North Carolina!!

A month ago I used my vacation time and flew out to Charlotte to see Kierstin and Sterling! I missed my first flights because of the INSANE lines at the airport. The line to check in at Southwest was a TWO HOUR line add that on to the security line, I was screwed. So, I was re-booked for the next day, which was a total bummer. But I made it there!

(This was the security line, on my second try to get in the air)

 Once I got there we drove out to the Outer Banks and had a fun week camping!

I got to sit next to this cute girl for six hours! :)





 

The first day we went to see the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kittyhawk

A memorial to what the first flight looked like

 On top of The Big Kill Devil Hill

 My buddy Griff flying his kite (with my sunglasses, it was very bright)

 Mesha Mae and her kite!

The location where the first flight took off! (Look at those cute kids with me!)

 The Smiths!

 Mesha was my model at each landing spot. The Wrights had four successful flights that day. There are these stones placed at the distance marker for each flight..

Pretty neat huh? Well Kierst and I liked it!! :)

 

Later that afternoon we went to the aquarium

and kissed some otters!

 

I didn't take any pictures of our first campsite, but I did manage to get a picture of our two campsite pets!

 

The next day, we went to Jockey Ridge State Park where they have some pretty cool sand dunes, unfortunately I didn't take my camera due to the fact that sand + camera = no good.

 

We then took off for our second campsite at the KOA, but we made a few stops..

 Sisters!!!

The KOA was pretty cool, it had a bouncy pillow..

and the CUTEST little cabins and beach houses..I wanted to take one home with me!!

 Our campsite (complete with tarp and duct tape, against Kierstin's wishes)

 It's hard to tell, but that flood line is pretty high (it's on the inside of the hallway of the picture below) The hurricane pretty much destroyed the whole KOA.

 

We had our Nights in Rodanthe, and told some pretty funny campfire stories and roasted some marshmellows!

 

We spent one day exploring...so we drove down to Cape Hatteras and saw the light house.

 Sterling, Mesha and I got to climb it, it was REALLY cool..

 from the top

 

 That spot at the bottom is Kierstin Griff and Anya!

 Not that you care, but the lighthouse was actually moved and it's a pretty cool feat if you think about it. This is the tallest lighthouse in the country and the tallest brick lighthouse in the world.

 The site of the original location. It has a circle of stones with names of the lightkeepers on it.

(P.S. this is the light house on the cover of one of Nicholas Sparks' book!)

 

 One night we went to the beach! This is my feet touching the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time! It was so amazingly warm!

 We caught a crab!!

 This is the cover of the book "Nights in Rodanthe" in person it was much more colorful and pretty

The sand turned our feet a black color, it was really weird!

We had a day at the pool..

 Anya catching some rays :)

The kids found a train that would go around the KOA and they loved it!

Friday, we were back in Charlotte but took a day trip to have lunch in South Carolina (so I could say I have been there)

The farmers market had some familiar contents :)

 I bought some of these...so yummy!

 The night before I left, we had some fun catching lightning bugs!!

 Downtown Charlotte!

To avoid the risk of over burdening you with pictures (especially ones already on Kierstin's blog) I will end this now, but if you want to see more..just let me know! :)

 

But to make a very long story short, it was VERY FUN!

Thank you Smiths for letting me come play with you!!!