I was up at sunrise on our first full day at the beach. It sounds crazy, after the long day we put in on Wednesday, but how often do you get the chance to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic? Unfortunately, the haze kept it from being picture perfect, but it's still rather pretty.
I also made friends with the hotel cat, who liked to hang around the pool. She also liked to follow me around. I went back to the room to get her some deli turkey, which she enjoyed. (Judging from the number of bowls left around with food in them, she's spoiled rotten by hotel guests...) She seemed enamored of us though, and spent a lot of time on our patio, which was on the first floor. Her meowing woke up the family when I came back in that way after feeding her. We eventually "named" her Carolina, which seemed appropriate. Many of the shops we went into along the beach had cats that wandered freely. It's a bit odd, but in a fun way.
When the kids got up, the concierge at the desk told them about a man in a full, bushy, black beard who had arrived at the hotel around 3AM and insisted that he give Kairi and Nicky in room 132 a message. The message turned out to be a pirate treasure map! So Kairi figured out the code, Nicky found the X that marked the spot at the end of the directions, and they started digging.
Pretty soon they had uncovered a wooden box....
Full of pirate treasure! There was a pirate boat puzzle you build with cards, gold chocolate coins, candy necklaces, pirate stamps, and two Pirates of the Carribean coloring and sticker books.
Not to mention, these snazzy pirate hats! (Leave it to my kids to be worried that none of the other kids at the hotel breakfast seemed to be getting secret maps. *sigh*)
Then we grabbed our boards and sand toys and headed down for a morning at the beach. The kids had never used boogie boards before, so they were a bit hesitant at first.
But they got the idea quickly enough, and were soon having much more fun in the ocean than out. (Didn't hurt that being IN the water kept the nasty biting flies that were on shore away!)
Nicky and I did build a sand castle, but there's definitely been a shift since our last trip to the beach. Both kids are now MUCH more interested in watersports than sand play or collecting seashells. It's nice, because that's how Scott and I are as well. They still feel too young to be "too old for sandcastles" to me, though! And speaking of sand, can anyone identify this sand critter for us? We found it on the beach, but never got back to the wildlife center to ask what it was. It has multiple legs tucked under its body, and is "squishy".
We ate lunch in the room. By this time, the heat was killer, so we decided to drive down to Roanoke Island to the North Carolina Aquarium. It was free, since we are Philly Zoo members, which is pretty darn cool. We saw all sorts of cool fish (most of which were moving way too fast for my camera).
The kids and I enjoyed this close up view of a cottonmouth.... Scott just quoted Indiana Jones: "I hate snakes!"
But "Jaws" aside, no one could hate this really cool shark that we saw in the Graveyard of the Atlantic tank.
No one but me would touch the sting rays, urchins, and sea stars in the touch tank. They were cool to look at, though.
The many turtles, otters, aligators, and other critters on exhibit made the aquarium part zoo, as well. It was a nice, air conditioned way to spend the day.
We finished out the day with dinner at the Bad Bean Taqueria. The food was really tasty, but a bit pricey for what you got. Scott said the margarita was fabulous, but I'll take his word for it. We liked the one staff member's shirt : "Don't hassle me... I'm not a tourist" but when we mentioned that we were from a tourist town, too and loved the shirt, he was a bit derisive of Bethlehem, PA being anything like the shore. He obviously didn't have to fight his way through Musikfest a few days before! ;-)
By this time, it was threatening rain, so the kids spent some time in the indoor pool, and we headed to bed.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Average American Family Vacation Day 6
Average American Family Vacation Day 5
*yawn* We got up at 3AM on our first beach day, so that we could make the 8 hour drive, and still have time to play when we got there. We didn't actually get started until 4AM though, with all the last minute stuff we had to put in the car. (Including the sleeping children.) The drive was horrifyingly long, and the kids woke up at their usual time of 7AM, so they were awake for 5 hours of it. Ugh. I was hoping the WHOLE time that the Outer Banks were going to live up to billing and make it worth the trip.
We arrived at the hotel around 11:30, and I checked to see if our room was ready, knowing full well it wouldn't be. The very nice concierge promised to call us when the room was ready, and we gave her our cell number. We headed first to the Pine Island Diner for some lunch. (Mediocre food, prices not too bad, but we decided quickly not to bother going back. The diner was freaking adorable, though - chrome and black and white with cherry red booths - very retro.) 
We then thought we'd walk down and say hello to the beach. We didn't want to bother changing in the public restrooms (since we wouldn't be able to shower off sticky wet sand in a bathroom) so we went down in the clothes we had on to just walk. Of course, then the kids ended up wading. And got wet. So we probably should have changed, but oh well. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it was insanely, fist-in-the-face hot. So hot it was hard to breathe hot. Walk three feet and need to lie down for an hour hot. The actual temps hit 106 while we were there, with 110+ heat indexes. So they dried off pretty darn quick.
Since our room wasn't ready yet (and let's not fault the hotel - we absolutely ADORED the hotel, and I wouldn't say a bad word about it - check in was SUPPOSED to be four, I just wanted to get started vacationing, lol!) we drove down to Corolla to check out the Currituck Light (and scope out dinner locations). We found the main shopping areas, and headed past them to the lighthouse. It was lovely, and we were tempted to climb it... but let me refer you back to the heat. The 106 degree, no air conditioning in the lighthouse, 186 steps to the top heat. Uh-uh, nothing doing. So instead, we went to the wildlife center. (Which has an official name I've forgotten - the Outer Banks Wildlife Center at Corolla or some such thing...) There was a nice tank of local fish, many displays of local flora and fauna, and a nice history of the area. There was a really interesting film about it, too - but Scott HAD been up since 4 AM so he kept falling asleep! We also found out that Nicky is a fish whiz - he took a quiz on a computer where you had to identify fish, and got them all right! Grandpa, have you been coaching him??
During the film, the hotel left voice mail that our room was ready, so after a quick stop in the gift shop, we planned to go back to the hotel. Except that while we were there, I asked about some of the center's programming. And while the crabbing session I wanted to get into wasn't available, there was a "Wild Nights" session available that night. (If you've never availed yourself of free nature tours from a state or national refuge, do so... they're ALWAYS worth the time.) I must confess, I wasn't really thrilled about adding to an already LONG day, but the staff member was so excited that a spot had "just opened up" for the program that would accomodate the family, I said yes.
That meant, though, that we didn't really have time for the beach. We headed back to the hotel, unpacked, and went to Sooey's BBQ in Corolla for dinner. It was seriously tasty. Scott and the kids had the ribs, I went for the fried chicken. Then, a quick stop at the grocery store for some basic provisions for the hotel room, and we were heading back to see what was "wild" about night on the beach.
Turns out, the topic of the night was ghost crabs. Everyone say "eeeewwwww". But surprisingly, they're really cool. We happened to have a flashlight with us, and everywhere we pointed it, there were hundreds of little crabs, running all over the sand. Nicky was a bit freaked out, but interested against his will. Kai was even brave enough to pet one of the crabs.
Well, brave enough after Karen, our interpreter held it's claws so it couldn't pinch. Only two families showed up at the walk (although there were supposed to be four or five) so we got to ask lots of questions. We thought the little eyestalks on the crabs were the funniest things.
On the walk back, we got to see the lighthouse we had visited lighting up the night, which delighted the kids. We finally headed to our beds around 10PM. It had been a VERY long day.
The Average American Family Vacation - Days 3 and 4
Our third vacation day was mostly consumed by errands and such - dropping the dog at the kennel, buying sunscreen, yada, yada. But we did hop over to training camp for a little while. We had a nice view of Akers practicing some field goals. But after that, thanks to the throng of people, we pretty much had views of the backs of other fans who were crowding the fence. So, we gave it up for a bad job, and headed home.
On Day Four, we went to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The kids and Scott hadn't seen the King Tut exhibit, so they were very interested. At least for a few rooms. Then, Scott was interested, Kai was trying to be, and Nick was WHINING. He was probably just too young to appreciate the age and significance of the artifacts we were seeing. He did enjoy posing with the fake sarcophagus outside the exhibit. No pictures inside, though, so I can't show you all the beautiful artwork from 3000+ years ago.
Nicky was more interested once we got to the hands on portion of the museum. We made paper, and learned to write in hieroglyphics, and then headed into the electricity exhibit. (Bad pun alert...) Nicky really got a charge out of this exhibit. (Sorry, couldn't resist...)
Another favorite with both kids was the sports challenge. The physics of various sports were demonstrated through exhibits that let the kids climb rock walls, race to start their engines in reaction time cars, spin like a figure skater, balance on a moving surfboard, and test their pitching speed.
Issac Newton's Loft, a room where you could use all kinds of simple machines, and explore physics through hands on exhibits was also a big hit, as was the Franklin Air Show where the kids got to fly paper airplanes, stand in a wind tunnel, board an air force jet, and much more. We all had a great time, and easily spent the entire day there without seeing everything. The Imax theater show was good, although we all agreed the opening Philadelphia travelogue took better advantange of the Imax format (letting us fly over the city, putting us in a fireworks show, etc) than the actual movie on mummies. The planetarium was also nice, although I would have liked to see more stars, and less movie about how the Egyptians used the stars. *shrug* Monday, August 06, 2007
The Average American Family Vacation Day Two
AAFV Day 2 started with a quick trip to Dorney Park. Deciding to focus solely on the water park this trip, we drove in our swimsuits, with a dry change of clothes in a backpack for our day's later adventures. We got there about 9:30, 30 minutes before opening, found ourselves a locker, and waited by the Wild Water Kingdom gates until 10AM.
Our first stop was going to be the Patriot Plunge, so Kairi and I could go down one of the tubeslides. Alas, it was not yet open. I guess lifeguards don't like waking up early. Our second stop was at Riptide Run, a lazy river with a twist (a few slides thrown in). This is a family favorite, although it took the kids two or three trips to be brave enough to go on this without a parent holding onto their tube. After our first trip down, we were able to carry our tubes right back up to the top for a second time around. It's nice going to the water park so early; everyone else is on the dry rides this time of day. (Jenn - Well, not EVERYONE else. There was a pretty big crowd waiting to go in, and some slightly obnoxious teens were riding multiple tubes down the one river. But all in all, it was less crowded than usual, and a very good time was had by all.)
After Riptide Run, we got into another lazy river in the park, Runaway River. Runaway River is a lazy river (tube ride around a basic track of water), with a few waterfalls that come down over your head, just for the added wetness. This is one of everybody's favorite rides in the water park, as evidenced by the smiling faces of the kids in the picture above and the rare photo of Jenn below. It's unfortunate that I am so bad with a camera, which is why Jenn is not in more family pictures (she does the photography in the family). (Jenn - Actually, that's not a bad picture, except that it has me in it....)
We ended up going around a second time, but only after having to actually get off and ride this time and get back in line (despite the fact that there wasn't a line). After floaty relaxing trip number two, we headed to the newer of the park's two wave pools.
First it was just me and the kids in the water, but soon Jenn also came in. (Jenn - That's cause I gave up on finding a place to put our towels and dumped them on the ground. Turns out that giant crowd at the gates had run over and staked out all the lounge chairs...) We got to swim around in some calm water, and then the waves started. The wavepool actually made us wish we had left already for the Outer Banks (that's not until Day 5), because then we wouldn't be counting on a machine for our waves. This water, however, isn't nearly as salty. Kai and Nick swam and jumped, and I got into the action with some underwater shenanigans. The underwater picture I think came out well, considering Jenn took the waterproof camera and shoved it under the water and clicked. (Jenn - I'm always afraid of losing my contacts if I open my eyes to take pictures underwater.)
After the wave pool, Kairi and I finally got a chance to go on Patriot Plunge (and Jenn and Nick went on Riptide Run again). This is a tube slide with three chutes to chose from (red, white, and blue, hence the name). Both Kairi and I picked the blue chute, which is fully closed the entire way down. It was my first time on any kind of water slide (outside a small neighborhood pool type slide), and I definitely had fun on the way down. The way up wasn't such fun, since I'm afraid of heights. I think the fact that I couldn't see a blasted thing helped make me like the ride. That way I couldn't tell how far up I was. :) (Jenn - Suuuure, he'll go on this when his daughter says it's not that bad. I've been trying to get him on waterslides for years. I would have joined them, but there's no way Nicky would attempt the slide. *shrug*)
After Patriot Plunge, we got back to our locker, which we gave to another family for the price of our deposit + $1 (that way they get their deposit back at the end of the day and basically spend $1 on the locker, and we get $1 more than our deposit plus we didn't have to stand in line to return our locker key!). We dried off, changed, and headed for Part 2: Musikfest. (Jenn - Blah, blah.... Mr. Attention to Detail here.... *wink*)
Musikfest is music festival in our area that started in 1984 after the collapse of the local steel industry. While I liked it as a younger kid, I started to get sick of it when it got to be more in my way than fun. As an adult, I've basically gone twice every year to grab lunch during my working hours, but besides that, the family has tried to avoid the festival at all costs. This year, we decided to brave the festival, since we thought the kids might enjoy the music.
So we parked in a parking lot about 5 miles out, and for $6, took a bus into the heart of Musikfest. This was better than paying $10 - $20 in parking close to the festival (assuming we could find parking).
The Musikfest organization had a treasure hunt going on for the kids this year. If they went to certain information booths, they could color in places on their maps. Each station had a different wonder of the world (Great Wall of China, Statue of Liberty, etc.) If they found every place, they got a prize. This started out fun, but as the heat started to bake our brains, and the sheer number of tourists got in our way, the treasure hunt turned us all into crabs instead of pirates. of course, it didn't help that the map was wrong and two treasure hunt stations were at the same information booth...
With one place on the map left to go, we decided to walk up from where we were (the historic part of town, with some colonial-era buildings) up to Main Street where a trombone quartet was playing. After a bit of a hike up the hill, I ran into a friend from work. We chatted for a few minutes, but then I caught up to Jenn and the kids, who were already sitting and listening to the trombones. After the second song, Jenn thought we should check out the comedy stunt artist, Jonathan Burns. (To be honest, this left me slightly annoyed. We came to listen to music, didn't we?) (Jenn - Actually, this was the KIDS. Where they were sitting, they could see him juggling fire, and for some reason, found that more intriguing than listening to trombones. Hmmm... Can't imagine why...)
Jon Burns was pretty funny. He was a contortionist, juggler, and all around geek. There wasn't anything spectacular about his show, (Jenn - Yeah, because Scott juggles with a barbecue fork, a knife (which you can see getting ready to fly under his leg here), and a flaming torch ALL the time...) but it was cute. After the stunt show was done, we headed back down to the historic area to listen to a Celtic/Blue Grass band from California called Sligo Rags.
The drummer and fiddler weren't bad, but the accents were fake, and it's wasn't really easy to hear the vocals half the time. (Jenn - Maybe because the volume on the instruments was eardrum shattering. Which I wouldn't have a problem with. At a rock concert. But when you're listening to Celtic Bluegrass, it hardly seems apropos. As Scott said, they were okay, but not very exciting.) They did cover Dirty Old Town, which was nice. But, by this time, everybody but me was sunburned, and the insects were bothering Nicky. It was sometime mid-afternoon (4PM, I think, but I couldn't say for sure, since the cellphone got left in the car), and we decided to have dinner. I was hoping for a rendition of Wild Rover, but if they did play it I don't know. They probably would have mangled it anyway.
The kids and I each got an ear of roasted corn from Aw, Shucks. I get this corn every year when I come down for lunch. The corn is roasted in its outer leaves, then shuckec and covered in butter, seasoning, and paraseam cheese. Jenn, Kairi, and I also each got a shish-kebab from Hogar Crea (which is also part of my normal Musikfest lunch), who have been making shish-kebabs and curry chicken at Musikfest as far back as I could remember. While the meat was a little tough, it wasn't too bad. (Jenn - Aw, Scott. Don't you think you should mention, for the sake of the unintiated, just what our three ears of corn, three shish-kebabs, and two diet cokes cost us? Try $29. Urgh.)
After dinner, it was time to finish up the treasure hunt and to catch Keith Leaf, firejuggler, who was performing down by the kid's area (Banana Island). He dropped a few balls during a early part of the show, but by the time he got to the fire juggling, he was doing pretty well. Nicky liked the fire juggling best. (Jenn - So did I.)
After the fire juggler, we finally were able to finish the treasure hunt, only to be told we had to wait for someone from Musikfest to get back with more prizes. We sat for about 20 minutes while Kairi and Nicky colored in some huge puzzle pieces of the world. Once or twice I snuck over to one of the radio station tents, where they had a misting fan set up. At last, the volunteer arrived with the prizes, which was a small goody bag filled with markers and activity books and other cool crayola stuff. (Jenn - It was a pretty decent goody bag, considering it was free, and the kids didn't feel cheated after all their hard work finding the stations. I was worried while we waited all that time that it would be some little dollar store type item and they'd be disappointed.)
All in all, it wasn't the best day of our vacation, but they that tends to happen at least once per trip. The weather isn't going to always cooperate, and crowds can make anyone testy. We had a great time at Wild Water Kingdom, and we did learn one thing: Yes, Virginia, we do indeed hate Musikfest (although I'll probably keep coming during lunch breaks next year...). (Jenn - Well, you're welcome to it during any lunch break you like, dear. Scott was very diplomatic - I was probably the least happy, but mainly because I could see that the kids weren't very happy, and I wasn't thrilled with the fact that you had to walk past 50 concession booths for every one act (musical or otherwise) that you saw. At any rate, I'm glad this particular vacation afternoon is history.)
Saturday, August 04, 2007
The Average American Family Vacation Day One
Well, we're one day into our vacation, and already nothing is going according to plan. But that's okay, we're on vacation!
We got up this morning at some ghastly early hour (Scott: 7AM isn't that bad!) so that Scott and Kairi could drag (Scott: take, there was no "dragging" involved. Well, maybe with Nick) us all to Eagles Training Camp again. However, upon driving to the field, we discovered a few thousand fans already in possession of the viewing areas. Turns out getting there by 8 AM is just not early enough. (Okay, so it was 8:13. That's still pretty early for a vacation morning, in my opinion. Unless, you know, Mickey is waiting for me.) (Scott: Oh, I see! Disney is more important than the Eagles!)
So, we decided to NOT go to training camp today and shifted to the Philadelphia Zoo instead. So, off we went to Philly (Scott: Without a map, but that's OK because we were just there two weeks earlier).
Isn't that a lovely view? Wondering how we got such a lovely view in a basically flat area of Pennsylvania? Look up...
That's Kairi and me up there... floating 400 feet over the Delaware (Scott: While I worry my head off) in a beautiful hot air balloon. (Okay, so it's a helium balloon - but it LOOKS like a hot air balloon!) Freakin' amazing, isn't it? Oh, but don't look down....
I warned you! That's Scott and Nicky, WAY down there. Can't see them? Oh, they're the dots on the reddish walkway headed back toward the circle. That cable tethering the balloon looks kinda smallish in this picture, don't you think?? (Scott: YES!) Here's a shot I took later of the balloon itself.
Nicky and Scott couldn't be coaxed (Scott: suckered) up on the balloon for love or money, but Nicky was thrilled to finally get to ride the swan boats. He's too short for them at Dorney, and he's always wanted to ride on them.
Lest you think we spent the whole day on rides, however, don't worry. The zoo completely lived up to it's billing that you can "get within inches of the wild". Actually, I think this lorikeet might be even closer that that (Scott: I, meanwhile, was safely outside the fenced in bird house).
Odd. I've never taken a picture of my hand before. But then, I generally don't have multicolored birds on my arm, either. Speaking of unusual, this Amur Leopard usually paces back and forth in front of the glass in Carnivore Kingdom. But it was brutally hot today, so I don't blame him for wanting to lounge around. Besides, since he was staying in one place, I actually got a decent picture of him this trip.
In the exhibit next door, we also got up close to this crocodile. Kind of a creepy stare he's giving us, though.
But nothing tops this Tamarind (and his family). We were walking out of the primate house (after being highly entertained by some very lively spider monkeys) when I spotted this guy in a tree. Yup. That's his cage. Behind him. I said "Hold on, he's out of his cage!" when a docent invited us down a little path. Swinging back and forth above us were four of these guys. Turns out, they're territorial, and once they mark their territory, they tend to stay in it. So the zoo lets them out between 10 and 4 each day (Scott: Fortunately, my keeper lets me out longer than that! Jenn: What is THAT supposed to mean?). It doesn't hurt, however, that they all have radio collars, which another docent demonstrated for us.
Even the animals in their cages were meandering up close, though. Especially when we first got there at opening, a lot of the animals were active and eating. Even though we were just at the zoo in July, it was a great adventure to start off our vacation!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Sweet Detour
Hello. One doughnut is NOT like another! It's probably a REALLY REALLY good thing, given my metabolism (which is as slow as
mud) that Krispy Kremes are pretty hard to come by in my area. Sure, a few gas stations sell them, but they're not on my way anywhere, so I rarely pick any up. Still, when you absolutely need incredibly sugary fat, there's nothing quite like them! (Yes, I know, that sounds disgusting. Oddly, it's not.)
Pieces of Us
It's been a week with a little something for everyone here. We finished up VBS, and were happy with the program - attendance and the reaction of the congregation were both great. The children really glorified God throughout the week, but their closing program was fabulous and inspiring.
As soon as VBS was over, I took off for CKC - the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge. I got to meet an on-line friend (Jill) for the first time, and she was such a sweetheart! We had a lot of fun scrapping together and chatting. Here's a shot of us at our (round?!?!) crop table. I also got WAY too much fun scrapping stuff that helped me finish 13 layouts for this week's Scrapathon. 
Scott's turn was next, although it was a bit unfair he had to wait, as his birthday was on the last day of VBS and I kept the poor guy working all day!! Paid him back on Saturday though - we first headed to a special birthday lunch at Red Robin....
And then went straight to Lehigh for Eagles training camp!! Scott had a GREAT time watching the Eagles practice. (Well, some of them anyway - most of the veterans aren't back yet.) The neatest thing about training camp, in my opinion, is how close fans get to the action. How much would you have to pay for a view as close as this fan is getting at an actual game??
Meanwhile, the kids and I checked out the NFL Experience area - which is basically a huge, free, playland with climbing and sliding and pushing through defenders, plus throwing and catching footballs , and of course, that pastime of wealthy football players - golf!
Seriously, though, we had a great time, and the kids had their pictures taken with "McNabb" (in cardboard form) and made into buttons. Of course, Nicky managed to knock the McNabb cutout down TWICE. Good thing we hadn't told anyone Nicky and I are really Packers fans.... *whistles innocently*
We're glad to have number five back!
Next was Kairi's turn for some fun. After we revisited the VBS closing program as special music on Sunday, Kai and her good friend Dekonte (who moved, but was back in town for VBS) had a sleepover. We headed to the Promenade for some shopping and fountain splashing, and to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Nicky even wore his quidditch costume, to the stares of passerby.
The next day, we headed to the playground at Sand Island to enjoy the sun and a last few hours with Dekonte. Then, my house was blessedly free of company and to-do lists for a few days. (We LOVED all our company, but it's nice to have a bit of quiet, too, ya know!)
Now, I promised a little something for each of us, and you may be thinking, what about Nicky? Here's the thing. Nicky is so easy going that everything pleases him. Everywhere we went, he had fun. Last night, we went to Dorney and rode a very wet ride in the dark for no reason. He was grinning like crazy and singing "Don't Go for the One" all the way off the ride. But the thing that tickled him the most this weekend tells you something about my crazy, adorable little boy. Kairi is happiest surrounded by friends... I'm happy surrounded by paper and photos.... Scott's happy immersed in football.... but Nicky will laugh for a week on a little picture we like to call "Cat and Mouse".
Would it be nice if everyone were so easily amused??
