Ocracoke. Say it with me: ocra (like the slimy vegetable that people here (like DH) like to batter, deep fry and actually EAT)...coke (like the deliciously fizzy drink). Ocracoke! Fabulous...now, Ocracoke is the little island down near the very end of the Outer Banks. It had a lighthouse and some wild ponies that we wanted to see. So, all the non-sick people loaded into two cars to drive down there. Did I mention that 7 or 8 of the people were sick for one or more days of the vacation? Yeah, that was not so fun. Sorry to all the sickies!
Our first stop was in Hatteras so the kids could climb a rock wall. Good thing my uncle wasn't there to see this sorry excuse for a rock wall. He really wanted to do that with the kids, but he was sick. Let's just say it was not child friendly, and we moved on. We picked up gifts and stuff in the local shops, let the kids play at the playground, and had lunch at this crazy good little place that I can't remember the name of. Fries to die for, though! Then we took the ferry over to Ocracoke island. It looks like a short little ride on the map, but was more like 45 minutes. The kids loved it though. Although, it would have been even better for them if that weird guy wasn't standing in front of them with his shirt flapping in their faces, and then took it off. As though that made it better. (You can see him in some of the photos, unfortunately). At one point, Lil' C came over and said, "Mommy, I can see his belly. Why doesn't he have his shirt on??" Good question, baby, good question.
When you finally reach Ocracoke, it's just a long strip of road with sand dunes on either side for about 15 miles. You can catch glimpses of the ocean here and there. Not very impressive, in my opinion. Our first stop was the wild ponies. Um, yeah....there were 2 horses in a pen waaaayyyy back from the viewing area....and that was it. Very underwhelming and disappointing. Especially to all our little girls. Then we drove into the little town of Ocracoke. Quaint, charming, adorable...just a few words to describe it. I loved it, even though I got lost looking for the lighthouse. The lighthouse (when we finally found it) was cute too. It's the shortest of the 5 lighthouses on the Outer Banks.
Do you see the little ducklings? Oh, so cute! When we came back to our car, they were walking in a line across the street with mama duck behind them. They went right underneath our cars, so we had to wait until they came out to leave. It gave us plenty of time to take about a hundred pictures of them. Then back to the very long ferry ride. The whole day just took much longer than it should have. Those maps are so misleading!!!
We finally made it to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, which I have officially named "The Stripedy Lighthouse", for obvious reasons. This is the only lighthouse that was open for you to actually walk up, but was about to close when we got there. So, no walking up, which is probably just as well, because I'm not sure any of us would have made it up the 500+ steps! We got lots of pictures though. One thing that I found quite puzzling about all the lighthouses we visited, is that they aren't right on the ocean. I always thought that's where lighthouses were positioned, but all 3 of these were somewhat inland. And, although we didn't stop to look at its original location, the Stripedy Lighthouse used to be near the ocean, but was moved further inland due to erosion.
I think I'll let her wear it to the grocery store.
These are the result of an unfortunate early morning encounter with a deer. DH and his friend had just left our house when I recieved the phone call that I needed to come get them because they had hit a deer. It being not yet 6 am, I asked him to repeat that. Yup, that was what happened. I'm sparing you the picture of the deer, although DH took one(because he's a guy...and according to him it was a 6 point buck). Both guys were fine and refused medical treatment (because they're guys), and later went to work. The car and the deer? Not so fine.
This was the temperature INSIDE the house!!!!!!!!!!!! Our air conditioner had quit working sometime in the middle of the night, and by 4:00 we had reached 95 degrees inside the house. Thankfully, the air conditioner repair man is a friend from church, so he managed to squeeze us in late in the afternoon. We had finally resorted to driving around in the car to get some cool relief. 
This is Auntie C. More commonly referred to as Auntie C. Ha, ha, ha. She had a successful moment with Boo Boo as well.
This is my Uncle M and Aunt L. We will call them Mountain Man and Coffee Queen. Nane, Auntie C. and Mountain Man are siblings...just in case you hadn't figured that out yet. Mountain Man is an extreme outdoor sports enthusiast. Right before coming to NC, he went kayaking on a river officially closed because of its dangerous flood level...hello? Coffee Queen drinks coffee like it water. Aren't they cute all dressed up???
This is their daughter (my cousin) K and her husband B. K is a real estate agent so DH(darling husband) recommended "House Hunter" for her nickname. I concur. I couldn't think of anything better anyway. Her husband, I nicknamed "Chef" while we were there. He does a lot of cooking. It was the first time we had met, and we liked him a lot.
These are their children: C (age 9) She reads a lot, and has a lot to say. Therefore, we will call her "Chatterbox". She's sort of the female version of Bug...which is kind of humorous. Although she has no experience with babies and toddlers, she was determined to be with Boo Boo every chance she got, despite his afore mentioned demeanor. Chatterbox had some successful moments as well. Come to think of it, everyone had successful moments with Boo Boo Bear. Why is everyone complaining then?
K(age 8) I've decided to call her "Superhelper". Especially after I got the e-mail from her that had Lil' C's ridiculously ridiculous username and password for Webkinz, that none of us could remember. But she did. When we first got there, their whole family came outside to greet us, except her. I don't know where she was, but a short time later I was standing there talking to House Hunter and there was suddenly this extra child standing next to me. There she was. Cute as a bug. We spent the week trying to figure out how to keep her virtual pet alive and happy.
J (age 7) J is the strong, silent type. Thus earning her the name "Silent J". She can say many things without uttering a word. It took her a good 3 or 4 days before she even spoke one word to DH. LOL Look at that smile, though! It sort of makes up for the lack of words.
So that's my family on my mother's side. That's it. Small compared to DH's side of the family. Small but cute, don't ya think?
It's official name is "The Black Pearl", which of course was a big hit with Bug. It has 3 stories, 6 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, an elevator, a pool, and a hot tub. There was also a pool table, a big screen tv, and decks on every level. Every bedroom had a sliding glass door to the decks, except the lower level bedroom which was set up as a kids room. However, I think that room only got slept in the first night. After that, all the kids dispersed to different adults rooms every night. It was a giant slumber party.
