Nags Head 2012

this year we vacationed with friends instead of my family.  most of the assembled were families with kids roughly the same age as ours.  it can get a little loud and crazy with lots of kids in the house, but b/c their ages were so similar they mostly played together and kept each other entertained, which i think makes it TOTALLY worth it.  there were 3 kids who were 7-8 years old, 2 five year olds, 1 four year old, and 2 three year olds.  and though he was too little to play with the others, there was also a 7 month old.  we found a decent 5 bedroom house, across the beach road, very close to the beach access, with a swimming pool.  the house wasnt one of the nicer homes we had ever stayed in, but the location to the beach and shops was ideal, and, by the time we got to booking it,  it was the best one offered that close to the beach that had a swimming pool, without paying beachfront prices (not that any beachfront homes were even left to rent by late spring.  we should probably look at booking a house in the winter to get a slightly better selection of available homes. )

there's nicer homes in corolla/corova/southern shores etc, but this year, i really didnt want to be stuck cooking meals every day, so we picked nags head specifically for the proximity to a plethora of restaurants with plans to eat out for as many meals as possible (thank you, DH, for being so accommodating with this!  it was the MOST relaxing OBX trip i've even been on as a result!).  it was hard to eat so many meals out...i never thought i'd ever say this, but you do get tired of eating out after a spell.  we had a few lunches in and i think that helped break it up a tad.  

as for the house itself, i didnt have too many problems with the house, really.  it wasnt a BAD house, but certainly NOT the nicest one.  the kitchen was a little on the smallish, plain side.  there was only one fridge, pushed up against a small pantry closet.  the tv in the family room was kind of smallish compared to others we've had.  it would have been nice to have had a bathtub in all the bathrooms, but ours had only a shower, which isnt really ideal with little kids.  beach rd got busy at times so that made backing your car out a bit harrowing.  and of course all the chef's knives were dull as planks, as is typical in these homes...i thought of bringing my own knives, but didnt plan to cook so much this trip, so i left it at home.  such a mistake.  and i think DH would have liked foosball in the house.  but all that was easily forgiven, because it was just across from the beach, lots of shopping, outlets, restaurants, jockey's ridge, wright bros museum, mini golf, etc. were all close by, and the pool/hot tub were decent.  really those are the most important aspects of spending a week at the beach for me, so i thought the accommodations were doable.    

DH and i wondered prior to our trip how everyone would get along.  for the most part, none of the families knew each other, except for us.  they were all friends of ours, that is, and pretty much strangers with each other.  we knew we liked each family and would enjoy vacationing with them and their kids, but werent sure how the dynamics would play out amongst the families.  i think everyone was friendly, but i imagine it wasnt the most comfortable of situations to be thrust in a house together for a week with mostly strangers and just DH and me as the common thread.  eesh.  surprisingly, it was probably the most civil beach trip i've even been on.  LOL.  usually we go with my family and every one is inevitably at each other's throats!  HA!  >.<  there were a few awkward moments, but all in all, not a bad trip for us (not sure how the other families remember it!)

most of the week, the kids swam in the pool or played at the beach, many days for hours on end.  by mid week they were as dark as Usain Bolt. ozzy's swimming has been steadily improving.  i am going to make sure to keep that momentum going and sign him up for pee wee 3 swimming this fall.

DH and the guys got in a couple of days of golf and i got to go to the outlets a couple of times with the ladies. on one visit to the outlets, we planned to pick up some mexican food for dinner on the way back.  we asked the locals at the outlet and got very conflicting answers.  seems there's a battle btwn Plaza Azteca vs La Fogata.  some locals were loyal to La Fogata which it seems to have history with the locals and others said Plaza Azteca was newer and better.  we didnt get to do a side by side comparison and went with Plaza Azteca, even tho La Fogata was closer to the outlets.  i thought it was okay.

we took some of the kids out to play mini golf after dinner one night.  it was a fun, but loooooong.  with so many large groups playing through, it took a while before the groups in front played each hole and then for our group of 4 kids and two adults to play through.  ozzy was tired by the 8th hole and announced, i'm tired of golf.  i hate it.  lol.  he hung in there though and finished all 18 holes.  it helped that each hole had some interesting feature that helped to draw him back into the game.  

we had dinner at Millers Waterfront restaurant on one night with the Obias family.  the sunset was lovely and the kids enjoyed watching as the sun slipped down past the horizon from the gazebo at the end of the pier while the adults had drinks and we waited for our table. we watched some para-surfers flying over the calm waters of the Sound.  the weather was perfect.  very relaxing.  the food there was okay.  i got the prime rib which was good, but half was meat and the other half was a giant block of fat.  meh.  at first, i confused it with Sunset Grill in Duck, which i fondly remember dining out on their large open deck with DH and my sisters/cousins, watching the sun set, many long years ago.  i hope we get a chance to do that again some day. 

i wanted to try out Tortuga's Lie another night, which was well reviewed, but the wait to get in was way too long.  the night we wanted to go they had an hour and a half wait.  on wednesday nights they have sushi at dinner time and late night sushi after 10 pm.  vince and DH came home with some for Sharon and me while we plowed thru yet another puzzle into the wee hours of the night.  it was the best thing ever.  seriously.  never enjoyed sushi quite so much.  lol.   (thanks, DH, for the sushi.  it was awesome!)

weather was mostly good, though we did have a few rainy days.  Mimi's favorite day was visiting Jockey's Ridge.  we ate yummy bbq and collards at Sooey's across the street from the dunes.  picked up a kite from Kitty Hawk kites.  and spent a fun evening on the dunes.  i was hoping to see the sun set, but storm clouds moved in rather quickly with lightning strikes hitting the ground in the distance and chased us off the park just before the sun set.  definitely something i want to go back and do another day!  i dont know if it was because the storm was moving in, or because we were so high up, but it is very windy up at the top of the dunes, and as the sun sets the winds get quite chilly.   i packed some lightweight jackets/sweaters for the kids but we didnt get to stay long enough to use them.  i wish i had packed a back pack, it would have made carrying water bottles easier.  i almost packed a picnic to eat on the dunes and in retrospect i'm glad Vince talked me out of it.  the winds were blowing small particles of sand everywhere.  eat that!  yuck.  it is definitely a good place to fly kites, though!  i bought a big parrot kite that flew easily.  Rudy had trouble getting his up, which precipitated quite a few off color jokes about medication being able to help with that. 

(*also, its really important that every one showers after a visit to jockey's ridge.  you get minute grains of sand all over your hair and body.  it made for a gritty bed, otherwise.  doh!)

on thursday night, the guys went to The Pit (a surf shop/club) which is owned by a JMU alum that the guys knew, while the ladies stayed in.  we ate some yummy chili dogs with chili that ardra made.  i dressed it up the way my mom used to get 'em at the mall from Orange Julius when i was a kid...chili, cheese, ketchup, mustard, relish.  i think she used to get onions on it, but i omitted them and added jalapenos and sauerkraut instead.  SO good.  had to eat that bad boy with a fork!  then after dinner, ardra showed us a fascinating game called Carcassonne.  i think i'm hooked.  and of course there's an app for that.  ruh roh.

on our last night there, we went to Captain George's for all you can eat seafood.  oh-em-gee.  i never ate so much crab!!!  the older kids even got their own kids table (since they couldnt seat all of us together).  i think they really enjoyed having their own dining table to themselves.  nearby diners and the waitress were impressed with how well behaved their table was.  :)  it's so heartwarming to know your child knows how to act in pleasant and socially acceptable ways on their own.  lol. makes me less worried for the world when i unleash her into the wide world to survive on her own.

on our last day, after check out, we headed over to Stack Em High Pancakes for breakfast and to wait out the traffic heading out.  it was packed, but the line moved at a decent clip and even tho the packed parking lot and the line out the door looked scary, we were in within 25 minutes.  (DH observed that there were plenty of seats, but the delay seemed to be at the register.  if they opened a second register they could have gotten people in a little faster).  good pancakes and waffles.  i liked that they were sensitive to food allergies. 

before we left nags head, we visited the Wright Bros Museum.  i'm not sure the kids really like it very much, but i found it to be rather interesting.  ages 12 and up have to pay admission, but parking is free, and admission is good for seven days.  not that we'd go there seven more times.  O.<

on our way back home, we stopped by Digger's Dungeon, home of the monster truck known as Grave Digger.  it's where they actually build Grave Digger, there's also a souvenir shop there and a diner called Digger's Diner.  they offer rides on a monster truck for $5.  so we did that before finishing the ride home.  the kids loved it.  it was a nice way to add in a quick stop after crossing the bridge from the OBX.