A few years back (2004), Dan and I went on our first family vacation. We looked online and found Topsail Island in North Carolina. It looked so nice and much less commercialized than Mrytle Beach. We made reservations (along with my parents and sister) and had a wonderful time that summer. So much so that we went again in 2006 (when I was pregnant with Claire). This summer, we headed over again and got to spend a week with Mom and Dad Ernst, The Indy Ernsts, and the Billingtons. We had such a WONDERFUL time! So many fun memories were made.
This was our beach house for the week...very nice! One of my favorite features of the house was the porch swing on the back deck. I was excited for that when we were looking online at the different properties.One of the highlights of the week for the kids was just having fun playing with their cousins! These two were so pleased to be in each other's company for an entire week! (Jake and Jack) 
As were these two precious little girls (Noelani and Lydia).
As were these two! Joel and Claire were "caught" playing together many times. 
Claire was pretty fond of Sam as well. Out of all her cousins, I think he might be her favorite!
Here is a picture of the whole gang in the hole they helped to dig.
Grandma and Grandpa Ernst brought all the grandkids a hat home from PNG. This was the best picture I got with all of them...quite a task, I might add.
Had to add this one. The kids put their hats on backwards, sideways, and even inside-out.
When we arrived, Claire was not too fond at all of the ocean. She clung to me like a little monkey
She started warming up to the sights and sounds of the beach, but never really liked the water.
She did like playing in the sand, but tired quickly and wanted mommy. Many times she climbed into my chair (or my lap) to let me know she was done for the time being.
While on vacation, we had some pretty cool sightings. The most impressive one, by far, was this...Sam spotted him (or her) from the house one evening. We followed him down the beach a while and Jill caught these way cool pictures of the shark (we were mere feet away)! We also saw dolphins many of the days we were there!!!
We only had one day of rain and it came later in the day. During this rainfall, Mark looked down the beach and saw this thing. Not a tornado...some rain tunnel or something to that affect. 
There will be more to come on our wonderful time at the beach...so many fun pictures to share!
2 comments:
Love this post, Gwen.
The whole family says, "Water spout!" Whenever I show this picture and say I don't know what it is!
Hi. I have a blog about happenings, gossip, and stuff about Topsail Beach and I found your neat story and neat picture of your family, so I posted part of it with a link back to this site for others to see.
Check it out at http://topsailbeachvacations.blogspot.com/
I started a blog about the beach because I rent a few houses down there, and I have found that guests want to "get a feel" for the family atmosphere and other wonderful vacationers, like yourself. It makes their beach time feel so much better.
Anyway, you may get some more visitors.
Good Luck,
Steve
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