4th of July at the Beach

We spent the weekend at the beach. Some friends invited us to stay with them at a family home about 15 minutes from Emerald Isle. It was so fun!  The weather was perfect. High 80's with a breeze, no sweltering humidity! This is Noah and Jason walking along the boardwalk in Beaufort, a quaint old fishing and port town. I LOVED it.

Also in Beaufort. (Which I learned you pronounce Bowfert if you don't want to be mistaken for a Yankee)

The beach was so beautiful! The water was around 80 degrees, the kids had friends to play with which means virtually no fighting and we had 4 adults so the grown ups could take turns going out to swim and play themselves. I forgot my camera on Sat. the 3rd, I have never seen a more crowded beach! It literally was FILLED with people enjoying the holiday weekend.  A pod of dolphins swam by, they surfaced repeatedly for about 5 minutes and the kids all got a good look. Pretty amazing. Jason was out in the water and a ton of people freaked out thinking they were sharks.

This is the Cape Lookout lighthouse. It is on an island in the outer banks, you have to take a ferry to get there. Jason and I were thinking sedate slow ride, but it was super fast and bumpy and the kids had a ball! We saw some wild horses on one of the islands from the ferry. There was no way my little point and shoot was going to get a good picture, but Jason reminded me that everyone knows what a horse looks like. On the ride back the horses were out in the water, about up to their knees. I thought it was funny that even the horses were out enjoying the water.

We went to fireworks in the little town we were staying in but we didn't fit a parade in. It was a little sad for Grace and I. I think Jason was excited about the beach vacation to get out of going to a parade! Every Independence Day I feel an extra measure of gratitude for our amazing country.

Happy Fourth of July!