Beach Vacay...last night walk

We took our annual last night walk on the beach for pictures...my 3 handsome boys!
my sister Cary and niece Winnie

Dash and his hero, Papaw
If she doesn't want to smile, she's not going to smile.

"You can't make me, either!"

I mean, seriously, you can never run out of things to do with sand.

all of us

Tornado, with his beloved Googie

This was taken right after someone told us to "act like we're in love." Ryan said, "I'm not that good of an actor." SO funny, honey.

Andy and Sissy, dueling harmonicas

Beach Vacay...One Tree Hill

Wilmington, NC happens to be the home of the largest movie and television production facility east of Los Angeles. Over 300 films such as Firestarter, The Secret Life of Bees, Nights in Rodanthe, Weekend at Bernie's, A Walk to Remember, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Empire Records, and 28 Days, etc. have been filmed here. Cary and I took the studio tour, which included a little video about the history of the studio and the different films and shows that were made here.

This is also where Dawson's Creek (yes, I watched that) was filmed, which is very obvious as you are spending time in downtown Wilmington. Currently, the CW network's One Tree Hill (yes, I also watch that. no, it isn't about high schoolers anymore; they're now professionals in their 20's so it's fine that I watch it :)...) is also filmed here. The sets we visited on the tour were all from OTH - Lucas's house, Peyton's recording studio, Brooke's house, etc...which means nothing to you if you don't watch the show. The tour, which included "inside" trivia, wouldn't be too exciting for someone who doesn't watch One Tree Hill (which I have for 6 seasons so it was pretty fun for me).

Then one day, just down from our condo, they were filming a scene from OTH on Causeway Drive Bridge. Curiously, I went to check it out. I couldn't tell for sure, at first, who was who from far away so a paparazzi guy let me look through his big lens, then I could tell that it was Robert Buckley, (who is new to the show, but he was also on Lipstick Jungle...which I also watched...wow, it sounds like I watch a lot of television, but I actually really don't - I'm pretty picky about what types of shows I like) standing on the edge. Anyway...
When I walked across the bridge, I also spotted James Lafferty, who plays Nathan Scott on the show. He was directing the scene. Don't worry; I played it cool. ha.

A news reporter asked me if she could interview me regarding my thoughts on watching the scene being filmed. I thought about it for a second...she even gave me ideas about what to say, but I chickened about. I'm self-conscious like that.

Those of you who read about my New York trip probably think I stalk celebrities on all my vacations. But honestly, it was just a coincidence we happened to vacation in another spot with actors milling around. Here's Robert Buckley again...you know, just walkin' right by me; he looks a little stressed here but not because I'm so close taking his picture. :) He actually was smiling as he passed. He was drying off because the pair had to jump off the bridge into the Banks Channel, for the scene. I heard him talking about how fun it was.

Trip adventures to be continued...

Beach Vacay...the pool

We don't get to swim in pools very often. We aren't members anywhere, we don't have any friends with pools, and we don't have a local public pool. We usually go swimming in creeks and rivers, and the kids usually don't go into the water too deep alone. The boys have taken swimming lessons the past two years, but neither of them can swim on their own. But I feel like a switch was flipped this week. They really gained a lot of confidence in the water. I think it was because of the life jackets (and having a full week to devote, of course). Wearing them allowed them to move around freely (and was much less stressful on our end), and then after awhile, they seemed more confident whether they had on the jackets or not. Here they are, all doing a great job trying to take care of their little cousin Winnie. They thought they all had to hold onto her ring. And she, as usual, is doing her best to keep up with the big kids. Thanks for letting us borrow your boat, Matt and Michele; it was so much fun.

Dash really impressed me this week. For someone who usually clings to an adult in the pool, he was jumping off the side into the water and letting people throw him up in the air to land in the water. He even did flips underwater. Tornado wasn't to that point, but he did work really hard trying to paddle and kick. There was a lot of, "I'm doing it! I'm swimming!" and "Look, Googie!"

Dribble Castles

I felt like the Dribble Castle deserved its own post. Andy taught us how to make them, and I became obsessed one day making this. Soon others joined in because it is so addicting.

We use and make a lot of substances around here - clay, play dough, oobleck, gak, moon sand, whatever...nothing compares to dribble sand, though. I'm telling you: it's the coolest substance I've ever played with. I've been to the beach dozens of times. How did I ever make it 34 years without knowing about this phenomenon?

It feels like magic watching it form. Just get a handful of really soupy wet sand in your fist or fingers and let it drip down...if you let a portion dry, you can add on to make your column really tall. And it's even more challenging to build arches. Fascinating stuff, huh? I just, out of curiosity, googled "dribble castle" and found a youtube video on how to make a dribble castle. I'm already making plans for next year's dribble castle...

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

She wore an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka-dot bikini...
You KNOW I bought it JUST so I could write that.

Beach Vacay Part 2...the beach!

Like I said, our Wrightsville Beach week was fabulous. It had been five years since we'd had a beach trip with my family (and we used to go every year). This was the best kind of trip for our kids. They were the perfect ages to get the most out of it. Of course, sand and water are universal favorites of children - even if just in a sandbox or bathtub...so when you have THIS amount of sand and water, of course it's going to be a perfect trip for them. That's the condo we stayed in - the tan one on the left.

There was plenty of running in the wide-open spaces

(especially for our Baywatch dude, Dash...

...which would ultimately wear him out each day),

lounging,

feeding the birds,
body surfing and boogie boarding (here: Dash and Ryan...and the 3 men always went out in the ocean much further than I was comfortable with...I was so nervous about it - but they had fun...the water was really nice and clear),

picking up seashells (it's funny how you never outgrow this),

warming up peacefully on the overcast, sleepy days,

kite flying,

playing in the sand and building castles,

metal detecting,

boat riding (So fun! I was screaming it was so scary/fun.),

and burying people in the sand...

...it never got old.

Weren't Papaw and Uncle Andy such good sports?

To be continued...