Tara Paper: Vacation Number 2

So as a graduation present, Johnny's parents invited us to stay at a timeshare condo with them for a week in Atlantic Beach. It was wonderful. Johnny, of course, had to work. He rented a car and drove back to our old stomping grounds in Virginia, but I got to hang out with the kids and the grandparents at the beach. What could be better?

I guess the title of this post is misleading since this was actually our third vacation this year. It's just the second one in a row. And it was only April, wow. Don't worry, we're done traveling until after this next baby gets here. Which is coming sooner than I'd like to think about.

Anyway . . . we were really close to one of North Carolina's aquariums, so we had to go. As you can see from the jackets, it was a bit chilly, but weather in the 60s isn't bad. It was still warm enough to play at the beach, play at the vacation property (which had an indoor pool, so that made it easy), and explore around the neighboring towns.

We brought our own dinners and ate really well. I was super sick of eating out. That being said, we did go out Saturday night when we drove it because it was pretty late, so we went to IHOP and breakfast for dinner is never a bad thing. Sunday was General Conference, so we stayed in and I made a bunch of hair bows while I listened. I think this was the first Conference since I've had kids that they were able to keep themselves entertained. It was wonderful. Granted, our internet connection was horrible, so we only got to watch Sunday Morning, but it was still great. Monday we had to take Johnny to the local airport to rent a car, so we spent the rest of the day playing at the park, playing mini golf (The Captain's new favorite thing), and generally relaxing. We went to the beach every day, of course, but we didn't always bust out all the toys on account of the chilly weather. We also went to the aquarium, the fort, and historic part of the neighboring city, known for its pirates. I may have bought some pirate hats for our dress up.

Well, enough talking, here are some pictures:

The Captain wanted to take pictures on every statute.

Here's the frog.

On the Nature Hike that is part of the aquarium.
The kids loved the floating bridge over the lake that got our feet wet.

Petting the rays. Joy's favorite thing. She loved how soft they were.
Even though there were a few school groups there that day, the rays
really loved to be petted, and seemed to like Joy a lot.
She also liked petting the crabs in the tide pool area.

Chase the sharks!
We saw and talked to divers in the shark tank twice.

Joy was mad at me, I don't remember why, so during the second
divers' presentation, she walked behind me to brood by this fish
tank. It's complicated as to why I didn't go chase her down.
We'll stalk this one up to advanced pregnancy.