Vacation - Take 1

What a great vacation! Why does vacation take so much work though? It really isn't fair. I started packing a week before we left just because I had the time and Greg was around to watch Marcus and Will so they weren't unpacking everything I packed. It worked out nicely because it meant there was little last minute running around to do. Since our house is on the market, we had to make sure the place was cleaned up when we left too in case someone wanted to look at the house while we were gone. Only one showing took place while we were on vacation but it sure was nice to return to a clean house.

Saturday - August 2
Our car was all packed up and ready to go Friday night. Greg and I got up at 2:30 am and by 2:50 all five of us - Greg, me, two kids, and one dog - were ready to go. It was another 15 minutes before we actually left because I forgot one little thing. We didn't have directions to get there. Oops.

According to Google Maps, it was supposed to take 9.5 hours for us to drive from our house to Nags Head, NC in the Outer Banks. I knew it would take a bit longer since we would have to stop often to let the kiddos stretch their legs. I was not expecting it to take nearly as long as it did. Will started whining around 5:30 and I figured we were in for a LONG trip. The kids were really quite phenomenal. Apart from about 30 minutes that Will cried because he woke himself up and wasn't happy about it, they were great! I packed some new toys and books for them which they were happy to play with. We stopped at a Sheetz for breakfast and a Hardee's for lunch. There were two other quick potty breaks in there too. We were just flying along until we got about an hour from our destination. What was supposed to be an hour from our destination ended up being about 3.5 hours from our destination. Our average speed was about 10 mph. It was miserable, for Greg and me. Greg got out the portable DVD player we recently purchased for use in such a situation, and the kids were more than happy to be chillin' out watching some Curious George and Teletubbies.

We were the first in our group to arrive, around 4:00. We picked up the keys to our beach house. I didn't get any good pictures of the house but it was easy to find, being that it was this BRIGHT orangish peach color. I swear the paint glowed in the dark. At first we were all confused by the floor plan and kept getting lost but once we figured out the house, it worked out great for our family. My sister Kim, her husband Randy, and their two kids Maria and Scott arrived shortly after we did. My parents left several hours after the rest of us and didn't show up until almost 9 o'clock. It took us all over 13 hours to make the 500 mile drive due to the traffic. I drove the entire way. What does one look like after getting up at 2:30 am, traveling for 13+ hours, and then unpacking all our stuff? Like this:

Thank you to my dear husband for taking that flattering shot of me. As soon as my parents arrived, I put the kids to bed. Will was sleeping in his pack n' play

and Marcus was set up in his instant bed that we used for our camping trips.

Will tried really hard to protest sleeping in a strange place. His protest lasted less than a minute and then he was zonked out until morning.