'our' nights in rodanthe {the sun as bookends to Monday}

A 'school/work-cation' means getting up a good bit earlier than we typically would at the beach.  

But when you could toss a rock from your deck into the Atlantic, that's not such a bad thing...

This morning I even got a bit of company for a few minutes ~ apparently he forgot to close the blinds in his ocean facing bedroom and mistook the 6:20 am blast of sunlight for his typical 7:45 am wake up time.  When he learned how early it was he opted to go back to bed, but not before pausing to admire the beauty of the moment with me for a bit.

About two hours later it was time to start school.  Daniel settled into a comfy spot in the living room with an ocean view.

Nat and Nicholas took the screened in porch...

 

while Darcy stayed in her room.

\

Caleb made use of the small desk in his room.

And looking for Kylie was more like "Where's Waldo?"  Throughout the day she moved about, somewhat like Goldilocks searching for the most comfy chair...but maybe actually seeking the best view.

While everyone was busy, I had some free time on my hands, so I did the most logical thing...took a walk up the beach.  The combo of offseason and mid 40s had it pretty empty.  In my 1 1/2 mile walk north I only encountered seven other people.  The beach is interesting here, some ocean front houses set pretty far back, others literally touched by the tide.  And then of course there are some well known houses...while I've never seen the movie I recognized 'the Inn at Rodanthe' easily from the shoreline.

it is currently managed by outer banks realty and for  $2,200 - $7000 a week (depending on season)
you too can stay in the famous house

On my way back I decided to check out the donut shop at the end of our street.  The Dough Shack did not disappoint.  I got to chat with the owner and learned that he uses his grandmother's donut recipe, you know when Grandma is involved that it's gonna be good!

Lunchtime brought several dolphin sightings and for about fifteen minutes there were multiple shouts of "over there!," and "I just saw two!," and "that one jumped!"  

We spent some time in various groups on the beach over lunchtime but no one stayed long, it was still rather chilly.  Despite the cold, we headed down to play in the early afternoon.  

I'm not sure what sparked the race, but Darcy and Nicholas decided to see who was faster.  Surprisingly Nicholas held his own against his big sister and finished not far behind.

Four decided to beat the chill of our beach excursion with a little hot tub time.

One huge advantage to the geography of Rodanthe...the island is rather narrow here.  It's a mere half mile between the Atlantic and the Albemarle Sound (and it's about 16 miles across the water to the mainland here, so there's yet another horizon). We decided that it was too easy to catch a second spectacular show by the sun, so we left Kylie in charge of her siblings (who were busy playing cards) and took a quick walk to the sound side of the island to catch sunset.  

taking advantage of every 'quick date' opportunity we can!

A day bookended by sunrise/sunset?

Yes please.  

One could get used to this...