Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina
June 7-14, 2008
Thanks to my parents we enjoyed a week at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina in early June. This is the third year they have rented this house and we always have a great time. My brother Drew and his daughter Emily joined our family and my parents. We were sad that my sister and her family could not come, but they had a really good excuse – my sister gave birth to Milo Juniper Gunderson during our vacation. He was a few weeks early but nothing like his sister’s very early arrival. Milo was born at home just as Nicki had wanted. Unfortunately Nicki had complications after his birth and had to go to the hospital for a day. Although still weak, overall Nicki is recovering well from his birth. Milo is a calm baby and doing well. He is beautiful – check him out at the Newman Gunderson blog. I wonder if they plan to change the name from three part harmony to four part harmony?
The birth of Milo wasn’t the only big family news that happened during our time in Ocean Isle. Sadly my grandparents condo was one of the many homes flooded during the Midwest floods in June. My poor parents spent the entire week trying to enjoy the vacation with two of their children and four of their grandchildren while also feeling like they needed to be in Portland, Oregon to help Nicki and Dan and feeling like they needed to be in Iowa City, Iowa helping Dad’s parents. Dad has since traveled to Iowa to help with clean-up and plans to return with my brother as soon as he returns from visiting the Newman/Gunderson clan in Portland.
During our week at the beach we had unusually hot weather but no rain. We followed our normal pattern of going to the beach in the morning and then using the pool in the afternoon. Now that the girls are older we found that we enjoyed going back to the beach in the evening. The temperature was better and the sun wasn’t hitting you right in the eye.
One of the activities the girls look forward to each year is kite flying. This year my woodworking father made each of the girls a kite string winder. They were fun to use and helped with controlling the kites in the wind.
Dad's kite winder
Grace helps Rachael with kite
Grace loved the ocean and using the boggy board. Every day she got someone to go out with her – Dad, Emily, Uncle Drew and even Mom. Rachael loved to dig holes and hunt for shells and other creatures while Hannah became a great sand castle builder.
Every year I am surprised by what games the girls come up with in the pool. This year they created a “bus” with the foam noodles and took turns being the driver dropping off people and picking them up from the hair salon, grocer, doctor’s office, etc. Sometimes the bus was a taxi when only a few wanted to play. Sometimes Mom or Dad were the driver. They also found that if you put the noodles up to the water sprayers just right you could spray water like a hose. If you were sneaky enough you could use it to hit Dad or Uncle Drew with water. Getting thrown in the pool by mom or thrown in the air in the pool by Uncle Drew was also fun.
The only down side to the trip was Rachael’s poison ivy. It started as a small patch on her cheek that we noticed in the car on the drive down. At first we weren’t sure what it was. By the time we got to Ocean Isle it had started to spread and was on both sides of her face and several places on her body. We tried several over the counter remedies but each day it just got worse. We are so grateful to Uncle (Doctor) Sean who helped us out. After one dose of medication the rash was obviously improving and in 24 hours it was almost gone. Through the whole thing Rachael was a trooper. She didn’t complain and tolerated all the creams, washes, and medicine we tried.
Hannah turned seven during our vacation. To celebrate Ohma made her favorite meal – salmon – for dinner. After dinner we played miniature golf. Nana introduced the girls to putt putt earlier this year and they all enjoy it. Hannah hit more than one whole in one and we all had a good time. It was a great activity for the kids and adults. The weather was a little cooler than it had been earlier in the week and there was a nice breeze. Following golf we went out for ice cream because Hannah doesn’t like cake. Overall I think Hannah had a great day. Of course how can you not have a great birthday at the beach!
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