Our beach trip

It seemed to take forever (especially in Mitchell's mind) for June to arrive and signal the beginning of our vacation. And just as quickly, our week at the beach was over. But it was a fun-filled week spent laughing, playing and eating with family.

We arrived a little after 12pm on Saturday. We had lunch and then headed out to the beach for a little bit. Mitchell took to the water quickly and enjoyed playing the waves.

Highlights of Mitchell's week:
Riding waves on what is probably a 20+-year-old inner tube
Being scared by Granddad and wanting to "do it again"
Going to the shark store and picking out a new fire truck
Mitchell seeing a garbage truck
Mitchell seeing an ice cream truck
Having a yummy dinner at Sara J's
Winning bouncy balls at the arcade and Burro Loco

Mitchell couldn't get enough of playing in the sand and water. He packed buckets full of sand to make sand castles...only to stomp on them and destroy them! He loved playing in the waves with Granddad and Daddy. With the help of Aunt Kerri, Mitchell and I even rode in the inner tube together.

Everytime we left the house, he was quick to point out the restaurant where we ate dinner "last night" and the Shark store.

He wasn't as interested in the pier as I thought he would be. Although maybe he was just tired. He didn't even seem interested in eating ice cream that night. He just wanted to get home and put on his pajamas.

Sarah was able to get this one picture of the kids on the pier looking out over the beach. You can't *quite* see our house since it's more than 2 1/2 miles away!

We took the long way home...first driving from the beach to Raleigh to visit my grandparents there. Mitchell loved great grandmother's chocolate covered pretzels and pink lemonade. Then we drove to Statesville. The first thing on Mitchell's to do list was riding in Granddad's golf cart.

On Saturday, we headed to Charlotte to meet Bonnie for lunch and then we headed to the airport. I was lucky that they didn't charge me extra for my heavy luggage! And I was lucky to get in under the wire since US Airways is going to begin charging for the first checked bag.

After Grandmother and Granddad left us at the security checkpoint, Mitchell said he missed his grandparents.

He was great going through security and he helped me find the E concourse. He loved riding the moving sidewalks.

Thankfully the plane ride home was short because Mitchell was getting quite restless at that point. He ran to his Daddy as soon as he saw home and wanted to ride on his shoulders.

While we were sad that vacation was over, we were all happy to be home again!