Tag Archives: surf board

August 14, 2016 – Ocean Isle Beach Vacation!

IMG_8291Aaaaahhhhh, vacation week!  Can we go back already?! We look forward to this week all year long. Seems hard to believe that this year is our fifth year heading to Ocean Isle Beach.  Five years, what?! Wishing time would slow down.

We have so many pictures to share. I had a hard time narrowing down all the photos. While many may seem the same, when I look at them I see different things. They way they show Griffin’s personality, or what he is in to playing with this year. All of the interactions with everyone throughout the week. It’s just a fun time and we are grateful to my parents for providing this week for us each year!

As always, we began our trip with our traditional stop at Sharky’s for pizza, sweet potato fries, and beer. Mom and Dad joined us this year too 🙂 Then once everyone arrived and unloaded at the house we walked down to check out the ocean.

IMG_8242 IMG_8244 IMG_8247 IMG_8250 IMG_8259 IMG_8243-COLLAGE IMG_8262 IMG_8264 IMG_8267 IMG_8269 IMG_8271 IMG_8272 IMG_8276 IMG_8283 IMG_8286 IMG_8287 IMG_8289 IMG_8292 IMG_8304 IMG_8291 DSC_0188 DSC_0187 DSC_0190 DSC_0195 DSC_0198 DSC_0204 DSC_0207 DSC_0208 DSC_0210 DSC_0211 DSC_0213 DSC_0216 DSC_0217 DSC_0226 DSC_0242 DSC_0244 IMG_8314 IMG_8315 IMG_8317 IMG_8319 IMG_8320 IMG_8321 IMG_8323 Grandma found the most awesome toy this year for all of the kiddos – a set of over 700 straws and connectors.  Throughout the week the kids (and Grandpa and Grandma and other adults too, lol) made several really cool pieces of art! IMG_8260 DSC_0249 DSC_0253 DSC_0257IMG_8445 IMG_8451 Sometimes being corrected is rough. Finn is really sensitive and often gets teary when he gets corrected or feels he disappointed someone. Kevin and I are realizing we’re being far to “adultish” on him and need to be much better about letting him be a 3 year old and do what 3 year olds do – and not correcting him so much. That’s not what’s happening here, Grandpa was just having a talk with Finn, but I thought it was a good way to capture his expressions. He has really mastered the sassy-lip face, almost making his lips look like the beak of a duck!DSC_0260 DSC_0261 IMG_8328 IMG_8329 IMG_8334 Though it is hard to tell, this is Dad and me, heading out pretty far into the ocean. The water was quite warm and nice this year!IMG_8335 IMG_8339 IMG_8340 IMG_8345 IMG_8347 IMG_8348 IMG_8350 IMG_8352 IMG_8354 IMG_8355This year we found a little, tiny, sand crab! Finn thought it was so cute and wanted to hold it. IMG_8356 Here “Spidey” is throwing his webs at Grandpa!IMG_8358 IMG_8360 IMG_8363 IMG_8364 IMG_8365 IMG_8370This year we took a road trip to Southport, NC, about a 40 minute drive away. It is a cute little town with many shops and restaurants. We took a picnic lunch, and then walked around for a bit and shopped and went to a maritime museum before, you guessed it, meeting everyone to eat again for dinner! Finn has his dinner a bit early at Fishy Fishy!DSC_0263 IMG_8372 IMG_8388 IMG_8377 DSC_0268 DSC_0275 DSC_0269 DSC_0278 IMG_8396 IMG_8400 IMG_8404 IMG_8405 IMG_8407 IMG_8430IMG_8458 IMG_8444 IMG_8452 IMG_8436 IMG_8468 IMG_8466 IMG_8463 IMG_8461 IMG_8460 IMG_8475 IMG_8476 IMG_8480 IMG_8482 This is the first year we tried out the surf boards. At low tide it was awesome to teach the kiddos how to ride in the waves.  Oh, and they thought it was pretty fun to zoom down the beach on an inch or two of water. They even pulled each other!IMG_8496 IMG_8500 IMG_8528 IMG_8530 IMG_8535 IMG_8519 IMG_8545 IMG_8513 IMG_8509 IMG_8515We enjoyed an nice date night again this year at the Sugar Shack followed with enjoying the nice evening on the upper deck at the Ocean Isle Fish Company!IMG_8453 IMG_8455This years take home lovie was a shark. Finn fell asleep on the way home from a quick trip to Callahan’s in Calabash. This year he slept in a big boy bed at night and the cot during the day for naps. Not sure why, but that is what he consistently chose each day.  I checked on him one night before going to bed and below is what I found! When we were at the store, he wanted to give lovies to each of his cousins too – so the last morning we took the annual jammie photo with each of their lovies.

IMG_8542 IMG_8573 IMG_8571 IMG_8563 IMG_8576It was nice weather on our drive home, however, Powell was getting big storms. So we decided to stop in southern Ohio at my old stomping grounds, Ohio University, and have a nice dinner. We had drinks on the patio at Jackie O’s Brewery (which wasn’t there when I was!) and dinner downstairs. Their beers are served throughout Ohio and in Columbus but I’d not had one before being there. I had a raspberry wheat and it was yum! We walked around a bit too, took photos of some familiar places, and had ice cream at a coffee shop that I went to all the time when I was in school. IMG_8582 IMG_8584 IMG_8585 IMG_8591 IMG_8593IMG_8614 IMG_8625 IMG_8596 IMG_8602 IMG_8606 IMG_8608 IMG_8609 IMG_8611 IMG_8612 IMG_8616 IMG_8618Dad and Mom gave us copies of all the photos they took too – there were so many great ones! So I’m including a bunch of them here 🙂  He really captured everyone’s personalities quite well. Some were taken with his waterproof camera from out in the ocean!DSCF3315 DSCF3382 DSCF3411 DSCF3433 DSCF3437 DSCF3449 DSCF3461 DSCF3477 DSCF3481 DSCF3512 DSCF3513 DSCF3518 DSCF3523 DSCF3533 DSCF3535 DSCF3537 DSCF3539 DSCF3542 DSCF3547 DSCF3553 DSCF3554 DSCF3555 DSCF3572 DSCF3581 DSCF3588 DSCF3590 DSCF3601 DSCF3612 DSCF3691 DSCF3718 DSCF3725 DSCF3742 DSCF3763 DSCF3765 DSCF3778 DSCF4016 DSCF4022 DSCF4040 DSCF4046 DSCF4053 DSCF4062 DSCF4070 DSCF4081 DSCF4090 DSCF4109 DSCF4117 DSCF4126 DSCF4133 DSCF4149 DSCF4150 DSCF4155 DSCF4174 DSCF4181 DSCF4185 DSCF4200 DSCF4204 DSCF4221 DSCF4243 DSCF4247 DSCF4253 DSCF4274 DSCF4282 DSCF4283 DSCF4290 DSCF4292 DSCF4310 DSCF4325 DSCF4348 DSCF4352 DSCF4353 DSCF4355 IMG_0672 IMG_0676 IMG_0681 IMG_0684 IMG_0696 IMG_0707 IMG_0739 IMG_0742 IMG_0750 IMG_0755 IMG_0770 IMG_0779 IMG_0788 IMG_0790 IMG_0795 IMG_0802 IMG_0806

Amy setup her cameras on the back deck and we did our annual round of family photos on our last night there. They turned out great! Then we headed to the beach with her for some Armstrong family photos. It was CRAZY windy and super bright, as you can see in the photos. We are lucky to have such a talented photography in the family 🙂IMG_8570 01_OIBfamily 02_OIBfamily 03_OIBfamily 04_OIBfamily 05_OIBfamily 06_OIBfamily 07_OIBfamily 08_OIBfamily 09_OIBfamily ArmstrongOIB2016__15 ArmstrongOIB2016_1 ArmstrongOIB2016_2 ArmstrongOIB2016_3 ArmstrongOIB2016_4 ArmstrongOIB2016_5 ArmstrongOIB2016_6 ArmstrongOIB2016_7 ArmstrongOIB2016_8 ArmstrongOIB2016_9 ArmstrongOIB2016_10 ArmstrongOIB2016_11 ArmstrongOIB2016_12 ArmstrongOIB2016_13 ArmstrongOIB2016_14 ArmstrongOIB2016_16

 

And here are some videos from the week.