Rowland Family Vacation Visit
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The Rowland family returns for a week of fun and to celebrate Sasha's Birthday!
First, piggy back rides for everyone!
Then pile on Tess for huggies.
Sasha and Anna - Cousin Buddies
Playing in the yard
Eating Lunch?
First day at the Beach
Hanging out at the North End Beaches today (our favorite local beach)
Decent boogie board waves
Holly, Anya and Sasha play at the shore
While the Rowlands ride the waves
Maddie rides one all the way in
Taking a break back at base camp.
Sasha starts digging.
Jeff keeps riding
Anna never wants to get out of the water
Tess helps Sasha and Anya build a sand castle
Work begins, Anya helps out
Tess builds some of the main structures.
Sasha puts on some finishing touches.
Jeff won't allow any waves to go un-ridden
Elissa catches a few
Tess does too!
Wave after wave
Ride after ride
Then back for more
A couples wave!
Ride all the way in to shore
Anna helps bury Sasha
Tess & Alan try surfing, first with the short board
Then the long. She's pretty good. I think she'll be up in no time.
Everybody who comes to visit wants Pizza Pi
And why not? It's only like the best pizza in the world.
Right Anya?
The next day we head down to the tourist beach
Grab the gear and go!
The ocean is really flat today
It's super hot so the water feels really nice.
Even Anya goes deep to cool off
Then back to the sand. Holly with her precious Kindle.
Maddie reads, Tess texts
A pirate ship floats by. At one point it shoots a cannon and scares every one the beach.
Anna and Anya dig a hole. Then find a WAY better one being abandoned by a family.
Sasha sets up some castles
Then notices Anna & Anya's giant new hole!
It lasts for a few minutes, then the ocean reclaims it.
Now it's a fun hot tub, and then it's gone.
Sasha at the Wright Brothers Memorial Museum in Kitty Hawk North Carolina.
We hike up the hill to see the monument
I told Sasha I would race her up. She
was excited and took off running. She went left and I went
right.
When I got to the top, out of breath, heaving, with the taste of blood in my
mouth, I saw her way way down on the other side casually walking up and chatting
with Anna.
Jeff tests the headwinds on top of the hill
Sasha did eventually get to the top
Here's where the plane actually launched from. And here's Sasha launching herself from the track as well.
Hanging out with some other kids in the Wright Brothers garage.
I didn't get good shots of the planes because there was a lecture taking place
After that we had a picnic lunch next to the hill
Sasha found a good climbing tree
And made her way up and down
This was as high as she got
It was overcast so it wasn't super hot today
That was nice and the waves were pretty big on the cape
Good old Pea Island. My secret surf spot.
Just as abandoned as ever.
Great boogie board waves.
The whole family caught this wave
Empty beach as far as the eye can see.
Another benefit of an empty beach that's kept in it's natural state - Shells! Lots of them.
Here's an artsy camera shot and then Sasha ruining the same artsy camera shot.
Queen of the dunes.
Sasha boogies on shore while the family all ride together.
Sasha likes to ride it like a skim board
Ride on Rowlands!
A flock of pelicans and Sasha in her new Star Wars birthday chair.
And the day ends with dinner at Goombays
My favorite outer banks restaurant.
The next day it's Cowboys & Aliens!
Then back to the beach one last time
Tess wastes no time today
She's up and riding by the second try
At this point she is now a way better surfer than me
Well at least I'm a good teacher. Way to ride Tess! You're awesome!
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Maddie almost got up on this wave.
A shot down toward the tourist beach
Jeff tries to ride. You can't see, but on the other side of this wave he has a knee up!
He's up! That's surfing!
I rode a couple but never got past my knees. I'll have to have Tess show me how to do it next time she visits. :)
We end the day at the Chinese Buffet
Maddie & Tess declare it the Best Chinese Buffet ever!
We like it too!
The next day it's time to go. Sasha says she's going home with her cousins. It took a while to pry her off.
Bye Rowlands! We had fun. Come back next year!
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