Camping in the Outer Banks

A few weekends ago we went camping in the Outer Banks. I've talked about my love-hate relationship with camping before. I love it while we are camping, but the aftermath is what is hard. I had camping gear and dirty laundry piled up in most rooms of my house for over a week after we came home.

My sister, Suzanne, who is not at all a camper, organized the trip and we were excited to go with her family. This was their first time camping as a family and as we were saying good bye at the end of the weekend, I asked if she would do it again. She replied, "Give me a year to think about it."

Nana came for both nights and Larry for one and it was great to have them there too.

On the first night, we slept without the rain fly so we could look at the sky and it was unbelievable! The stars were amazing and it was fun to wake up and see the sunrise from our beds. Since we got there in the dark, the morning was exciting for the girls to discover that just over the sand dune was the ocean.

Gorgeous sunrise

We camped at Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, just about a mile south of Bodie Lighthouse. The campsites were next to sand dunes and tents were set up in the sand which was nice. We are used to camping on gravel sites. One pain, literally, were sand spur plants that were everywhere. Everyone had to be very careful about walking through the brush areas.

Our campsite. Lucy chasing off the birds (Top right) .

All the girls just loved playing in the sand the entire weekend. For some reason, that never gets old.

Loving being at the beach

Saturday was a very windy day, which is typical for the area. We headed to Kitty Hawk Kites, picked up a new kite, and went to the Wright Brothers Memorial for a picnic and kite flying. There was a stunt kite competition going on, which was kind of cool to watch and there were a lot of kites flying around.

Flying kites at Wright Brothers Memorial, Kitty Hawk

Later that night the wind really picked up. We attempted a fire on the beach to cook s'mores, but it wasn't as pleasant as I had hoped. The wind just really made it hard to do anything. After Chuck created a wind shield for the fire, we each had a s'more, and then we called it quits.

Attempting to roast marshmallows by the fire on a very windy night.

It rained during the second night, so we had to put our rain fly on, which meant no falling asleep staring at the stars. Suzanne's poor family slept in the car because the wind and the rain made their tent leak. Luckily, we stayed dry inside our tent.

Charly loves to give kisses. Charly's goofy "say cheese" smile.

I can't remember a time that we've gone camping that it hasn't poured rain (twice), been really windy, or unexpectedly cold. That just happens when you are outdoors - you are in nature. No matter how often you look at the weather report, it can quickly change.

It was a fun weekend with family and enjoying the outdoors. We can't wait to go camping again with the Morris'... whenever Suzanne's ready to do it again.