5, 12, 16, and 22

These aren't the winning lotto numbers, these are the ages I was when I met the 4 other adults I joined for vacation this summer. As my girl would say... for realz!

As teenagers, we used to hang out at Lake Thoreau in Reston, VA. You know, while listening to OMD, Erasure, Steve Miller, etc., wearing Croakies with our Tom Cruise looking shades, and hiding beer in the water. Well, I just bought 2 new pairs of Croakies (because I really don't want to lose my prescription shades), our kids can fetch us the beer, and I have the Best of Erasure on my iPod. Now we're even better at hanging out at the lake or the beach because we know how precious that time really is.

Our first beach trip was probably Ocean City, MD in high school. No comment. We upgraded to renting houses along the Outer Banks, including Duck, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and Rodanthe, until we started having kids. This year we had a short window of time, so we rented a fantastic house at Lake Gaston. But our favorite is still our almost annual week at Ocean Isle Beach in southern NC. We always stay on the west end and really love to be oceanfront, with a pool as the kicker. You know, it is important to have that secondary rinse after spending all day on the beach.

View of Ocean Isle Beach from The Isles

Our vacations together go something like this with small variations dependent on the location:

• drink coffee on the porch in pjs until 10ish while kids do something somewhere else (a little fuzzy what they do)
• command all in the house to put on bathing suits
• step over and around cereal on the floor to find beach bags with sunblock and go through a few cans coating everyone sufficiently to spend hours and hours in the sun
• establish our base camp on the beach
• toss copious quantities of chips at the kids every so often to keep them fortified
• boogie board and play in the water 
• dig lots of holes, paths, hot tubs, dams in the sand and make drip castles
• discuss ice cream flavor selection for later in the day
• keep eyes peeled for Sunset Slush (on the beach at Ocean Isle) - must be loyal to ONLY the yellow and white striped umbrella, no others will do - and dance around while it takes another hour to make it to your part of the beach once it has been spotted
• take a late afternoon dip in the pool to rinse off the sand
• road trip to Calabash Creamery - must be loyal to the cows (drive right on by the creamery in Ocean Isle... wannabe) - waking kids upon arrival
• enjoy ice cream in the rocking chairs on the porch
• take annual pictures of kids by the cows
• discuss tomorrow's ice cream flavor 
• drive back to Ocean Isle
• feed kids something for dinner, doesn't really matter what because you are on vacation
• order takeout for adults from Causeway (the BELT is the best, unless you are in the mood for the Avo Pavo or The Blue Beast) or the Jamaican place (fall off the bone ribs, coconut shrimp, or even goat). 
• drink wine* on the porch while kids do something somewhere else (again a little fuzzy what they do)
• send kids to bed
• drink wine on the porch
• eat Brian's famous snack mix**
• drink wine on the porch
• laugh laugh laugh and appreciate that this is the kind of relaxation you only get with those you've known for most of your life

We are ridiculously predictable. And we are perfectly happy with that.

*May be substituted with margaritas, dependent on the year and the diets.
**May contain nuts. May also contain Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos, pretzels, Goldfish, and any other salty crunchy type stuff that can be found in the stash of vacation munchies.

Our crew on the front porch at Calabash Creamery

Annual pic with Scoop and Dip at Calabash Creamery