Our Beach Trip Part 1

We went to Corolla this year for our Beach Trip.  We normally stay in Duck however I did not book our trip until later and we liked this house in Corolla the best.  We lucked out, the beach was so gorgeous.  Apparently right in front of our community was less crowded, you look either way about a 1/8 of mile each way and there are a lot more people.

We decided to split up the trip and booked a hotel the night before in an area about 90 min from Corolla.  If you can get onto Duck highway prior to the mass entrance of all the vacationers then you are set.  If you don't, then you sit for hours..  So we got to Corolla about 10 ish, drove around, had lunch, and watched the movie Pete's Dragon.  It was excellent.  We also discovered a movie theater in Corolla that apparently had been there for years.  Good to know, you know after vacationing down here for 7 years!!

We did walk around the Corolla light house area.  Celia was tired and up and down with emotions, this was happy.  We like happy Celia.  Miss Audrey below was just hanging out looking pretty.

The day after we arrived Pete rented this scooter car.  He decided to drive it in a 45 mph zone and made a lot of people irritated but the girls had fun.  Audrey did decide that it did not go fast enough and her ride was short.

Our beach was gorgeous but there was one problem.  The water up and down the east coast has been warm, in the 80s.  For some odd reason the outer banks water temp was primarily in the low 60s until the last 2 days of our trip.  The girls did not seem to mind however it was literally numbing.  I could tell the difference between 61 and 65.

Our Beach Trip Part 2

This is just to show how big and how not crowded our section of the beach looked

Celia had her fill of boogie boarding this year and Audrey learned how to do it too!

I took Celia out for our Mommy and Me date together and she opted for an ice-cream (with lactaid tablets!) and a little tiny ty elephant as a treat.  We shopped around for a short time but it was very hot.

Auds and I had our little Mommy and Me date the next day.  In her hand is her little Tiny Ty named Spangle.  Audrey opted for Chocolate Chip Gelati and some relaxing in the hammock.  It was even hotter when we went out!  

I think this was the best picture I got of the two girls the whole trip!  

We did go out for lunch in Duck one afternoon at a mexican place we have visited for the past few vacations.  We also enjoyed walking the boardwalk and taking in the sights and shops a little bit.

The girls love the Pegasus horses all over the shop area.

In the spirit of the Olympics

Audrey is the one swimming in the pink cap closest to the camera. She I think was the only 5 year old in the group, the rest were 6. But Auds for whatever reason will take breaths every 5 strokes or so and breath to the side at our indoor Y pool. Outside, she needs LOTS of air and needs to look to the sky. I am not going to question it, I am just thankful she is water safe at this age.

That time it Monsooned at League Championships

So I did pay attention to the forecast for Friday and Saturday which was Celia's swim league championships.  Friday at first seemed like the worst day.  When we woke up it was pouring, just drenching, soaking rain.  They moved warm ups to 7:15 vs 7:00 so that was nice and by the time we go to the pool it had stopped raining and the sun eventually came out and then it was HOT.   This is a 2 day morning and evening meet.  Audrey hung out with me at the meet for morning and evening.  Luckily Pete did make it for a good part of the evening sessions.

5th place in Breast stroke

Celia hung in there.  This was a new experience for her and the weather really did not make it easier.  It rained a little bit in between sessions on Friday however nothing big and it really was an okay day.  The best part of it was that Celia placed 9th in freestyle (received a ribbon) and 5th in breast (a medal).  That was very exciting.   The meet was fun.  There were some awesome races.

Then Saturday came.  I thought Sat was the better day.  Umm…. Not so much.  The morning session was not awful, hot, but we made it through and Celia's relay team did awesome.  Celia also swam backstroke but she did not make it to finals, which was perfectly okay.  So onto the evening session.  It monsooned in between the morning and evening sessions.  By the time 3:00 rolled around and it was time to go for warm ups it was not raining.  I was hopeful.   Warm ups were completed and then it started to rain again.  There is an award ceremony prior to the start of the evening finals and one of those awards is my father's sportsmanship award.  My Mom, Celia, and I helped hand out that award.  But by that point it was hard to hear or see due to the pouring rain.   There had been no thunder so the meet went on.  My mom left because it was MONSOONING and I joined some very nice Mom's to ride out the meet.  I told Pete to forget it.

Poor Celia tried to keep warm and dry.  At one point I looked at the sky and just told her, go pack up all your stuff and be ready to leave.  "Why Mom?"  Because it is going to thunder and a few minutes later, we were told to go to our cars.

riding out the thunder

League champs do not get rescheduled.  We waited the appropriate time and then even though it was still pouring, we wondered back into the pool and proceeded with the events.  I left Celia and attempted to see if my car would make it out of the parking lot.  You see everyone parked in the grass and it was now mud.  With some luck, some help from two people pushing my car, I made it out.  I then parked in a nearby neighborhood.  As I walked back, at least 5 cars were attempting to get out and they were very stuck.  It was quite the scene.

I made it back into the pool area and Celia and I hung out until it was time for her to swim.  She did a strong freestyle and her teammates did an amazing job.  They earned their 4th place medal in the rain…

Thank you to all those coaches that stood there soaked.  Everyone did an amazing job and it was a memory making event.  I actually had a great time and Celia will remember the time she swam in a monsoon.  Audrey will remember the food.

Our Mini Champs Star

Tonight we went to see Audrey swim in Mini Championships.  It was the first meet that Celia did not swim in so it was just Audrey and she did an awesome job.  She shaved 20+ seconds off of her freestyle and backstroke time and she swam in a relay.   She made it to the podium twice in free and back and we are so proud of our little fish.

Backstroke (they get the ribbons later, these make for better photos)

Freestyle

Her backstroke, she is the one in the completely navy suit and light pink cap

She made some friends and talked to a few coaches this year.  It has been a great season for her. 

What a commitment the coaches have for this team.  Many of the coaches have been part of this league since they were kids. On to league champs with Celia in a little more then a week.

July 19th

You can look back at my past 7/19 posts.  

Dad, we are knee deep in swimming this year.  We are unexpectedly headed to league champs this year.  At first Celia chose camp over it and I was more then OK with that.  Adding an extra week of practice and attending a 2 day swim meet (morning and possibly evening) is not quite exciting to me.  Her friend and her coaches changed her mind and she can still go to 3 days of camp.  She will simply practice for 1 day and attend camp for 3 days.  I guess sort of the best of both worlds.  She will have fun hanging out with her friends.  I love that they are part of the team and feel supported (that was a priority for you) but it is a long haul in the summer.

Life is good.  All your Grandkids are together this week.

Audrey is my comedian.  I think of you when she does things like the above.

She would have made my you laugh all the time and I have a feeling it would have been a mutual relationship.  

The older one would just amaze you.  She is bright, loves to read, and is just basically turning into a young lady.  Her personality is forming and you can see some passions starting to form.  Dad, you would have loved watching them grow.

News

She swam in her first swim meet last weekend (Big Sis swam too and did awesome in her 4 events)

But the biggest news of the week is that Audrey successfully ate Oats this week with no reaction.  No food restrictions anymore.  I know that seems silly to celebrate but any parent with a child who has food restrictions/allergies understands!

FPIES can kick it!