Beach Day!

Yesterday, we had a girls' day at the beach! Mama took off yesterday and today to keep C, and I asked for yesterday off so we could head to the beach for the day. So much fun!!

We drove down to Topsail Island (Surf City) and met up with my friend MM (the one who comes to ride horses with me sometimes). Her and her family have been there for a week, lucky ducks. So it was me, C, Mama, and 2 of my cousins. We left a little before 10, stopped to eat lunch at McDonald's, and were on the beach by around 12.

C played so hard. On our vacation to the OBX this summer, she was scared of the water and wouldn't touch it. Not yesterday! She loved being in there. The tide was pretty strong so we had to hold her hands most of the time, but she loved it.

C and my younger cousin M played in the sand quite a bit, too. There was a huge pile of sand in C's bathing suit when we took it off!

We stayed out there until 4 or so. Afterwards, we headed to my aunt's trailer and used her outdoor shower to clean up. Then we headed to Island Delights, my favorite restaurant on the island. They have an ice cream bar and you can get food like burgers and fries. The whole place is decorated like the 50s - they even have a working jukebox. I love it!

We finally left the island around 6, and C immediately passed out (she hadn't had a nap all day and had worn herself out!). She slept the whole way home, and then DH held her for a while and she kept right on sleeping. I finally got her up to put her nighttime diaper on her, and she stayed up for about 30 minutes before she said she was ready to go night-night. So I got to bed earlier than usual, too. ( :

After our day yesterday, I have decided I need to live at the beach. Not really, but man, would that be nice! Unfortunately, I did get a sunburn in a few places (apparently, I totally missed the sides of my neck with sunscreen - oops). So I'm already taking Benadryl round the clock. I'm a little itchy, but so far its nothing I can't handle. I have a feeling its gonna get worse, though. My stomach itches and it didn't get sunburned at all. Just a true sun allergy. :/

And yes, I wore my bikini yesterday! In PUBLIC! I bought it a few weeks ago at the insistence of my friend R. When I was pregnant, I wore a one piece bathing suit for some reason. I wish now I hadn't hid my belly. The first summer after I had C, I bought a slimming one piece. Its very flattering on me, but I really hate wearing one pieces. I just didn't want anyone seeing my tummy. Even though I lost all my pregnancy weight (plus 10 lbs), my stomach has never recovered. I have a lot of loose skin that I don't think will ever go away. Last summer, I got a two piece, but the top was a tankini so it covered me up. But my friend R pointed out to me that I'm too short-waisted to wear a tankini and have it look right (and she's totally right), and she urged me to wear a bikini.

Between her and the Beauty Revealed Project on facebook, I've gained a lot of confidence in my body lately. This is my body. I have learned to embrace it. It housed my child for 9 months, it delivered her vaginally, it has nourished her for 2 1/2 years now, its pretty amazing! I don't have a flat tummy anymore, and I don't look like a model. I don't even look like some other new mothers that I know, who look like they haven't even had a baby. But I'm finally okay with that. I traded a flat stomach and abs for a gorgeous, smart, healthy baby girl - how can I be upset over that?? Yeah, maybe I could get my stomach tighter if I worked by butt off in the gym or something, but I'd rather spend my free time playing with my daughter, not stressing over a few extra inches around my middle. My body was made to bear and nourish children, it doesn't have to look like a super model. And the cool thing is, my husband totally loves my new bikini, lol. ( ;

OBX - Part 1

We just got back from a 3-day trip to the Outer Banks of NC. Not many people knew we were leaving, mostly because we're so worried that someone will know we're gone and break into our house or somethin. You never know in this day and age, sadly. But it was also kinda neat to be gone for 3 days and have few people know where we were. Our parents knew, my best friend knew, our bosses/coworkers knew, and some of DH's customers knew, but that's it. In fact, another friend of mine texted me Friday and asked if I had lunch plans. I texted back that I did - we were eating lunch in Manteo! hehe

This was kind of a last-minute trip. We normally take a vacation in February to celebrate our anniversary, but there were some family things going on during that month, so we postponed our trip. And then every month the weekends were just too full of commitments for us to go anywhere. Finally, maybe 2 weeks ago, we decided to pick a weekend in June and just go. As it turned out, I got an invitation to a baby shower just a few days after we set the date for our trip, but our minds were made up by that point.

We didn't book a hotel room until last Monday (just 4 days before we needed a place to stay), so the pickings were slim. We knew we wanted to stay on Roanoke Island or maybe Nags Head, but neither of us had ever been to that area before. I spent hours last Sunday night researching places to stay and things to do in that area. We got lucky and were able to book a room at The Elizabethan Inn in Manteo. Way more expensive than we like to pay for a hotel room, but we didn't have a choice. Everything else in the area was booked, and our only option was staying an hour or so away in Plymouth, and we didn't want to have to drive an hour every day just to see what we wanted to see.

C in her "cage" at the hotel, haha

The hotel was pretty nice. We've definitely stayed in worse before. As long as a place is clean, I don't really care about much else. In our room, I felt comfortable walking around barefoot, which says a lot for me. It was in a nice location - in Manteo, but not in the busiest part of the town (though this weekend there were surprisingly few tourists there), and only a few minutes' drive away from everything we wanted to see. I'd stay there again.

In fact, I can't wait to go back to Roanoke Island again. I had no idea we'd enjoy staying in NC so much. We normally go to Charleston, SC, on our trips (or the mountains of NC and TN in the fall with DH's family). There were so many things to see once we got there! We definitely didn't see everything. Three things we know we want to do next time: see The Lost Colony drama and spend more time at Fort Raleigh, go on a dolphin watching boat tour, and go on a wild horse tour. And next time we want to drive down the OBX to Cape Hatteras. We almost did that this weekend, but its a long drive down Highway 12 (with a 2.5 year old), so we decided not to.

I plan to break this into several posts, so this doesn't get too long. I don't want to forget the little details of our trip, like I normally do. I have the worst memory ever. This will be a kind of general post, then I'll do separate posts for different things we did. 

The drive up to Roanoke Island was a little more stressful than we'd hoped. We missed a turn somewhere and ended up going way out of our way. Luckily, with the help of several maps and my best friend, we were able to get on the right track again. We also had to make several pit stops so C could potty. The trip should have taken us 3.5 hours. We pulled out of our driveway at 8:30 Friday morning and arrived at Manteo after noon. Oh well. We were just happy to be there safe and sound.

We carried a ton of snacks with us, as we always do. One thing is for sure, we will NEVER be hungry on a trip! I made an attempt to be healthy by buying apples, grapes, bananas, apple sauce, diced peaches, almonds, and peanuts. But it was hard to eat the "good" stuff when DH had provided us with so many yummier things - like Sweet Tarts, chips, chocolate....haha. Sadly, the apple sauce and peaches didn't even get opened. Oh well, on vacation you're supposed to eat whatever you want, right? ( :

Speaking of food, we ate some good meals this weekend, too. There is a restaurant in the hotel we stayed at, La Dolce Vita Manteo, where had delicious lasagna and chicken Parmesan. There was a lady playing the piano while we were there, so it felt really fancy, though it wasn't at all. Oh, and they served Italian bread with oil for dipping - yum!

Both Saturday and Sunday morning we ate at the same restaurant in Nags Head - Grits Grill. We just happened to stumble across it Saturday morning while we were driving around starving. It was packed, so we figured it must be good. We did have to wait a few minutes for a table, but it was well worth the wait. DH and I are both big breakfast eaters - we could probably eat breakfast 3 times a day. So we loved the huge plates of pancakes, bacon, eggs, grits, and toast. Simple, but oh-so-good!

Saturday for lunch we ate at the Nags Head Pier Restaurant. It was pretty good. We had to wait forever for someone to take our order, though. I think they forgot about us. DH had a basket of shrimp, C got some mac n' cheese, and I had a plate of fried trout. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a table with a view. It would have been cool to watch the ocean while we ate.

Saturday night we just went to Applebee's at Nags Head. I'm not sure why we decided to go there, when we can eat there any time back home, but it was good. I love their Fiesta Chicken. The restaurant was under staffed that night so it was a little stressful, but at least the food was good.

Yesterday on the way home we decided we weren't going to cook supper, so we stopped to pick up some Bojangles chicken. I feel so sorry for people who live in states or countries where Bojangles don't exist. Seriously. Sorry, folks. You're really missing out, and if you ever come down South, Bojangles is a must.

I guess this post has turned into a food post. That's okay. Food is important on vacation. Am I right??

I seriously feel like I need some sort of detox after everything I've ingested over the past 3 days. I only drank water, so that's good, but I just feel so bleh. I'm not used to eating so much junk! Well worth it, though. And yes, I'll do it again come October, when we take our annual trip with DH's family.

Stay tuned for more details on the trip! ( :