A Week at the Outer Banks

This past July, we spent a week at the Outer Banks. We stayed for a week in the town of Corolla with our friends, the Widnells. The Widnells usually vacation with family but plans fell through, so they invited us and lucky us! Our week at the beach turned out to be so much more fun because was with one of his best friends!

The trip down to the Corolla was pretty hellacious. Kathleen warned us that we needed to be crossing the bridge onto the island by 11am or noon, but we didn't get going until 8:00am. I consider it a minor miracle that we left at the hour because we had been in temporary housing for two weeks while the elevator shaft was being completed (I didn't want to be in the house during the worst, dustiest part of the construction). We checked out of the apartment on Sunday morning, dropped off some stuff at the new house, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and we were off. The ride down to North Carolina was smooth and uneventful but when we got to the bridge, everything stopped. At one point, MJ was screaming because he was overdue for his bottle but I didn't have any way to warm up his milk. Desperate, we stopped at a random house and asked for hot water. The nice couple gladly gave us hot water and offered to let us come in, but once MJ got his warm milk, he was a lot calmer. The trip down took 8 1/1 hours!

Even though the ride down was tough, we had a great time. We got along famously with the Widnells (you never know how if you're going to hit it off with another family when vacationing) and CJ and Liam were two peas in a pod. The boys shared a room and often slept in the same bed; they showered together; they ate together; they read books together. They had a blast.

We managed to squeeze in a ton of activities while we were out there. At the end of the week, CJ wailed, "mommy, it felt like we just got here, why do we have to leave so soon?" We could have stayed another week and not gotten half the things done that we wanted!

MJ had a great time. Aside from the long car ride, he had a ball. He doesn't mind being in the car, he got to go the beach and the pool, we went for lots of walks around the neighborhood and to the nearby outdoor mall, he had lots of people doting on him, he loved the decks and the hammock, he took naps with mommy (he napped, I read, it was awesome!), and he loved crawling around on the sectional sofa.

Turns out that Nick and Kathleen are total foodies. We went to a great crab place, a great sandwich place and a wonderful seafood restaurant. One night, Nick made an incredible fish entree. Yum! Going on vacation is fun when you're with people who love food! And it helps that our boys are good eaters, too! Even MJ was tasting everything! One night, he noshed on a piece of celery for a half hour and enjoyed himself thoroughly.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

• MJ playing in the sand for the first time
• CJ and Liam riding go carts around a track
• The boys renting wave riders and going out on the water
• CJ catching a jellyfish, naming him Jerry and wanting to bring him home (I said no)
• Me finishing the first book in the Twilight series
• Playing Settlers of Catan (me, Maki, Nick and Kathleen) at night

Another long car ride with a toddler would scare me but we'd go back to the Outer Banks in a heartbeat!

This was MJ's first visit to the beach. He didn't really know 

what to do about the sand but we think he had a good time. 

MJ just loved the hammock!

Check out that smile!

CJ and Liam loved the hot tub and 

begged for hot tub time every evening!

Maki enjoyed lounging on the hammock, too!

I couldn't believe that CJ could drive a Go Cart on his own!

The boys conned me into buying them some rock candy.

The boys were inseparable. We'll never 

vacation without friends with kids again!

MJ loved banging on things so we gave him plenty of material.

Here's MJ sucking hard on a piece of celery.

MJ and Maki at the beach.

CJ and Liam used metal detectors to try and find treasure (no luck!)

MJ absolutely adores his dad

What kid doesn't like to play in the sand?

Here's Jerry the Jellyfish

Mexico, Here We Come!

Despite the dire warnings about swine flu, Maki, CJ, Maki's parents and I traveled to Playa del Carmen last week for a wedding and vacation. Our friends, Nate and Helen, were getting married on the beach. We loved the area two years when we came for another wedding, so we were game to go again!

We flew out of National on Saturday. I love flying out of National because we avoid the haul out to Dulles or BWI and it means that we don't have to get up before dawn and will have a civilized morning. We flew American and got a ridiculous deal on the airfare - $1,100 for 3 people!

Standing in line to get on the plane, the pilot walked by us and CJ said hello. I said something silly like, "Hey CJ, maybe the pilot will let you see the cockpit." At that, the pilot said, "You want to see the cockpit, young man? Follow me." Oh boy. The pilot led us to the front of the line then let us visit the cockpit! The pilot asked if mom had a camera. Does mom have a camera? I always have my camera!!!

The pilot let CJ sit in the pilot's seat, he let him wear a pilot's hat, and the other pilot even asked CJ to turn on the wing lights. CJ eyes were bugging out at all of the switches, lights and controls. Of course, CJ had to entertain the pilot with stories about his trains. And CJ explained that we were going to Mexico for a vacation. So cute!

It was very sweet of the pilot to let CJ visit the cockpit area and I wondered if he enjoyed it as much as CJ did. It must be amazing to see the wonder in a kid's eyes at the work that you do and the things you make happen -- like make a big piece of metal fly through the air!

We got delayed in Miami. Our flight was delayed and I think it was because another flight to Miami had been cancelled and American was trying to consolidate passengers. The same thing would happen to us coming back. The sad part is that our flights were not crowded, despite the cancelled flights. It was just an indication of how few people are visiting Mexico.

Flying to Cancun from the DC area is easy. It's just over two hours to Miami, and just over an hour to Cancun. Cancun is on Central time so there would be no jetlag and time difference to adjust to.

Because we were delayed in Miami for so long (3 1/2 hours), we ducked into the Admirals Lounge. I did my best Tina Fey imitation and showed the receptionist my Platinum card - it worked! They let us in, they gave CJ candy, we were able to get online, and best of all, we got to hang out in the kids' lounge! The kids' lounge was a godsend during the long delay. CJ was able to watch Disney channel and play games on the computer. I was able to read my trashy novel, which meant my vacation was starting and I minded the delay a whole lot less. Somehow, we even found sushi in Miami airport (the little stand was called Sushi Maki, which cracked up CJ).

Here's a photo of CJ showing off his crab sushi. This kid continues to be mad for sushi and is now eating salmon, tuna, yellowtail, egg, crab, and California roll.

We finally got to Cancun around 5pm, met mom and dad, picked up our rental car from Hertz, drove less than an hour to the resort, and checked into the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo.