Spring Break {off the beach}

As far back as I can remember, my mom always had a "no TV" rule when we went to the beach.  Now there have been exceptions for the years our time at the coast coincided with the Summer Olympics, but from my childhood, that has been the norm.

And so it continues with my family today.

We took several games with us and watched as our littles even created their own card game to entertain themselves.

Another way we entertained ourselves on cool mornings was by adding to our geocache finds.  There were three caches within walking distance from our house, so we tackled (and located) all of them.  Initially we were having a difficult time locating our first attempt, so the kids literally put their heads together to strategize.

A few minutes later (with a few clues from their daddy) we located the cache and signed the log book.

Our second cache was even more tricky and we almost gave up before we located the tiny drop box.
Thankfully there was lovely scenery to entertain while we pondered.

Then we realized it had been right before our eyes...

Typically when we are at the coast during the summer we spend our entire days swimming and digging in the sand.  At this time of year being in the water wasn't quite so enjoyable, so we ended one sunny but cooler day with a round of miniature golf at a place the kids have noticed for years.

You should have seen their expressions when we pulled into the parking lot and parked basically under the helicopter.

There were a few holes in one, a whole lot more calls of "just put down a 5," and many, many giggles. That night we finished with a meal in Calabash at the Seafood Hut...hands down my favorite place to get shrimp on the North Carolina coast.

While I still think that I'll always be a summer beach girl at heart, our week off-season was a good one.  It's possible I could now be convinced that spring is a great time to visit one of the Brunswick County beaches!