After hearing Ron and Derek talk over the phone about getting together as a family last November, I immediately jumped at the chance to plan a family reunion in the Outer Banks as it is so close to where Derek's family lives and it is also a place that I have always wanted to visit! After texting both Renee and Austin to suggest the idea of having a July 2021 family reunion by staying together in a rental beach house right on the water in the OBX, I learned that Derek and Renee were in and Robbie and Austin were out (due to having baby #2 in April). As much of a bummer as it was not to have Robbie and Austin joining us, Derek's family is the one with the older kids who provide playmates for Lia, Logan, and Ella and, since Emmett is really still too young to notice, it really wasn't that big of a disappointment that the younger cousins wouldn't be there. In addition, Lola decided to join us for the vacation since she has a second home in North Carolina and loves any excuse to travel there to see her family. During the first week of January, the four adults chose the dates of our trip and scoured various websites trying to find the perfect beach house that met everyone's requirements. After a few frustrating days of endless searching, Renee stumbled across the perfect beach house on VRBO that was actually available for the week in July that we had chosen to travel. As bizarre as it was that this house had never popped up on any of our previous searches (since it matched all of our criteria), I didn't waste any time after she sent me the link and I quickly reserved the house that same night!
After months of waiting and worrying that a spike in the Coronvirus across the country would cancel our trip (like it did for our three Hawaii trips we had planned for 2020), we were so relieved to see that our big vacation was actually going to happen. We flew into Raleigh on July 15 and, after getting our luggage and rental car, we travelled 2.5 more hours to Jacksonville where Derek and Renee live and where Lola has her second home. After spending the first night at Lola's house, we then spent one day in Jacksonville with the family before driving an additional 3.5 hours to Rodanthe on July 17th. We then spent the most glorious seven days on the Outer Banks before driving back to Jacksonville on July 24th and then driving to Raleigh and flying home to Seattle on July 25th. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Derek and Renee and the kids had so much fun being with their North Carolina cousins. We loved staying in this amazing house right on the beach and loved swimming and boogie boarding and even surfing in the ocean right outside our back door. In addition, the kids had so much fun playing in our private pool and hot tub every single day. The six of us left a few times for day trips and loved exploring the history, culture, and beaches of the Outer Banks. With the exception of a few little rain storms that quickly blew over, we were blessed with warm and beautiful weather all week long. Overall, the entire vacation went so smoothly and we had such a great time. I really felt like this longer amount of time together gave the cousins a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other and bond. We left with wonderful memories of our time spent together and we can't wait until we get to meet up with the East Coast Hartleys again!
July 15th:
Ella and Emmett waiting at our gate at SeaTac to board our plane very early in the morning.
Ella, Emmett, and I sat together on our side of the aisle for the direct flight from Seattle to Raleigh. Although the TSA currently requires masks on all passengers two years and up, no one ever asked Emmett to put his mask on after he decided that he was "done" wearing it while we were still waiting to board our plane in Seattle. Thank heavens!
After flying across the country to Raleigh and picking up our luggage and rental car, we began the 2.5 hour drive to Jacksonville. On the drive there, Ron spotted a sign for Smithfield's BBQ off of the freeway and quickly exited so that we could eat dinner at this Carolina classic.
The kids enjoyed eating Carolina BBQ and hush puppies for the first time in their lives.
Ella eating a hush puppy.
July 16th:
After we arrived at Lola's house Thursday evening around 8 o'clock, we were so happy to meet up with Derek and Renee who happened to stop by after going out to dinner. After visiting with them and also Lola and Madonna (her good friend who lives at her house full-time), we all crashed after a long day of travel. We started off the morning of the 16th with Lola treating us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
Emmett enjoying his Southern breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
Emmett, Ella, Logan, and daddy sitting on the rocking chairs outside the restaurant.
We then followed Lola around in the scorching heat and humidity (that none of us were used to) to a few different Asian markets. After parting ways with her, we had to stop by Logan's Roadhouse restaurant to take a picture with Logan in front of it.
After Ron spent the afternoon at Derek's house with the three older kids and I stayed behind at Lola's house for Emmett to take an afternoon nap, we all met up at a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant to each a delicious dinner. Here is the entire group sitting around the grill.
Emmett enjoying some time with his aunt and uncle during dinner.
July 17th:
Since check in time at our beach house wasn't until 4 p.m. on the 17th, we couldn't leave Jacksonville until lunch time. The kids enjoyed a slow morning playing together while the parents packed up everything. Here is Addison putting French braids in Lia's hair.
The kids enjoyed riding on Jake's amazing, outside toys that he has--a small motorcycle and ATV.
Ella cruising around Derek's huge yard on the ATV.
Lia doing the same on the motorcycle.
Cute Emmett enjoyed riding behind his older siblings on the motorized toys and also riding around on Jake's awesome, old tricycle.
After packing up and leaving Jacksonville, we arrived at the Outer Banks a few hours later. Since Lia and I are both big fans of the tv show that takes place here, we got so excited when we started to see signs for the OBX!
The sign we passed for the historic, Cape Hatteras lighthouse.
Our glorious, yellow beach house right on the ocean in Rodanthe that was our home for the next seven days! It is four stories high, had three sets of decks on both sides, had its own pool and hot tub, and even had an elevator!
After getting unpacked and settled in, the younger kids enjoyed taking a dip in the pool with Ron and me. I can't even count how many times Logan, Jake, and Ella swam in this pool during our week there!
A shot of the kids swimming below from one of the decks above!
The three little swimming buddies all lined up in a row.
Ron and Emmett playing together in the pool.
After ordering pizza in for dinner, I left with Renee, Regan, and Addison to drive down south to the town of Avon to do our big grocery shopping trip for the week. Ron took the other kids on a walk to the Rodanthe Pier which we could see from our house. Here is a great picture of Lia and Emmett strolling along the water on a warm, summer night.
July 18th:
After a busy day the day before, we decided to just relax at "home" today and enjoy the beach in front of our house. The kids had a great time playing in the wonderful, soft sand. Here are Logan, Jake, and Ella digging holes in the sand.
A close-up of Logan.
Ella pausing from her digging to pose for me.
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Cute Emmy playing on the beach.
Since Derek owns multiple boogie boards and surf boards, we all enjoyed using them throughout the week. Here is a picture of Lia, Ron, Renee, and Derek all out enjoying the water together.
Derek was kind enough to give both Ella and Lia surf lessons a few different times throughout the week (Logan was never interested in trying). Ella got up several times in the shallow water where she was able to ride on little waves where the surf breaks. Lia was able to get up on her second day trying out in the real surf. It was so fun and exciting to watch both of them try out this awesome sport and we are so grateful to Derek for taking the time to teach them.
A very happy Ella running towards me after her first surf lesson with Uncle Derek.
After a morning and afternoon session playing at the beach, the kids enjoyed swimming in the pool.
Ella doing a canon ball into the water.
Logan jumping in the water.
The four youngest cousins enjoying the hot tub together.
The cousins playing card games Sunday evening after dinner.
Lia and Addison hanging out on the top deck at sunset.
The boys playing pool on Sunday evening down in the game room.
July 19th:
Our family broke off from the group for a few hours on Monday to go explore some of the sights north of Rodanthe. First stop was the awesome pirate, gift shop called Pirates of Chicamacomico that we had discovered online in advance before leaving home. The amazing thing that we discovered after we arrived is that this gift shop was literally a two minute drive from our beach house. As a result, we visited it a few times during our week there. It was just as cool as being in the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop at Disneyland or Disney World! We had to take a picture of Logan standing next to the sign.
Logan, our pirate lover, standing next to the awesome treasure chest inside the store.
After the pirate shop, we drove to the Bodie Island Lighthouse which is one of the five lighthouses in the OBX. Unfortunately, we didn't know that a reservation is required to walk to the top of the lighthouse and they were already booked for several hours that day, so we only were able to look around the lighthouse.
The kids and I posing next to the Bodie Island Lighthouse sign.
A nice ranger felt sorry for us when we told him that we didn't know about the required reservation to go inside the lighthouse. So, he kindly allowed us to walk inside it and take a few pictures at the base of the staircase that goes all the way to the top.
We then went on a walk out on a boardwalk into the marshes next to the lighthouse.
A nice family picture we had taken from an observation deck with the lighthouse in the background.
We then got back in the car and drove farther north to the town of Kill Devil Hills to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial. This is the location where these brothers flew their plane the first four times in 1903. They came to the Outer Banks from Ohio due to needing a few specific conditions to assist with their experiment: privacy, winds, high dunes, and a sandy, soft landing.
Here are the five of us standing next to the First Flight Marker, the lift-off point for all four flights.
After visiting the landing markers of all four flights down in the field, we hiked up Kill Devil Hill at the the top of the field to visit the Wright Brothers Monument.
We then hiked back down the hill to visit the life-size replica of the flyer that the Wright brothers invented, built, and flew back in 1903. Here are the three younger kids climbing around on one of the wings. After leaving the Wright Brothers National Park, we drove to our last destination of the morning to buy some infamous Duck donuts at one of the few bakeries on the island. Sadly, after pulling up to the bakery in Kitty Hawk, we learned the news that they closed at 1 p.m. and that we were too late! If only we had known this, we would have picked up our donuts before heading into the national park. So, we changed plans, and ran into a neighboring grocery store to buy some lunch for all of us before heading back to Rodanthe.
We then spent the afternoon back in Rodanthe playing in the ocean right in front of our beach house. Derek offered to take the girls out surfing again. Here they are heading out into the water with their surfboards in hand.
After several tries, Lia finally got up for the first time and then successfully got up several times after that. Since Ron and I were watching on the beach, it was so exciting to see this! I managed to get a picture of her first time up. I just love this picture as you can see Addison screaming with excitement in the background.
A picture that Ron took of me watching Lia surfing with the Rodanthe pier in the background.
After watching Lia and Addison surf for over an hour, I wandered back to our house with Emmett to find Ella, Logan, and Jake playing in the sand. Here is cute Ella playing away.
Logan spent quite some time burying Jake in the sand. It was so funny to see Jake's little head just poking up out of the sand.
Addison and Lia eventually finished surfing for the day and came back to the house. This is the great picture that I managed to get of them with the surfboard and the Atlantic Ocean in the background.
After Addison went inside, the kids and I played in the sand and the surf until dinner time as a small, rain storm blew in. Since it was so warm outside, it was totally fun running around in the light rain.
Ella and Emmett playing in the surf with the ominous, storm clouds above in the sky!
Cute Ella and Emmett playing together.
July 20th:
Our family left after breakfast on Tuesday to spend a few hours exploring the Tri-Village where we were staying. The towns of Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo are so close together that they essentially feel like one town, so the locals refer to them as the Tri-Village. We first stopped at a local farmer's market that just happens to be held every Tuesday. We enjoyed wandering around visiting the booths...
and checking out the shop inside this awesome bus that actually drives to and from the farmer's market every week.
We then found this local acai bowl stand nested in the trees right off of Highway 12. We stopped here to share a treat and shop in the surf shop located right next door.
The kids and I enjoying our frozen treat.
While wandering around the surf shop, we found this cool, knit hat for Emmett that we ended up buying him.
Since we always explore several beaches during our trips to Hawaii, we decided that we should try to find some other beautiful beaches during our week in the OBX. So, after we were done exploring some of the shops in the Tri-Village, we kept on driving further south through Salvo. Since beaches do not have names in the OBX (like they all do in Hawaii), we just had to look for "Beach Access Ramp" signs. We decided to stop at Beach Access Ramp #27 and found the most beautiful, pristine, and long beach on the island. Since we didn't have our swim suits with us, we decided that we would have to return later in the week to spend the morning playing on this beach. Here is a picture we managed to get a nice lady to take of us on the ramp that goes over the dunes and out onto the beach.
Another family picture that this same lady took of us on sand.
Since there are no beach houses on this beach, there was barely anyone there. The kids had a great time playing in the shallow surf...
and writing their names in giant letters in the sand.
We then came back to the beach house for lunch and Emmett's nap time. Lia and Addison enjoyed boogie boarding with Ron and me.
Logan, Jake, and Ella enjoyed swimming in the water and playing in the sand.
Here's another great picture I was able to snap of the girls as they came in from the ocean and headed to our pool.
The cousins and some adults then enjoyed playing in the pool for the later part of the afternoon. Here are Lia and Addison in the pool together. I took an almost identical picture of the two of them in Addison's hotel pool in Orlando in July of 2019.
Ella balancing on Addison's shoulders.
Since Emmett had woken up from his nap, he was able to join us in the pool, too.
I then wandered back out onto the beach with Logan after pool time to build a sand castle with him. Here is a picture of us with our finished creation.
Since Regan slept in very late every morning and Emmett took a nap every afternoon, we realized that evenings were really the best time to get an all-cousin photo. Here is the first cousin photo that we managed to get that evening after dinner.
July 21st:
We started out the morning with Logan, Jake, and Ella running down to the beach after breakfast to write our last name in massive letters in the sand in front to the house. This is the picture that I managed to take of them from the third deck.
We then convinced Jake and Addison to come with us to go back to the Beach Access Ramp #27 to spend the morning playing on the beautiful beach that we had found the day before. This is the great family picture that I was able to get Addison to take of us that we will use for our Christmas card this year!
We then spent the next few hours playing in the sand and swimming and boogie boarding in the water. We had this huge beach almost to ourselves and had such a great time together. Logan and Jake ended up digging a huge hold by the time we left. Here they are starting the hole after we first arrived.
Emmy walking on the beach with the dunes in the background.
Three boy cousins at play.
Ella grabbed an available boogie board and started teaching herself how to use it in the shallow surf near the shore.
Ron, Addison, Lia, and Ella waiting in the surf on their boogie boards.
Addison was nice enough to come in to help Ella a bit with her boogie boarding skills.
Logan digging deeper in his hole.
Ella and Emmett checking out the hole once Logan had finished digging for the morning.
A great cousin photo I took from oldest to youngest standing on the beach before we left.
Due to our Duck Donuts debacle from the other day, Derek and Lola picked up two dozen on their way back from running errands in Kitty Hawk. As a result, we all had "donuts and apples" for lunch after we got home from the beach. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled with the lunch menu.
After another afternoon playing on the beach and in the pool back at the house, we decided to venture out for our one dinner out of the week while staying in the OBX. Since Lola spent most of her time inside the house instead of on the beach or at the pool, we realized that we did not have any photos of her with her grandchildren. So, we managed to get this photo before we left for the restaurant.
Derek recommended a cool, rustic restaurant in Avon called the Froggy Dog. We drove down there and had to wait outside for several minutes until our table was ready. Here is another grandchildren and Lola picture that I took while we waited to be called inside the restaurant.
And here is the first group shot I had someone take of everyone outside the restaurant!
July 22nd:
We headed out in the morning for our biggest day trip of the week. We had planned to stop by the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse first before catching a ferry to Ocracoke Island, a smaller island in the OBX. What we hadn't planned on was the long wait in the ferry line each direction which turned this day trip into a "getting home before dinner" day to getting home at 11 p.m. So, it ended up being quite the marathon day.
Since the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is located really close to the Hatteras ferry terminal, we decided to make this stop en route to Ocracoke Island. Although it is closed for renovations, it was amazing to see this massive lighthouse up close and personal. It is the tallest lighthouse in the country and has an amazing history. It was completed in 1871 and was actually moved 2,900 feet in 1999 due to it only being 15 feet away from the water's edge after years and years of erosion.
After walking around the grounds of the lighthouse, we took a family picture by the sign at the entrance and headed off to catch the ferry to Ocracoke Island.
Although Ron had watched a few videos on YouTube describing the long waits in ferry lines going out to Ocracoke Island during the summer months, we had hoped to get there early enough to avoid the worst of it. After first arriving at 10 a.m. and seeing how short the the line was, we were completely surprised when the ferry worker told us that we probably had a three hour wait. Since we didn't know how tiny the Outer Banks ferries are in comparison to the massive Washington ferries, this just didn't make sense. However, after seeing one of the ferries pull into dock, we quickly understood why this short line would take three hours to get to the front. As disappointing as this was to learn, we decided to make the most of it since there was a nice shopping area located next to the ferry terminal. So, we quickly parked our car in line and left it for over two hours (with the exception of Ron who went back to move it a few times as we moved our way up to the front of the line).
After wandering through the shops for a little while, we were so surprised to run into Lola, Derek, Renee, and their kids who had decided to go shopping at the ferry terminal after visiting the lighthouse after us. Since we were not going to eat lunch on Ocracoke Island like we had originally planned, they joined us for lunch at a restaurant in the ferry terminal.
After a three hour wait, we said goodbye to Derek and Renee and family and jumped back in our car to board the 1 p.m. ferry. It was really different to be on such a small ferry (like the one that passed us pictured above) and also to see the very nondirect route that the ferry had to take to avoid running into the sand that is pushed into the more shallow channels by the waves.
The Hartland fam at the front of the ferry.
We enjoyed watching the entire one-hour ferry ride from outside the car as the air was so warm and the view was so beautiful.
After arriving at the Ocracoke Ferry Terminal at 2 p.m., we then drove the 20 minutes into town while Emmett took a short afternoon nap. After stopping in the quaint Ocracoke Village to talk to the visitor's center about possibly pirate-themed activities that we could do while here, we drove over to see the Ocracoke Lighthouse.
This lighthouse is one of the oldest lighthouse in the nation and it was really interesting to see up close and personal. Although the stairs to the top are not open to the public, we were allowed to go into the bottom of the lighthouse and look up!
Although it was so hot and humid, we all decided to summon up the energy to go on a walk through the woods to a beach on Pamlico Sound. Since the OBX has such a vast history of piracy, I really wanted to take Logan to experience some of this history first hand. Unfortunately, the awesome pirate museum in Ocracoke closed a few years ago, so the best the visitor's center could recommend was walking through Springer's Point to overlook the Pamlico Sound to see where Captain Blackbeard was finally killed by the British Royal Navy in 1718.
Luckily, the kids were all troopers and happily marched through the woods on our way to the beach. We even stopped at some very old graveyards along the way and stood on top of a closed up well that supposedly holds the remains of Captain Blackbeard.
We did not know in advance that this hike would take us out to such a beautiful and swimmable beach. As a result, none of us had our swimsuits on which was a huge disappointment to us considering how hot we were. So we sadly took a picture and tried to imagine the spot where this infamous pirate of the Outer Banks was killed before turning around and walking back to our parked car.
A cute shot I managed to get of all four children lined up in a row on the path covered in beautiful, OBX sand on our way back out.
Ellie and me walking together.
After finishing up the hike all sweaty and hot, we decided that we needed to get some ice cream back in the village before hitting the beach. It truly hit the spot and we were all grateful for a little frozen treat to help cool us down.
We then drove to a beach just outside of Ocracoke Village to spend a well needed hour to cool down and play. Ron and I had a great time taking turns boogie boarding with Lia and Logan who had both really figured out how to do this sport by this point in the week.
Ella really figured out how to boogie board all on her own in the crashing surf and caught one wave after the next after the next for quite some time. It was the cutest thing to watch. She would catch a wave, ride it into the sand, jump up, and immediately run back to water to do it all over again. I just couldn't believe how she had figured out how to do this all by herself. It was so fun to watch her in action!
A picture I managed to get right as Ella rode up onto the sand.
Ella running right back out to the water to catch another wave.
Emmett hung back on the beach with Ron or me and had a fun time playing in the sand and in the shallow water. Here is my cute boy giving me a great smile!
Emmett playing with one of the awesome, large beach shovels we bought that week.
After a little over an hour playing on the beach and in the water, we reluctantly had to pack up and head back into town to grab dinner before driving back to the ferry terminal to catch our ferry.
The owner of the ice cream shop we visited earlier in the afternoon recommended the Ocracoke Oyster Company for dinner, so we decided to give it a try.
After being seated in this quaint, semi-outdoor restaurant, we ordered our drinks and our dinner and then waited and waited. We were determined to catch the 8 p.m. ferry back to Hatteras Island since the ferry switches to running every 60 minutes instead of 30 minutes at this time, as we did not want to get stuck taking the 9 p.m. ferry. As a result, we started to worry during the long wait for our dinner and eventually asked our waitress to have it boxed up for us. So as fun as it would have been to eat in this cool restaurant, we headed out with our dinner in hand as soon as it was brought to us.
A fun picture we took of the kids next to a miniature version of the Ocracoke Lighthouse on the walk back to our car. Little did we know at this time that we were heading out for a much later evening that we had planned. Although we made it to the ferry terminal by 7:30 and were the tenth car in line, we ended up waiting and waiting for the 8 p.m. ferry that never arrived. After getting out of the car and walking up to the ferry terminal booth and speaking to a ferry employee, I learned that the 8 o'clock ferry had been cancelled due to a lack of ferry workers. As a result, we had to wait until 9 p.m. when the next ferry arrived. We then had the one hour ferry ride back to Hatteras Island and then the one hour drive back to our beach house. We didn't get home until 11 p.m. and we were all so exhausted and grateful to be back safely. We just had no idea when we left our beach house that morning that we would end up spending the entire day away from Rodanthe thanks to waiting in ferry lines for a total of 4.5 hours. Good grief!
July 23rd:
Due to our long day away from the beach house on Thursday, we made the easy decision to just spend one more relaxing and wonderful day at "home." We all spent most of the morning swimming and boogie boarding in the water and playing in the sand. I had so much funny boogie boarding with Logan and trying to catch the same wave with him. Whenever we did, we would try to get close enough to give each other a 'high five' as were riding the wave into the beach.
Jake and Logan enjoyed boogie boarding together, too.
A cute picture I got of Logan right after he boarded up onto the beach.
Emmy played back on the sand most of the morning. Here is Aunt Renee playing with him.
We sadly did not discover this awesome, pirate kite until Friday morning when Ron and I ran to a local store to buy a few things. I wish that we could have found it earlier in the week as it flew so well in the strong, beach winds. Here is Jake flying Logan's kite while Logan and Ella looked on.
Logan flying his kite.
Ella took advantage of getting one more surf lesson from Uncle Derek this morning and got up several times. It was so fun watching her cute little body riding the big surf board over and over again.
A darling picture I got of Ella and Derek before they finished up for the day.
Lia helping Emmett dig a deep hold in the sand with our new, bigger beach shovels.
Uncle Derek hanging out with Emmett, Addison, Logan, and Ella in the hot tub.
After our afternoon back out on the beach, the girls came in and got cleaned up before joining Lola and Aunt Renee in rolling up a batch of delicious, homemade lumpia.
Here is Lola in the kitchen frying the lumpia that the girls rolled it up.
We enjoyed watching another sun set from off of our deck on Friday night. Here are Addison and Lia standing on the top deck outside the kitchen soaking up the amazing views.
Emmett sitting on a chair on the deck with the girls.
A family picture we managed to have taken right before the sun dipped below the horizon.
Lola with her two boys.
We had seen people all week long out on the beach in the dark with flashlights screaming and running around. After figuring out that they were crab hunting, we decided that we needed to give it a try on our last night there. So although Renee and Regan got so grossed out in the first five minutes (by watching me pick up crabs we found), the rest of us had the best time finding and chasing crabs all over the beach. It was amazing to see how many came out at night. Here is a group shot I got of the gang while hunting.
Emmett catching a ride on daddy's shoulders back to the beach house when we were done hunting.
July 24th:
We sadly woke up to another glorious day on Saturday, but instead of going back out to enjoy the beach and water, we had to pack up and check out by 11 a.m. This is the picture I took from the second floor deck right outside our bedroom door. Talk about paradise.
Since all beach rentals in the OBX require week long reservations from Saturday to Saturday, it was fascinating to see the beach completely empty on this morning when it should be covered with people.
After packing up and driving the 3.5 hours to Derek's house, we made it back in the afternoon. After a slow afternoon of unpacking and the kids playing together, we headed out for a really unique and fun Southern, dinner experience. At Derek's recommendation, we drove out to the town of Beulaville to Mike's Farm. This is a family farm that has been turn into an amazing tourist attraction with an incredible family-style restaurant. We enjoyed wandering around this farm for over an hour while waiting for our table.
We got to see and feed several types of farm animals.
Here are Ella and Jake getting some food to feed the goats.
Addison, Ella, Logan, and Lia feeing some more animals.
There were rows of antique trackers to look at and "ride." Here are the cousins (minus Regan who spent the evening with her boyfriend) posing in front of one of the tractors.
Logan, Emmett, and Ella riding one of the tractors in front of the restaurant.
Jake, Emmett, and Logan enjoyed playing cornhole, too. There was just so much to see and do at this farm that we barely noticed the wait for our table which was great!
The entire family, plus Lola's friend Madonna, enjoying a delicious Southern dinner. This restaurant required us to pay up front for a set menu of fried chicken, pork loin, mashed potatoes, mac 'n cheese, green beans, corn, and biscuits. It was so fun to have the food brought to us right after we were seated like we were really eating at someone's home. I also loved not having to wait for the food with hungry children in tow!
The wonderful, group photo we were able to get taken under the covered bridge that is on the property.
July 25th:
After a glorious week with family, the day finally arrived to say our goodbyes and head back home. After a slow morning of packing up and loading the car, we left Derek's house about 11 a.m. that morning. The kids had fun riding around on Jake's amazing, motorized toys while the parents finished loading the car.
It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone after such a fun week. Here is Addison saying goodbye to Emmett after he had been buckled into his car seat.
Lola and Madonna even drove over to say goodbye to us. Here is the entire family waving goodbye to us as we pulled out of the driveway.
After the 2.5 hour drive back to Raleigh, we made it safely to the car rental agency where we turned in our car and took the shuttle back to the airport. After getting checked in, we picked up dinner in the airport and waited to board our plane back home to Seattle. Here are the kids all lined up and waiting for our plane at our gate.
The selfie Ron took of Lia, Logan, and him sitting on "their side" of the aisle once we got on the plane.
Ella, Emmett, and me on the other side of the aisle from Ron and the older kids. We had an uneventful flight back to Seattle and were so happy when we landed safely and made back to our house by 9:30 p.m. our time, 12:30 a.m. North Carolina time. Although we had a wonderful trip, we were all so glad to be back home again to sleep in our own beds after being gone 10 days!
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