Day 8 (part 2)

Sorry. Too many pictures. ;) Here are the ones from Nauticus...

Day 8

The first picture up above is the beach house we stayed at. Nothing fancy but the privacy, laundry and additional bathroom were much appreciated for a couple days, especially given the amounts of sand we dealt with. ;)

After checking out in the morning, we headed back to Kitty Hawk Kites so Asher could exchange his kite purchase from the day before (having decided that Noah's selection made more sense and was worth the slightly higher cost). (This is not surprising, as Noah had researched kites online the night before and asked the store clerk a number of questions, lol.)

Two kites in hand (Micah chose not to spend his money though is at present sitting and looking up prices online, lol), we headed across the road to Jockey's Ridge State Park to climb the sand dunes and fly stunt kites for an hour or so. We learned that sand makes a great landing surface for those just learning to fly kites...that sand is also really hot...that Micah makes a great "pit crew" for helping adjust kites for take off...and that kites are cool. ;)

Following that, we reluctantly headed north again and did a whirlwind bit at Nauticus in Norfolk, VA. We toured the USS Wisconsin, the naval museum and the science aquarium. We didn't have enough time. ;) As we were leaving, Noah and Asher noticed that the front of the battleship looked like a fishy face. :)

After that, we drove to our next hotel in Williamsburg...continued brushing off the sand from the morning...and had a delicious dinner at a nearby local restaurant.

Day 7

Still at the beach...;)

Spent the morning at Roanoke, watching a film, exploring the replica Elizabeth II (whoa...so very glad not to have been aboard that back in the day!), and looking at exhibits from the settlement. (Yes, I'm counting this whole vacation as homeschooling! Lol) On the Elizabeth II, of course, all three boys gravitated toward the on-deck guns. In the settlement, we learned about period tools, the game of Skittles, stocks, and armor...all of which the boys enjoyed.

And, after giving Micah a hard time about his mohawk, the guy working the exhibit gifted Micah with a hand forged iron nail.

(Micah was stoked and has now decided that it's not so bad that everyone keeps joking with him about his hair and making him pay for dinner, lol. Truly, there's apparently something about him...people everywhere keep chatting and joking with him, lol. He was starting to get a bit miffed about it but has now decided it's okay.)

After that, we hit the Kitty Hawk Kites store and did lunch and then got ready for the beach. We went better prepared this time and had a blast, though I'm sure the locals thought we were crazy for being in the water, especially for so long. (Temperatures did increase to the 70-80s, thank goodness, but the water was still COLD and it was windy.)

The boys loved trying to outrun waves and digging holes and just getting hit by the water. When it was time to go, Micah wrote a message in the sand..."Goodbye, Atlantic. Love you, Micah." ;)

Day 6

Realizing that we'd barely scratched the surface, we nevertheless departed DC in the morning and drove to the Outer Banks in NC...thus getting to the part of our trip where Nathan and I are more familiar with our surroundings, having vacationed here a number of times when I was at Duke.

We stopped first at the Wright Brothers Memorial...to go through the exhibits and walk to the monument on the "hill" overlooking the site of the first flights. Asher and Micah posed themselves for the first picture. ;)

After that, we settled into the beach house we're renting and decided to go scope out the beach situation...intending merely to find a spot and maybe walk along the sand briefly. (It was chillier than usual...less than 60 degrees. The forecast called for mid to high 70s the coming days...)

Yeah, that didn't work out as planned, lol.

We thus ended up detouring back to the beach house to dry off and warm up sopping wet and freezing boys before heading back out for a late dinner. ;)

Tired but super excited to play more...

Day 5

Less walking but still a full day... ;)

We walked to the White House and took pictures through the fence at the south lawn. (Micah was rather put out that White House tours have been suspended since March...he settled for watching a film about the White House.)

We went to the top of the Old Post Office Tower. (Since the Washington Monument is closed, this was a way to get a bird's eye view...which worked pretty well but was quite windy.)

We did lunch then stood in our first line of our vacation at the National Archives. Though we stood in line to get in, the guard very adamantly kept instructing everyone in the Rotunda *not* to stand in line to see the Declaration or the Constitution...which struck me as both odd and inefficient. He wanted us all to randomly wander and just work our way to the front at each exhibit (which, technically, is still a line, lol). Anyhow.

Then we hit the National Gallery briefly because the boys just wanted to see The Thinker (from Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian), and were disappointed to find that it was only a scale model...not full size. ;)

Running out of steam, we walked toward the Capitol Building but didn't go past the reflecting pool, as it appeared to be roped off for some event and we were tired of walking, lol. The boys, of course, took the opportunity to toss pebbles in and I had Asher snap a picture of us.

After that, we headed back to the hotel, had dinner and learned how to play Settlers of Catan...which Micah won. ;)