I Luhv de Beech!

This weekend wasn't Kylie's first visit to the beach with us, but I think it was the first one that she remembers. She had fun last year, but she is still excitedly chattering away about "I pay n wawa! I pay n san too!" (I play in water, I play in sand too!) from our trip to Ocean Isle.

The quick run-down is that we arrived promptly at check-in time on Friday at the Ocean Isle Inn to drop our stuff in our ocean front room. While Ian and I organized the bags Kylie intently gazed at the ocean.
She was mesmerized immediately and kept pointing out at the "BIG wawa!" It was overcast and super windy when we got there, so we decided to take a quick walk.

Of course when you have a two year old a "quick walk" turns into an giant sand box experience,
but we weren't on any strict time schedule, so we enjoyed her excitement! Then it was time to head out to dinner. (Joe's Crab Shack ~ it may be a chain, but we love that place. Rather, we love the crabs they serve...) We stopped to check out the Ocean Isle Creamery on our way back to the inn. It was fantastic, and Aunt Carol, I have good news! I've found a place that has coconut ice cream that is actually BETTER (if you can believe it) than our local creamery was! Then for Kylie came the highlight of the entire night ~ she got to sleep in the big girl bed.

"Read it 'din Daddy!"

Saturday (after little Miss Sleepy-Head woke up ~ no kidding, her first words as she was yawning were, "I seep bid dirl behd!"

we headed out to the beach and enjoyed a beautiful day.

We walked, Kylie made a new friend ~ Benjamin.

"What's in the bucket Benjamin?"

His mom and I talked for quite a while while the dads played with the kids in the ocean and sand., we dug in the sand,

made (and wrecked) sandcastles,
ate PB & J sandwiches on the beach,

swam in both the outdoor and indoor pools

and napped. Then we headed into Calabash for dinner and of course some ice cream at the Calabash Creamery ~ had to compare the two so that we'd be better informed for our week long trip to Sunset later this summer.

I just love the comparison here to again visualize how much Kylie has grown! The left photo was taken last year in early August, the right one was Saturday night...

Sunday was check out, but we decided to eat breakfast, load the car and then take a walk on the beach. We later clocked how far we had walked by driving the road in the car. It was just over four miles and Kylie walked a good part of it!

"Let's bow bubbles!"

Then as we were headed home we noticed that we were in town the weekend of Little River's "World famous blue crab festival" so we decided to check it out. After perusing the craft vendors, noshing on delectable crab cake sandwiches, and listening to plenty of shag music, we loaded back into the car for the rest of the ride home.

And as exhausted as she was, Kylie was giddy with her excitement from the entire experience, so instead of immediately falling asleep, imagine putting this clip on continuous loop for 30 minutes until she finally crashed...

What a weekend at Ocean Isle! Ian and I decided that we'll make this birthday gift idea a family tradition!