the Aquarium

 The divers were in the large tank with the sharks and other deep water fish interacting with the kids.  Evaleigh wasn't too sure.  Coleson happily played tic-tac-toe with one of the divers (he had a little magnetic board he wrote on).  The diver would move his finger until Coleson shook his head yes, that's the spot he wanted him to mark, but when it was going to make the diver lose he would shake his head no and point to a different spot, trying to convince Coleson that he wanted to mark a different box.  Coleson thought that was pretty hilarious.

 Papa and Nana bought buckets that the kids sifted through to find a bunch of shark teeth...

Coleson had been combing the beach for shark teeth ever since that "lecture" by the man in the pirate museum.  They all have put their favorite teeth in their "special" boxes at home and then were able to share a tooth with everyone in their class during their "beach presentations"

Time FLEW by way too quickly.  We LOVED every moment we spent on the beach and with each other.  So, what better way to celebrate a wonderful trip than eating homemade cake tacos??

Maybe someday this trip to the beach can become a family tradition...

the "bacon" FORT

 Coleson again was THRILLED to be learning--about cannons! (even if he had a hard time remembering the name of the fort--bacon/macon, it does sound the same)

 And more cannons

 The girls really liked the water pumps, living quarters, kitchen, etc.

 Evaleigh just liked running free.

 It was a pretty hot and muggy day.  The Fort is very well maintained and the structure itself is very beautiful. It was well worth the trip to the end of our island!

 This was the space between the outer walls of the fort and the walls of the inner living area.  Everything is so beautiful and green out here; We really love that.

We all found some relief inside the museum building where it was air conditioned and they had information about wildlife, climate, and terrain near by, along with a film about birds and one about the history of the Fort.  Evaleigh preferred the one about birds :)

fun in the september SUN

 building whales, jellyfish, sharks, well surrounded castles...

 These two would venture out on their own and giggle hysterically as the waves knocked them down

 She stayed close to adults...

 ...unless there was a bird to chase

 Papa and Coleson spent lots of times in the waves together.  They loved creating games like "see who can stay in the line and not move when a wave crashes into yo"

 OR "who can step over the incoming waves"

I guess she got tired of hanging out on shore in her little boat filled with salt water...

So she got brave and began to venture out on her own!

 As the waves pulled back out to sea and took all the sand out from under her feet she usually tipped over.

 As the sun went down and it got a bit cooler they began to fly kites.

And then the sun would set and we would have to venture in and eat some dinner, and say goodbye to the beach until tomorrow...

Morning walks--before the Bu-Bentures

 I love to go out in the mornings before we take on whatever adventure will take place that day. (Or Bu-Benture, according to the kids and Papa :))
 It's quiet.

 The sun is beautiful as it rises.  The sound of the ocean is peaceful.

The kids are happy, but we don't have to constantly worry and check where they are in the water

Hunting for shells is much easier in the low tides and without the crowds swimming around you.

It's also the perfect time to discover birds and observe their tracks 

(Coleson was determined to see which birds made each type of track--which worked out perfectly for his school project for the day--the were excused from school as long as they kept a journal of all that they learned)

Evaleigh LOVES to follow Coleson, ALL the time, no matter what he is doing; she adores him!
So her little foot tracks were getting mixed up in all of the bird tracks...

 Our adventure the first day was Beaufort, NC--where Blackbeard's ship sunk.  There's a museum devoted to pirates there.

 This man taught ALL about shark teeth...and then taught some more...and some more...the kids actually stayed incredibly interested for most of that time--the adults got antsy a bit more quickly and wanted to explore the rest of the museum.  I think he LOVED having a captive audience for once.

Arrrrg! 

 This little man was pretty thrilled to be learning! And a day devoted to pirates was awesome!

 Evaleigh wanted her own clipboard and learning diagram...she thinks she's big.
After all of that learning we went to lunch---where the menu had even more information about Blackbeard, as well as some very yummy food!
And then we headed back to the house so we could get back out on the beach!