I think I sometimes get up a little too early.

Actually, I think Rob thinks I sometimes get up too early.

I was up at 5:30 this morning and peeked out the window onto the beach and saw that the sky was that beautiful warm pinky color. I dragged Rob out of bed to go lie in the hammock on the deck outside our room and watch the sunrise.

It wasn’t the best I’ve seen since it was a little cloudy. But it as pretty. And peaceful. And nice to be alone with my man.

We both slipped back to bed – with our laptops unfortunately as we both had a little work to do (I told Rob he needs to tell his boss that the past two days can’t be considered vacation days given how much he has had to work). Zach came and got me at 7am and we went for our run/walk – in the other direction of the beach.

After breakfast it was looking a little cloudy and like it was going to storm. We decided to load into the car and drive north to Corolla, and then Carova – onto the beach to see if we could see any of the “wild horses” Carova is famous for.

Rob let some of the air out of our tires (as he read that helps drive on sand) and we started driving on the beach. It was pretty cool.

The kids loved the bumpy part! We were right beside the ocean – and then we saw lots of dolphins jumping in the very close distance.

We think we also saw a shark. Not so good. The kids wanted to open the window and yell “Shark” to the family that was swimming nearby. I didn’t let them – knowing if I read about another shark attack in the news tomorrow (there was a little girl attacked last week just off the Outer Banks) I’d feel pretty guilty – but I’m not sure my family is the best at spotting real sharks so I didn’t want to cause panic. At any rate, there were a lot of dolphins!

We went a few miles on the beach and then headed over the sand dunes. The kids loved this and kept wanting Rob to really go offroading – hello – we are already driving on sand dunes and not a road – how much more off roading can we get? We are from Toronto!?!? I threw the “Say yes to more things” out the window for this one as I did not want to get stuck.
We had to go through some deep puddles, so that seemed to satisfy the troops.

Finally, in the distance, wild horses. They were just wandering. Sort of looked like they were in someone’s yard – not much different than if you saw them on a farm, but they roamed freely. And they have been here since the 1300’s. That confused the kids a bit. “So how old are they”? We explained that it wasn’t literally the same horse that has been around that long… but his family! Beautiful.

We drove around a bit and spotted a few more; walking parking lots, through people’s yards, along the path. I really had dreamed of seeing one on the beach though. We then headed back to the beach.

We stopped and parked on the beach and everyone got out and played some soccer (or built a castle with a tunnel).

I was beginning to regret not packing everyone’s swim stuff and a picnic, because the beach was gorgeous and the sun was shining:)

However, I get to say “Yes” more now that we are on vacation! So the kids stripped down to their undies (Zach needed convincing – Zandra was yelling “I feel so free” (even though she had to wear a t-shirt too!) and ran and played in the waves. Rob just went in in his shorts and I tied my dress up (and only went up to my knees). The kids had a blast. The “underwear swim” really added to the excitement.

The waves were beautiful. Dolphins could be seen and it was so refreshing.

But I wanted the horses right there on that beach in that moment too.

After air drying a bit (and doing a little photo shoot)and doing our best not to be too uncomfortable we headed back.

Just as we were leaving…wild horses by the edge of the beach. Zach said, “Mom, just what you wanted. Is that close enough to the beach for you to make it perfect”? Yes, it was.

We went home for lunch and then a little quiet time. After relaxing a bit, we went back to “our” beach and hit the waves again. I had no camera this time – which was too bad because the waves were enormous! The whole beach looked totally different. The waves were vicious – thrashing the kids in every direction. Josh got a couple of bruises from smashing into people; Sam was just too little to get too close. Again, the kids loved it and we spent some time swimming before being hauled out of the water by Rob – who again, is freaked about sharks and didn’t want us swimming too close to dusk.

Everyone went back and took a shower in the two outdoor showers – smartest invention – I think there was about a pound of sand that came from my swimsuit alone!

After a seafood pasta dinner (promised to give Gabe some meat tomorrow), Rob took the 2 little guys and Zandra to play some tennis. The older guys just chilled and are planning to go with Rob for some tennis tomorrow morning. I just sat on the sunset balcony and watched the sunset and listened to the waves crash.

I could live here.

After dark we headed out with our flashlights and icecream down to the beach. We played a game of “laser tag” as Sam calls it (with the flashlights). Tonight, the stars were all out so we did our traditional wishes.

In 2009 we rented a cottage on Lake Manitouwabing and I introduced them to “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. Wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight”. At that time, Josh and Sam had a hard time remembering the words and every night we laughed at Josh’s little rendition of the “Starlight” verse.

Now, they have all mastered it and I just have to say “Star…” and they all recite it in unison (See, we are somewhat like the Von Trapp’s ).

Anyhow, we all picked our star and made our wishes, then compared which star we used. The kids get all excited if they have picked the same bright star as you!

Sam came up to me and said “I wished that we would stay here for 3 weeks”. The older kids then told him his wish wouldn’t come true because he had told me:(

Later at night we were tucking Josh and Sam in bed (they decided to share a room together – which is good since they go to bed a bit earlier on some nights). Sam,in a very serious voice, asked Rob “If I wished for 2 more weeks in North Carolina, how will I know my wish will come true”. Could you just melt??? Rob laughed and gave him a big kiss. Then I said, “You want to come back here again, don’t you”? He smiled and nodded and drifted off to Neverneverland.

Don’t we all wish that.

I don’t usually have too many repeat vacations on my list as I like exploring new things. But this is certainly a must repeat.