When Kevin got home from Idaho, he still had one week of leave left before he had to head back to work, and so we took advantage of having him around to play with :).  Aside from the fun I already posted about, last week we had even more adventures . . .

DEREK"S HAIRCUT ADVENTURE

Our sweet little boy was becoming a shaggy mess.  Daily I would ruffle his hair and say, "He needs a haircut."  To which Kevin would respond with, "He's fine."  Soon, however, his hair was in his eyes and worse than ever, and so we decided something had to be done.  Since I did not want to just buzz it all off – the only way I could cut his hair, I searched and found the perfect place to take him. 

It was the cutest kid's salon, and even though he still didn't like getting his hair cut, the stylist was super fast, he got to watch a movie, and ride in a airplane chair :).  Lily thought it was pretty awesome as well.  Here he is, before and after:

Isn't he handsome?

After the haircut, we took the kids to the mall for lunch, and for a ride on the carousel. 

It was a perfect afternoon of fun, and when we got home we were all definitely ready for a rest :).

A few days later it was time for our . . .

CAMPING AT THE BEACH ADVENTURE

Lily has been begging us for the chance to go camping for years, and so when we decided to take a trip to Carolina beach for a few days, we decided to camp instead of stay at a hotel.  I discovered that the Carolina Beach National Park was only a few minutes from the beach, and so our camping trip was a go.

So, on Thursday morning, we loaded the van up with all our gear, and drove the 2 1/2 hours to the ocean.  (Why is it we keep moving further away from the ocean???  In CA we were 5 minutes away, and in Savannah we were 35 minutes away – oh well.  It could be worse.)  When we arrived, we checked in and set up our camp site, and the kids were so excited!!

Once we were settled, we set off on a nature hike on one of the park's many trails.  We were only about 20 feet into our hike, when Kevin stops me to point out a spider web with a spider in it as big as a baseball!!!  (Now I remember why I have avoided camping since we moved to the South.)  We tried to get a picture, but it's legs were so long and skinny, the camera wouldn't focus on it.  The rest of our hike was pretty cool though, and we even found a hollow tree with something sleeping inside it.  I think we decided it must be a bat in there.  The kids were great about staying with us, and both spent the whole time keeping track of the trail signs, making sure we were on the right path.

Then it was time for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows – yum!  The kids loved their smores, and I enjoyed my version of smores - everything but the graham cracker :).  By then, the kids were hopped up on sugar, so we decided to go and check out the beach for when we went there the next morning.

There is a really fun boardwalk there, and the kids loved it.  When we walked out onto the sand, both Lily and Derek celebrated – they had really missed the ocean.  We hadn't brought their suits with us, thinking we were just going to "check things out," but we should really know better.  It started out clean and fine . . .

But soon turned into soaking wet bodies that were entirely covered with sand :).  Our kids are definitely beach babies, and always will be.  (Both of them have taken regular trips to the beach since before they were even one.)  Lily splashed in the waves, while Derek rolled in the sand.  And when Kevin took him out in the water to rinse him off, he immediately escaped, only to plop down on his tummy and roll in the sand some more – like a puppy. 

We ended up spending over two hours playing in the ocean that night, and then went back to the campground to shower the kids and go to bed.  I don't think I slept at all, mostly because of the other reason we haven't gone camping since moving to the South – it was so hot and humid that we were miserable.  I guess the kids slept through it, but Kevin and I did not.  The next day totally made up for it though.

We were up early, got ready, had breakfast, packed up, and were at the beach by 9 am.  Before heading out to play in the sand, we stopped by a bike rental shop, and rented this cool surrey bike.  Then Kevin and I got quite the work out pedaling around for an hour.   It was so fun though, and we drove it alongside the beach and so had the ocean breeze and the view.  So fun!

Then it was time to play in the ocean again :).  We had some boogie boards with us, and Kevin spent 90% of our time there trying them out, with either himself or the kids.  He even got me out there, but I was a little too scared of the sign the life guard posted about rip currents, and so didn't go deep enough to really get a good wave, but it was still so much fun.  Derek was forced to try it once too, but the water was too cold for him, and so he was back in the sand before we could blink.

After two hours of playing in the sun, we got cleaned up as best we could, and had delicious pancakes for lunch at a little diner in town.  I had the Boston Creme Pie Pancakes, and wow, so good!  Then we were on the road headed home before we got too tired to move.

It was such a fun vacation, and I am so glad we got to spend the time together as a family before Kevin had to go back to work yesterday.  We definitely made some great memories.