Southern Shores, NC: Holden's First Beach!

Holden's first trip to the beach was during the week just after Father's Day. Jesse and I were going to take the kids to Southern Shores to crash Kat and Graham's family vacation. We were invited to join them at the beach house with her parents while they were in the Outer Banks for a week. They were joining two other lifelong families of friends on an annual trip to NC from back in the day...the Virginia Beach days for them. Unfortunately, something came up at work so Jesse had to stay home. I, on the other hand wanted to see my friends! So...I bravely tackled the five hour drive on a Tuesday and spent three nights and two days with them and then drove the five hours home on that Friday. I'm so thankful Kat and her friends and all the families were welcoming to us. We had a great time!

Tuesday night we were able to get together at Sara's house for a crab crackin' to celebrate a birthday. As soon as Susie saw Holden, she held that baby boy for awhile. Then I slept in the same room with both boys. I wasn't sure how that would go with Holden waking up during the night to nurse and having to turn the light on, etc., but Fletcher was great. He woke up a couple times and at one point crawled in bed with me. The following night he didn't wake up at all until he crawled in bed with me and the final night he stayed in his bed all night! There are pictures here of Holden's first time in the pack n play and I also got some of Fletcher with his puppies.

The morning came way too early and it was very hard keeping Fletcher quiet and under control in the bedroom for a couple hours until it was safe to have him emerge. I put Holden in his swim suit and got some shots of him for his first trip to the beach! He basically layed around, sat in the bouncer a bit, wormed and piveted himself all over the blanket, winding up in the sand at one point, and spent ample time in various sets of arms.

Fletcher was excited about the beach, but cried and cried when we got there because he wasn't able to move around the way he wanted to through some of the deeper sand. He played with some of the toys and got frustrated with his truck a lot. He liked watching the others and loved jumping in the waves. He was very excited about it, but would get pretty scared too, so it was a bit thrilling for him.

After we were at the beach for awhile, we went back to the other beach house so I could give them lunch and baths and attempt a group nap, everyone in their own spot in our room. It worked! We were all very tired from the drive the day before, the shortened night of sleep, and the time in the sun. Then we went back to the oceanfront beach house for dinner. I put Fletcher in his scuba diver shirt and Holden in his crab onesie and I sported my Outer Banks T-shirt for the evening. When he wasn't on my lap, Holden was on his tummy time surf board.

Here is Kat with Katie, Graham, and Holden.

Fletcher just adored Caroline and won her heart over when he showed her the food in his mouth. It was hilarious! They followed each other around quite a bit. But, Fletcher doesn't really understand when to stop or relax...he's pretty much GO, GO, GO these days and even harder to keep up with Holden in my arms most of the time, so he can get pretty annoying to others that like to take a break every so often.

Lucky for him, Caroline liked to play their chasing/tag game. He would tag her and she would tag him and they would go all over the deck.

The next day we went back to the beach. Fletcher was happier this time around and knew what to expect. Holden slept more so I could concentrate on playing with Fletcher a bit more and not have to bother someone else to watch one of the kids as much.

Graham did some boogy boarding and Katie was amazing on the paddle board. She'd even take her son on there with her. Julia loved to play in the waves, collect seashells, and watch everyone else. Caroline liked to hang out with everyone!

Graham went out on the ocean kayak a lot over the two days I was there.

Howard wanted to give it a try too and did really well.

Since Fletcher was content...

I decided to give the ocean kayak a turn with Graham's help getting me out. I was not graceful at all. I went out and then he joined me on his kayak and we got to see some dolphins swimming within 15 feet of us...it was great!

I haven't been to the Outer Banks yet without seeing dolphins. I don't know if you can see them in these pictures but we son a lot of them!

I had to get some pictures of the kiddos on the beach together before the day was over!

And since this was his first trip to the beach, there were extra special pictures of Holden with the scenery!

Kat held Holden a bit the second time we went to the beach that day. This boy sure loves to be held!

I took a bunch of other pictures on the second night. Some with Holden in a nautical outfit and some with Fletcher in his lifeguard shirt, but none of them turned out. I didn't realize my camera had switched modes until the following morning. Oh well. That morning Holden decided to sleep a bit longer. There was a grass fire at the house across the lot from us, so that provided some entertainment before I got geared up to hit the road.

Overall, the kids did great with the long drive and sharing a room. It was hard to juggle the two of them, not wanting to impose on others too much. I wound up with bruises up and down my legs from hauling the car seat with Holden, a bouncer, and two beach bags up and down four flights of stairs each time we wanted to go to the beach. Luckily I could leave our beach chairs and toys there from the first trip. Getting Fletcher to move along or follow directions as we went added an interesting aspect to this task. Howard and Graham and several others were there to help with the hauling and juggling, but I was still very tired at the end of the four days. However, I'm so glad we were able to go! I wish many of my friends were closer!