and home again

We had such a wonderful week at the beach! This is the first year we've gone back to a house we'd rented before. Really nice house--just a few houses away from Duck Rd, quite a jaunt to the beach though. I think we'd forgotten how small the house actually was but we made it work.


My son, Dave, brought along his girlfriend, Jen--here they are, waiting to go parasailing. Unfortunately, the boat that was supposed to take them had some engine problems. Their adventure was rescheduled and then finally cancelled due to weather. Awwww.

We always enjoy having an Outer Banks newbie along so we can show them our favorite places. Dave, Jen, Kait, Alex, Em and Kai climbed to the top of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (aka Corolla Light).

Peter, Abi, Graham and I excused ourselves from the climb, citing the raise in admission price. In truth, it's a long ass climb and we're all a little freaked by the height. We've all done it, don't need to do it again.

We did our annual expedition to Carolina Seafood, vowing to eat enough that they'd need to raise the buffet price again next year. I think we were victorious but will need to wait for next year to know for sure. (sorry, no pics...flying crab shells and near continuous face stuffing really aren't all that photogenic).

Peter and I had tentatively made plans to celebrate our anniversary (8/10, 10 years! Seems like both a lifetime and a moment) by renting ATVs to ride north of Corolla, hoping to spot the wild horses. When we went to make reservations, we learned no one is renting the ATVs anymore...it's ride around in the back seat of someone's a/c'd Suburban, be part of a cruiser caravan or drive a jeep with a preprogrammed GPS tour. Lame. We'd also planned to go to Owens' (their Crabmeat Remick is to die for!) for dinner.

In the end, we decided we really didn't want to spend the whole day without the rest of the family. Peter woke me early and we did go to breakfast at The Lifesaving Station at The Sanderling. I'd always wanted to go there. Eh, it was overpriced so-so food. I'm happiest with my Outer Banks Coffee cappuccino (best, BEST coffee in the Outer Banks...really) and Lighthouse Bagels. Now I know I'm not missing nuthin' in steering clear of the hoity-toity places.

Then, we planned to take the family over to Roanoke Island to visit the aquarium and...

OK, confession time--the decision to spend our anniversary with the family was mostly based on my discovery (while desperately--and in vain--searching the local papers for ATV rentals) of a yarn shop on Roanoke Island. Not just a yarn shop..SPINNING was listed too. I knew Peter would be fine with slipping into the shop while spending our day on Roanoke Island but I also knew Em would be disappointed to miss out. Thus the idea of spending the day with our children was sneakily planted.

But first, we had to take Alex to urgent care to get his terrible swimmers ear looked at and treated. OMG, you DO NOT want to need medical care while on the Outer Banks unless it's via ambulance. There is absolutely nothing urgent about urgent care. Three hours later, we left with drops, oral antibiotics and darvocet.

Then, back to pick up the family for the trip to Roanoke Island. The aquarium was absolutely as awesome as we remembered from a prior visit a few years ago. Peter took a few pics but most were too dark. Here's one of all the kids outside the aquarium.

left to right front: Graham, Emily, Abi, Dave, Alex, Kai and Kait

with Jen behind

The yarn store was only so-so. Lots of Noro, lots of novelty yarns, only a teeny bit of roving (Brown Sheep and something else, nothing local or cool), no spindles (she did ask for recommendations of anyone who'd be interested in a retail outlet for roving...I also mentioned--in the course of the conversation we had about how everyone orders whatever they need via the net and how, if we don't support our LYSs, we won't have any--that I make spindles and she said she'd be interested in carrying my spindles) . We ended up with a few balls of dishcloth cotton (Peaches and Cream? We'd never seen the stripes, verah cool!) and some discounted guy-colored sock yarn. The owner was very nice though, she gave us a 15% discount for being guild members (even though we haven't officially paid dues yet...meetings don't start up again until next month).

While Em and I were paying for our purchases, I noticed a tornado warning on the TV behind the counter. Tornado warning for Dare County. We were IN Dare County. YIKES! We should have taken shelter but ended up driving back over to Kitty Hawk--risking life and limb (priorities, man!)-- so Peter and I could have our fix of Capt'n Frank's chili dogs (kind of silly anniversary tradition that we only started sharing with the kids a couple years ago). We never did see a tornado, thank gawd.

So. I got a little sunburned (weird itchy bumps--hives?--on my upper back and shoulders, ick), we missed going to the dune (it was soooo freakin' hot and muggy, right up until this past Saturday) and the big Kitty Hawk Kites, we drove straight through on the way back (I got us through the state of Ohio)...ten people in the van from 10AM Sunday to 6AM today, ouch. And I brought back some fibery souvenirs...

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock and Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets in White Pine colorway from Knitting Addiction (the owner didn't seem anywhere near as nice as in years past, maybe it was an off day for her?)