holden beach, nc

There are other beach pictures dispersed over the last couple of posts, so I'm going to try not to repeat those in this recount.

And if you hadn't guessed, this is a pretty picture heavy post so if you want any chance of pics matching up with narrative, you'd better click out of your reader and hit my actual blog. In Firefox. ;)


So.
Here's our beach story for 2011.
We left Friday and stopped for the night to see my aunt uncle and cousins in South Carolina before heading on to Holden Beach, North Carolina the next day. We got into town at about dinnertime and got our stuff settled into our cozy little beach house...
It was quaint and beach cottage-y and just perfectly sized to not be over the top (read: more expensive) but rather exactly what you need to eat and sleep and be comfortable when your plan is to spend most of your time on the beach.















We were directly across the street from the beach front on the island and had direct access just steps from our front door. We also had a screened in porch where we spent a lot of time doing puzzles and just rocking in the rocking chairs listening to the ocean.
































As soon as we had checked out our digs, we headed down to check out our beach.



































And so the week began. :)
A few mornings were rainy, but it pretty much cleared up by every afternoon. Mornings were our movie/puzzle/games time and then we'd either eat lunch or pack it up to take with us and head down to the beach for the rest of the day. After dinner we did s'mores over the grill a couple of evenings too...






























































By Wednesday, when we woke up to rain again, we decided to get out of the house and took the ferry up to Fort Fisher and went to the visit the aquarium. On the way back we skipped the ferry and drove up through Wilmington, stopping at Kure Beach for ice cream and a walk out on the pier, before heading back to our island.




















































The aquarium was pretty darn cool!





















































































Thursday was our best beach day. We were out there All. Day.
Lots of sandcastles, kite flying, walks down to the pier, swimming, fishing, body boarding, sitting our chairs in the waves and napping on the beach. LOVE.
























































That evening Ryan and I snuck out for a little date night, finding the most fabulous Firecracker Shrimp at BooneDocks and finishing up w/ dessert at the Purple Onion.
















We topped off the night by grabbing a redbox movie on the way home.



Friday, our last day there, was another lazy beach day. I made the kids get dressed to attempt beach pictures that morning (with poor results)(I should have hired someone!)
(I'll save posting these for another day)
and then we spent the rest of the day back and forth between the beach and the house. I was a little sunburned and the kids were completely wiped out so we were a little beach bummed out by that point.
















We spent the evening at the token miniature golf course before dinner and then went out to the pier for ice cream after.

















And then with an early bedtime for everyone before our 12 hour drive home the next day, thus concluded our magnificent beach trip to the Carolina coast.













I can't wait go back!