ARR Me Hardies!

It was a McCurdy Pirate Adventure today! We took an early Ferry to Ocracoke Island. It is just south of us but not connected by land. We took a short driving tour and stopped for a picnic lunch. Then it was off to the pirate store! We uncovered many treasures! A hook hand, a pirate hat, and some great looking pirate teeth! Let's hope we can hold on to them all until Halloween!

Our ferry ride was wild! We had never driven our car on a boat before!

Surf's up, Dude!








"Teach" is Blackbeard's real name... Edward Teach! We went to his shop. That is where we met our new friend Bones d'Pirate! He was kind enough to take a picture with us!

We stopped by Howard's Pub for a drink and some Foosball before heading to the beach. The waves were fun and we all (but Owen) did some body surfing and then built a Pirate castle in the sand!

It's called Fishing... not Catching!

Our day started off bright and early! We headed out for an 8am beach fishing trip led by the Park Rangers and the Hatteras Anglers Club. We fished right on the beach!

Joe, Emma and Owen cutting up some squid as our bait. Joe loves his Calamari, but this was not what he had in mind!

Pops would be proud!

Father-Daughter bonding!

Unfortunately we did not catch anything! But we had fun trying. A woman next to us caught a baby shark! We did CATCH the noon showing of Shrek 3 as a break from the sun and then headed back to the beach to swim! It was a bay side beach with itty bitty waves and Owen loved it. He is getting to be a really good swimmer!

Today by Emma

This morning we played putt-putt. If you made a whole in one you would get three dollars. I made one! We stopped at a store and dad bought us small nets. Then we went to the beach. And we caught the little fish! It was fun! We met a family with 4 kids and played with them. We went to eat pizza and then came home to play games.


Dad and Owen buried Finn!

Another Beautiful Day!

The nation's tallest lighthouse is in Cape Hatteras. 257 steps to the top! Joe, Emma, Finn and Owen made the trek, while Maggie opted out because it was too dark and too far!

The view from the top!

A picnic at the lighthouse park!

And then we hit the links! 67 or so holes of mini golf with a bit of ice cream between rounds!

Look Pops! A 2nd career just waiting for you!

Today we decided to hit the Pamlico Sound for some swimming. Owen loved the calm sea! It is on the opposite side to the island, only 300 yds or so from the ocean side!


Here is the motley crew that tried their hardest to catch a bunch of small fish swimming in the sound. They spent about 20 min chasing after schools of tiny minnows! It is a good thing we were not counting on them for dinner. We would still be hungry! ( Mom left the bag with our suits in it back at the house, so we all had makeshift swimwear!)

Day 1 in Hatteras

We began our day with an early morning beach trip. The kids had a blast. It was a bit too cold for Mom and Dad. Emma got her glasses swept out to sea. She figures some near-sighted dolphin is loving his new glasses!

Maggie is turning out to be a great Boogie Boarder! She loves the waves.





Owen got his feet swept out from under him by an early wave and decided to take a break. He enjoyed digging in the sand!

The Shelter!

We made it to Cape Hatteras. It was a long, rough ride in the rain, but worth it!
The house we are staying at is called "The Shelter" and it is great. It is about 200yds
from the beach and has 2 awesome decks. We brought the kids' bikes and they have 2 beach cruisers for Mom and Dad!









And an outdoor shower. The kids had 3 showers the first day!




























The marina across the street has a long dock and big fishing boats.













We love it!

Another Big Day in DC!

Maggie, Jack, Kyle, Owen, Regan, Emma and Finn!
The Solomons joined us for our trip into Dc today. We hopped back on the Metro and headed to the Museum of Natural History. There were so many things that reminded us all of the movie, "Night at the Museum".
Our friend Rex!

Our next stop was the Duck tour! It is half bus/half boat! The kids loved it and we saw quite a bit of DC without the walking and whining! The biggest hit of the day was the duck call noise maker that each passenger received! As soon as the kids are asleep it is Joe's job the find them all and hide them!