Duuuuude, Check Those Chairs!

We are all now home safely and soundly from an awesome trip to Ocracoke. A&P flew back to Edmonton on Sunday afternoon.

I think back fondly on our favorite Beach Trip 2008 moments:

• Driving in a leaky Jeep through a torrential downpour
• Thread-bare hammock that barely supported Mike's giant body
• The bikes we rented that were left locked up without the lock combination...
• The Coast Guard officers we ran into at the grocery store
• Ms. Booby Mc.Naked who was topless on the beach (cover up!!)
• The tragedy when we discovered that the Thai restaurant was closed for an extended weekend. And the glee when it re-opened to feed our hungry bellies!
• The dude flying the Confederate flag off the back of his pick-up. WTFork?
• The duck-friend that Penny made, and the Evil Goose who bit Mike's toe

But by far everyone's favorite memory was of 'Dude! Check those chairs!'.

Mike rigged up our beach chairs with bungee cords to hang from the back of the jeep so that we could have more room for the more important beach items (like booze). I know what you are thinking: 'What? Mike was rigging something up?' Yes, of COURSE he was. Anyway, for those who have never been to Ocracoke, the only way on and off the beach is to drive (4 wheel drive needed) on the sand, up a long, sandy road and then onto the beach itself. The ride is rather bumpy and the chairs were bouncing around wildly from the bungees.

So on our way home from the beach one day Jeff Spicoli was driving behind us down the long, bumpy beach road. At the end of the road he caught up to us and yelled out the window (using his best Spicoli impression):
'Duuuuuuuudes check those charrrrs! They are definitely gonna fall!'.

O.M.F.G you would think that this was the single funniest thing that we had ever heard because it became the catch phrase for the rest of the trip. Every time someone would say it we would collapse into gales of laughter.



Thanks for the laughs Spicoli!




'Duuuuuude! Check those charrrrs!'



And this was Penny's hair after the wild, chair-bouncing, beach drive. Duuuude, check that hair! Seriously. Whoa.

Saturday evening we broke out the Guitar Hero.... Penny takes the game quite seriously.



Mike is slightly less serious. But he and Penny spent a very long time trying to beat Slash. And they eventually did!



And I discovered that my brother ROCKS the guitar! I guess a thousand years of violin lessons pay off (eventually). I dare any one of you to challenge him.



'Ooooooooooooooo.....Barracuda!!!!'

While we played, Hudson made a humongous mess with a biscuit.




All that biscuit-eating and guitar-playing makes for tired, tired boys.









Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Rain.....

Driving in the rain in a Jeep with a leaky soft top is not the best
idea to be had. That is all.

Sent from my iPhone

The Hurricane Shuffle

The hurricane shuffle has begun. Is Hanna even coming this way? When will it come? Will the ferry be operational? Will they evacuate the island? Do we leave early? If so, when do we go?

We made a reservation for the Ocracoke to Cedar Island ferry to leave a day early, 7am Friday morning. We are hoping to just barely out run the storm. Mike drove his jeep down but he has taken the hard top off. It only has a bimini top so if it is raining hard, he will be wet! The rest of us will be staying dry in my car.

Yesterday we spent all day at the beach and it was a beautiful day. We all got a little bit burned, but it was awesome. Today we are riding bikes to Ocracoke Coffee, wandering around in the shops and heading back out to the beach again.

Bella is with us. Last night she was exhausted after a day of chasing plovers on the beach. Somehow she even managed to evade the beach police who have yelled at us in years past to 'Get your dogs on leashes!'.

Hanna - are you kidding me?

Here comes Hurricane Hanna. It is not definite, but it does appear that Hanna is directing her eye on the Carolinas. For the time being we are ignoring her and hoping she decides to ruin someone else's beach trip.

Penny feeding H dinner (this is from the previous night). Look how wide he is opening his mouth. He has also started to bang his hand on the tray if the food is not coming fast enough. How polite.

This morning Penny got Hudson dressed. Dressing him is no small feat. Kind of like trying to put a baby octopus into a sack. But Penny eventually succeeded. Baby-zero, Nephrologist -1.

Next we packed up Hudson and his belongings and jumped on the ferry to Cedar Island, then drove to Beaufort to meet up with Ralph and Sandy and do the 'baby hand off'. It was a compromise that Mike and I made regarding the vacation. 4 days of Hudson at the beach, 4 days of NO Hudson at the beach. R&S were so kind to drive to Beaufort (3 hours) to pick him up.

I get sea sick pretty easily, so I need to manage my activity on boats (keep eyes on the horizon, limit my movement, deep breaths of fresh air, etc.).

But Hudson wanted none of that.

And thought it would be way more fun (for him) to pull my hair.

Not even putting my hair in a ponytail deterred him.

Family self portrait. It's Mike's fault his head is cut off, being a giant and all.

We arrived in Beaufort. What an awesome little town, although Mike and his folks all separately remarked that it seems to be getting a little run down. Bummer.

Mike is a really good photographer, but can almost never get the camera out of my hands these days. We had no Hudson on the return trip to Ocracoke, so I relinquished the camera. He snapped some nice photos.

Back on the Island....

Ocracoke!

We arrived on Ocracoke late Saturday evening. We've been having a great time with Anthony and Penny and really haven't had any time to post. I have taken some pictures and a few videos so here they are:

Hudson's first time at the beach!

Tonight Penny fed Hudson and put him to bed. When I came downstairs after a shower Penny had the little man all settled and in his PJs. Then he fell asleep on her shouler. These are my favorite pictures from the trip so far.