Toes in the Water....

Bear with me. We have returned from our beloved North Carolina with two memory cards full of pictures and lots more memories in our heads. I've been debating for two days what to do with them. (I have a great idea for a scrapbook page...) I could put them in a slideshow, but frankly you'd miss out on the little anecdotes that go with each picture.

So....if you are interested....relax, put up your feet, and pretend I am in your living room getting out my Wal-Mart envelope full of photos and telling you the story of our vacation.....I promise I won't show you ALL of them....

We headed out on Sunday-not early enough for some of the members of our party, who had serious tanning to do. Rolled up to Fort Fisher around 6 pm. Fort Fisher, besides being a Civil War Historical Site, is home to a wonderful little Air Force Recreation Center. We found it when we lived in North Carolina and have tried to go back every summer. Here is the link to our photos from last year. (the kids have grown up so much!)

We signed Joshua up for some classes the rec center had. His first class was cast netting on the Cape Fear river. He was able to catch some bait shrimp that first day and on later days our group had more shrimp, some fish, and even a blue crab! The classes and activities are awesome--and so cheap. I think this class cost $3. The staff is wonderful with kids and adults alike.

Nick was off to a pretty good start. Monday he was able to play out in the sun and even went boogie boarding. The rest of his days weren't so good, but he still managed to join us on some of our activities.

Jarrett was all smiles till the surf came in...........

We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Zarape. Yum!

Nothing like an early morning walk on the beach....

This is going to make an awesome scrapbook page.

There are lots of sea turtle nests along the beach. The are a protected animal and it is a federal offense to disturb them. We have never gotten to see one hatch out, but we always hope...

Wednesday night we went to a talk at the Carolina Beach Visitor's Center on sea turtles. It was really interesting and they showed a great video of a next hatching. This is the shell of a loggerhead turtle.

After the talk, we went to our favorite ice cream parlor, Squigley's. There is no video proof that I ate anything there....

************BREAK FOR STORY***************

I am so sorry that we do not have any photos of this event. Truly. But it's the honest-to-goodness truth.

After ice cream, Jarrett and I headed out to the beach for some late-night exercise. We came across a couple fishing in the ocean. The man hollered to us and asked if we could come reel in one of his poles because he had something big. His wife was holding a baby, so Jarrett ran over and helped him. The man was pretty sure he had some kind of shark or another huge fish-he was really fighting it.

Jarrett ran back to get the rest of the family to watch and after they got out there was probably another 20 -25 minutes of him fighting with whatever he caught. It was pitch black out but we finally got a glimpse of the thing as it struggled in the surf. It looked white and we got excited that it was big shark! A few minutes later, though, we realized it was not a shark but actually an enormous sting ray that he was fighting. The guy was disappointed (he wanted something he could eat) but we still thought it was really cool. He tried hauling it in so he could get his line and hooks, etc. out of the ray. Just when he nearly had it beached, it broke his pole right in half! Dave grabbed the bottom half of the pole while the guy held onto the line and tried to go get his hook out. Jarrett ran over and the two of them dragged the thing up onto the beach. It weighed probably close to 100 pounds and the fishing guy got a big cut from the barb on the tail. They were each on one side and the excitement had died down a little, when we saw all of this "stuff" falling out the back of the ray as they dragged it. We said, "What is that??" and then immediately squealed, "BABIES!!"

Yes! That huge mama sting ray gave birth to 5 teeny sting rays right on the beach in front of us, with Jarrett as the midwife! He said, "I wondered what all that slime was---it was birthing slime!" He is still washing...

Everything is so adorable in miniature, and these babies were no different. 4 were alive and they threw them back into the water (they can live on their own immediately after birth) but one didn't make it. Now THAT was a fun night!

*************Back to pictures*************

Joshua took a sand-casting class one afternoon.

And of course, there was a lot of swimming, sunbathing, and boogie boarding.

We found some awesome shells in these green rocks, including a huge conch shell, which we later found out was actually a whelk and not a conch. Do you know the difference? We now do.

On Alyson's camera there is a picture of a mermaid out on these rocks. A real mermaid. I am not kidding. If I can find her camera I'll load it. Strangest thing.....never saw her again, either.

We also went on a pirate treasure hunt on the fort. Joshua found one of the clues and got to read it to the group.

The treasure was found!

This is a huge (and disgusting) spider we found on the pier.

We went to the North Carolina Aquarium Friday afternoon and got to hear a talk from the divers and then see the sharks get fed (after the divers left the tank, of course..). We also went to the Fort Fisher Civil War Museum.

And then we headed home........and the skies were gray when we got here.