We had such a great vacation to the Outer Banks. We were able to stay with Nathan's grandfather, Al Feikert and his wife Maggie. They were wonderful hosts and we were able to do a little of everything there. Grandpa has a boat and nice swimming right in his backyard. He also lives within a few miles of the ocean. He has a canoe and crab boxes? to catch crabs off his deck. Needless to say, we were all in heaven, and Nathan especially seemed to LOVE the water and things to do.
Here is Grandpa Al teaching Carter and naked Lily a few of his lawn games. They didn't really get it, but had fun anyway.
I was so impressed with Grandpa. He is so active and able for his age. He outswam and outplayed me! He took us out on the boat, went to the ocean and swam off the dock. It seemed that the only set back he was having with age was a little hearing loss. He is a fun man and I was grateful for the chance to get to know him better.
Kaylie and Carter loved the ocean. They had a blast on the boogie boards!
Before we even left for vacation, poor little Abigail jumped out of her stroller before we could get her buckled and got a nasty booboo on her face. A few days into our vacation, we went to the ocean and Nathan was trying to carry way too many things down a rather steep staircase and ending up tripping and dropping Abigail. She fell down several stairs (made of concrete) and landed on the street. I went running to get her and we were so very blessed that nothing serious happened to her. She was screaming from all the pain in her face, it both reopened her old wounds and gave her new ones. We all felt so bad, but she is a trooper and got over it probably more quickly than I did. It helped us realize how fragile life really is and made us think about how we would've have reacted had something more serious happened as a result of the fall. The Lord was very kind to us. We sure love our little chub.
We all had fun on the boat rides with Grandpa. 
Swimming off of the dock was a blast. Except for the time when a crab walked on my foot. It gave me a scare and made me not as anxious to swim. I also had a bit of an embarrassing moment when I tried to dive in and ended up doing a major belly flop. It had been a very long time since I had tried to dive into any water and I got scared. I'm wimpy, what else can I say about it?
Cute Kaylie had a great time in the water. She loves to swim and is so athletic! She absolutely loved the boogie boards and jumping into the waves. She is a lot like her daddy in that way.
Grandpa Feikert and Lily at the beach. Lily was very moody at the beach. One minute she loved the water and sand and the next she was throwing a huge tantrum and seemed to hate it. It was interesting trying to keep her happy.
It is never too early to teach a kid to fish! Nathan has a passion for fishing and seemed to not be able to get enough of it. He didn't have the best luck on this vacation with catching fish and only caught a few baby fish that they had to throw back.
A beautiful view from the dock.
Brave daddy Nathan took the 3 older kids on a canoe ride. I don't think he'll ever do that again. Lily had a huge melt down and made it really hard for him to row and steer by himself. I thought it was pretty amusing to watch.
Nathan loved innertubing behind the boat. However, Lily couldn't seem to handle not having daddy in the boat and wanted to get on the tube with him. She loved it but they couldn't go very fast.
A view of the boat from Grandpa's dock.
Me and my baby girls in the front of the boat.
More fishing- Grandpa is holding the croaker fish the kids caught.
More fishing
Abigail liked eating sand. I didn't like watching her do that.
The kids seemed to love it as much as he does and Carter says his favorite part of the trip was "Catching the 5 Croaker fish".
Wow, how the time seems to fly!!! I feel like I just posted a few weeks ago, but it's been more like 5 weeks- yikes! Tons has happened since I last wrote. First, Kaylie finished her last day of Kindergarten early because we went on a fun family vacation. We took her out 4 days early and drove to the Outer Banks, where we stayed with Al and Maggie Feikert (Nathan's grandpa and step-grandma). It was so much fun!! Nathan's last 2 weeks of his 1st year of residency were his scheduled vacation time, so we made the most of it and felt like it was a much needed and deserved break. The Outer Banks are amazing and I was in awe with the surroundings and so many fun things to do. Grandpa Al has a motorboat harbored right in his backyard as well as a beautiful Sound we could swim in right off his dock. We caught some crab in his crab pots and spent a while cooking and cleaning them out, they were tasty. The kids loved catching the crabs and croaker fish. Nate is trying to teach them the art of fishing in their youth, as it is one of his favorite pasttimes. The kids seemed to love it as much as he does and Carter says his favorite part of the trip was "Catching the 5 Croaker fish".
We also got to play at the Atlantic Ocean a few times and had quite a lot of fun. Grandpa came with us and proved help for me with the babies, as Nate was enjoying some boogie boarding with Kaylie and the waves. It looked like fun, but I was pretty busy taking sand out of Abigails' mouth and trying to manage Lily's temper tantrum. The ocean is absolutely gorgeous and I could look at it and watch the waves all day. My favorite was when Grandma Maggie volunteered to babysit so that Nate and I could have a night on the town. We went out to eat at a seafood buffet and then for a long walk on the beach, it was romantic and peaceful.
We really enjoyed going on Grandpa's motorboat and watching Kaylie, Carter, and Nathan ride on the innertube behind the boat. When Nate got in Lily screamed until we let her on with him. She smiled the whole time on the tube! She is such a little fish. She is now learning how to swim on her own, but that is another post.
The kids loved playing on the dock and swimming with the crabs. One crawled up my leg and it scared me out of the water! Abigail was pretty adaptable to the environment, although she wasn't much for the water nor the sand.
Overall it was a wonderful time. Grandpa and Grandma Maggie were great hosts and very hospitable. They knew how to entertain and were a lot more tolerable of the children than one would expect. I was very impressed with them- especially Grandpa's energy! The man could out last me any day! He played with the best of them and kept Nathan company, as it takes a lot to wear Nathan out. It seems I am always tired and he rarely has that problem. We both had a great time and hope to return before we move farther away. It was only supposed to be a 5 hour drive, but we got stuck in bad traffic all the way home and it ended up taking nearly 8 hours! We were lucky to get to go and happy to be home and still have a week left before Nathan had to return to work.
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