Beautiful Carolina

Ryder and I had the pleasure of traveling to Ocean Isle, North Carolina to vacation with my older brother Devon, his wife Danelle and their three darling kids (Devree, Delaine and Daxton). In addition to Devon and Danelle, Danelles whole family was there, brothers, sister, their kids, her mom, her cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. It was quite the crowd! I have to say. I was in need of this type of relaxing vacation. And, honestly, it was so nice to get away from the smoke filled air that has been plaguing Northern California the past few weeks.

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We stayed in an 8 bedroom house right on the beach. Every morning we woke up, had breakfast, put on our swim suits and headed out the backdoor to the beach. The North Carolina beach is much different from the California beach, for starters it was like 100 degrees out everyday. Second, there was no seaweed ( a definite plus in my opinion), tons of sea shells everywhere. And last, and most important, the water was like a bath tub. Like 80 degrees. I, for the first time in my life, actually enjoyed playing in the ocean.

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I made my first attempt at boogy boarding on this trip. I loved it. The waves were incredible. At one point they came in so hard while I was boogy boarding that I could not stand up. It was a ton of fun!!! And my older brother Devon thought it was really funny watching me. He told me I was "only slightly retarded". Gotta love brothers!

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After a long day at the beach we would head inside, shower, have dinner, which, by the way, was crazy and chaotic with like 30 people trying to eat at the same time. Once the kids were in bed we sat up and played games.

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We really had a great time! Ryder was great on the plane, sleeping for most of the ride both ways. I am a true believer in red eye flights if you have little ones. They sleep and you don't have to worry about trying to entertain then for a 5 hour flight! I did a lot of relaxing, laying in the sun . It was nice to get away from all the stresses of life. Ryder now has a sexy little surfer boy tan and blond highlights in his hair. So cute.

This is Ryder with his cousin Devree

Ryder and I, ready for a fun day in the sun!!

Ryder, Devree and Delaine ready to watch fireworks on the 4th!

Lunch time! Ryder with Delaine

Ryder and I

Devon, Danelle and me on the way to the airport after a great week!

The beach house we stayed in.

Ryder, lookin cool in his shades, with his cousins.

Ryder cheesin' with Devree and Camree.

I love his face!! haha

Hard at work!

Ryder and me with my brother Devon and his little girl Delaine. You cant tell but that wave smacked us pretty hard!

Some random girl came and gave all the kids Popsicles. Ryder really enjoyed his in case you cant tell!

Ryder was so tired after being in the sun all day he fell asleep waiting to take a shower. Poor little guy.

Ryder and his favorite cousin Delaine.

Ryder and Laine having lunch.

Ocean Isle is a little island off the southern North Carolina cost. The Eastern side of the island is all beach. The western side is marsh land. On the western side there are canals like this one between all the houses. This island is sinking.

He's king of the world...or so he thinks.

This picture is taken from top of the bridge going into Ocean Isle.