a hand as we headed to ocean. She finished it off running full speed ahead with out a second thought to the waves rushing in at her. Yes, my heart stopped once or twice.

In past years, our Carolina vacation has been full of debauchery and ridiculousness. Late night pizzas, watching the stars from the beach until the wee hours of the morning, break dancing competitions. Dozens of beer runs, a fair amount of slurred speech, and endless consumption of total junk food.

This year was peppered with the same things, but we also wove in delicious meals (don't even get me started on the fish tacos) and healthy snacks. We had plenty of beer, but there was also a fair amount of Gatorade and water consumed. There were no break dancing competitions, but there were "self portraits" done on a DoodlePro. It was good mix of the old vacation, and the new "holy crap we have toddlers" vacation....and I would not mind if we went back right about now.