Oh my goodness it’s been forever since my last Love It! Hate it! column! After my recent vacation with my family I thought it would be the perfect topic! To give you a little background we have been taking vacations to Nags Head, NC since I was a kid. We used to split the vacation homes with friends and I can remember lots of kids running around hunting for ghost crabs, visiting the Wright Brothers Memorial (I still have my patch from this) and learning more about OBX through the kid’s ranger program. We always stayed right on the beach which has completely spoiled my sister and I. Seriously if you mention staying a block or two away from the beach we look at you like you’ve sprouted a second head. How can you sit out on the deck and watch the waves crash from a block away? Yes we are spoiled! Beach vacations were about going to the beach and playing in the water with a few special activities thrown in. Our last family vacation was back in 2005 and I only remember this because David and I had just started dating. So we were long overdue! Anyway here are some traditions of our family vacations!
Love It!
1. Putt Putt! First thing when we get into town as we drive down the main drag is to start scoping out the putt putt places. It’s gotta be the biggest baddest putt putt course to bring us in! This year we went with a pirate course complete with a pirate ship! In the past I have been the putt putt champion in the house complete with scoring hole in ones and as a kid that used to make my sister Michelle so MAD!!! We are talking not speaking to anyone mad! So this year when I got 2 hole in ones in the first couple holes it seemed like history was going to repeat itself. I kind of know my game though and it tends to fall off the more we play so I made sure to be super obnoxious over those two scores because I knew it wouldn’t last. I was right and by the end Michelle won and got a hole in one on the last hole to seal the deal! So she got to be the obnoxious one this time ;). I think I came in 3rd.
2. Seafood Buffet! Typically during vacation we stay at the beach house and cook dinner there every night. The exception is the one night we will go out to a big seafood buffet and gorge ourselves on crab legs! This year we hit up Capt George’s and holy cow there was tons of food!! I tend to have that problem where my eyes are bigger then my stomach so I have to watch how much I load up my plate.
3. Game Night! This is a new tradition and one that tortures my Dad and new brother in law, they hate board games! We played Apples to Apples and the dark horse turned out to be my Dad who came through with some of the funniest answers and then surprised us all when he won the second round! The best card of the night was his response to my brother in law’s card of Misery, Dad chose Board Games which had us all laughing till we cried! If you’ve never played Apples to Apples definitely go pick it up, it is so much fun with friends or family!
Hate It!
1. Hospital Visits! Yeah no one likes a hospital visit especially on the last day of vacation :(. One thing I’ve never been thrilled with at Nags Head is how rough the waves can be. Sure enough it became Waves: 1 My Dad:0. In what has become one of the scariest moments in our lives my Dad got taken out while boogie boarding by a huge wave and had to be pulled from the water by my sister and a random passerby. He was rushed to the hospital where they diagnosed spinal column swelling causing numbness and pain in his hands and feet. He was then taken to Norfolk General and had surgery to replace 3 vertebrae and 2 discs in his neck because of the accident. Thanks be to God that he is okay and came through everything fine. He is stuck in a neck brace for the next couple months while he heals up but he is alive and is regaining full use of his hands and feet pretty quickly. He is now banned from boogie boarding and is only allowed in the water as far as the grandbabies next year which means he will be lucky if he can get his feet wet! I think this qualifies for my number 1 Hate It ever!
Here are a few pics of me at 34 weeks! Thanks sis for taking some pics of me 🙂
