I'm sneaky sometimes

After I announced we'd be going to Outer Banks for a WHOLE WEEK to the blogosphere, I started thinking that wasn't too good of an idea having people know no one will be at our house. SO I was SO sneaky and figured out how to schedule those last 2 posts to post while I was gone. I don't know why that sneakiness gave me a little rush, but it did.

AND, as I mentioned we were gone for a whole week TO THE BEACH!!!! AH!!!

It was a longer drive there then to other beaches, but it was fun. We stopped at this rest area to well.....rest and release all bodily fluids of all little Smith bladders in the back seats because I did NOT bring extra water bottles and let's face it, now I have girls. When I got back from the bathroom, I came outside to find my kids like this.

Daddy apparently is ALWAYS more fun, whereas I probably would've noticed the other family sitting close casting their horrible-parenting glances our way (even though their kid asked to get up w/ my kids as well).

After a short pit stop WE WERE OFF (again) to THIS..........(beware, this picture that I got from their website is REALLY big)

It had 4 stories and plenty of rooms. We didn't even USE two of the beds! We ran down to the beach before it got dark and then the kids came home and wanted to do this.....which I can't blame them, because I did it quite a few times as well!

The next day was Sunday so we decided to venture out on that hot day to walk to the lighthouse a block down (built in 1850s).....w/o shoes of course.

And there was even this cool sign that said "water access" down this path and it would lead us to the OTHER ocean water (not the beach w/ waves but the other side of the island to calmer salt water). We thought it would be a cool little walk.

we couldn't see over all the tall grass so the anticipation was killing us of something awesome.....

And.,......we found nasty looking swamp water, that Bronson put his foot in and got pinched by a crab....or something... to the point of bleeding and Aleeya was scared by oversized grasshoppers and I was worried the whole time of the pier giving out from being worn down from Hurricane Irene and dropping us in the snake/animal filled swamp.

And for the record, I wouldn't be surprised if there were creepy alligators in there too....like the size of a semi-truck or something. So all that hot walking for.....well......a crab pinch.

We all looked pretty pathetic/hot/worn out after too.

(Emerson trying to get SOME shade!)

So we bagged it and went home to play all the games and puzzles that the house had for us.....for hours.

Oh, and Bronson caught a baby snake, so it wasn't all bad, right?

And I also had a wonderful I-told-you-so moment as a mother that day. You see that cactus patch behind Bronson and Royce? ( I know it's hard because those 2 are so cute, but just TRY!)

Well, Camden thought it was fun to pick off those pink things w/o getting poked by the cactus. I DID tell him that he would get hurt, that's not a good idea, yadda yadda, but he didn't listen. Most of the time he was successful in not getting hurt.....and I say MOST, because the last time he got some prickly stuff in his fingers.

Later that night he came complaining how he couldn't eat because his mouth hurt and he was about to lose it. I looked in his mouth, and I didn't see anything. So I asked him why it hurt and it turns out he couldn't get the spikes out of his fingers so he used his teeth to get them out and then they got stuck under his tongue and he couldn't get them out.

One of the best Momma-knows-best moments of my career. But thank GOODNESS he did it at the first of the week, because it made for a GREAT Family Home Evening lesson the next night.