First Family Vacation!

Ray, James, and I went on our first family vacation this past weekend.  He's nearly a year and a half old, but we have only ever spent one night away from home in that time.  Ray is a homebody, I like to keep James on his current sleeping schedule, and we are both frugal - so these are the main reasons why we haven't traveled until now.  But we went to my parents' beach condo near Swansboro, NC for a three day weekend and it was AMAZING! I went there growing up almost every weekend in the summer, but I loved experiencing everything anew through the eyes of a child.

James is all ready to go to the beach!

He loved playing in the sand-

 

The weather was perfect, in our opinion.  Neither Ray nor I are huge beach people.  I get burned after being outside for five minutes and I melt in the heat (especially while pregnant) and Ray despises sand; nevertheless, we really enjoyed the beach.  We went in the morning and it was a comfortable 72 degrees with a breeze.  I don't have a clue why people go to the beach in June, July, and August.  May is much better for me!

I was concerned about the extra sun on one side of my face and I wasn't sure my 70 SPF sunscreen would hold up, so I used James's t shirt to protect the side of my face.  We also both wore comfortable clothes rather than bathing suits because that way I wouldn't have to apply as much sunscreen.  I HATE the way sunscreen feels.  I still want to cry when I put it on... but if I didn't apply it, I really would be crying because I'd have sun poisoning.  So I might not look like most people laying out on the beach, but I was happy about it because I didn't get burned :)

Eating the sand-

All worn out after a fun morning playing in the sand and water-

After finishing at the beach, we went back to the condo and took showers (and got all that nasty sand and sunscreen off!) and we went out to eat lunch in Swansboro.  We ate the best calamari ever.  So so yummy!  James loved it just as much as we did. 

After a satisfying lunch, we went back to the condo for James's nap and Ray and I enjoyed watching cable TV - what a treat!  Lots of HGTV :)  Once he woke up, we headed to Beaufort to walk around and eat dinner.  We walked along the waterway and checked out the Maritime Museum.  James enjoyed cruising and scooting from exhibit to exhibit. 

Then we ate dinner outside on the waterway-

Nom nom nom! Shrimp stuffed with crab!

The next day, we woke up early and headed to the NC Aquarium.  James loved the waterfall fountain... this was probably his favorite part-

After the aquarium, we went to Fort Macon.  This was a new place for all of us and we love visiting historical places. 

We went back to the condo for lunch and nap.  Later, we headed out to Swansboro again to walk around and eat more delicious calamari, shrimp, scallops, flounder, and crab for dinner.  I'm not typically much of a seafood lover, but there's something about eating on the water that makes you crave it. 

For our last day, we headed back to the beach.  James likes the sand, but he quickly made his own path and scooted straight to the water. 

Ray dug a hole for James to try to keep him contained.  It worked for a few seconds-

We thoroughly enjoyed our time away!  James really enjoyed going to the beach, eating yummy seafood, and visiting all sorts of new places.  Our days were full and James slept through the night every night we were there (which was shocking!).  We will not wait until our next baby is 17 months old to take another vacation.  This was too fun.  We will for sure do it again sooner rather than later!