Emerald Isle 2009 - updated

Sunday we returned from our family vacation to Emerald Isle. We had a great time - great memories. There were 15 of us. Bill and Betty (Tom's parents); Tom's sister, Colleen and her family - husband, Ronnie and children, Rebecca (12) & Josh (10); the five of us; and Tom's younger sister, Jennifer and her family - husband, Matt and children, Jacob (9 almost 10) and Eli (18 months).

We had a blast at the beach, in the pool, in the hot tub, in the theater room, at the water park, playing games (Outburst and Taboo for the adults) (Scene It Jr., Cranium, billiards and poker with the kids) and just hanging out.

We took turns cooking dinner.
Sunday night: Bill & Betty cooked some yummy spaghetti with a side salad and bread and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
Monday night: Colleen & Ronnie grilled hot dogs and hamburgers with pasta salad and a wonderful warm potato salad and a very yummy blackberry wine cake for dessert. (The hamburgers were wonderful for lunch the next two days also.)
Tuesday night it was the Crab Shack's turn to serve up dinner. Amazingly, Anna Gracen and Rebecca did not even order seafood - they ordered chicken tenders. Wooten loved the soft shell crab and shrimp. I also had the soft shell crab and some delish crab cakes (Christian wasn't so sure about the crab cakes).
Wednesday night: my turn. Fruity drinks (as the kids called them) - strawberry slushies made with frozen strawberry daiquiri mix, Sierra Mist, sugar (to sweeten) and ice. Fried chicken (from Lowe's Foods), popcorn chicken, green bean casserole, bacon/cheddar potatoes and ice cream sandwich cake for dessert.
Thursday night: More fruity drinks (as requested by the kids); port wine cheese with crackers, pretzel wedges and pita chips for appetizer. PaPa ordered pizza from Michaelangelos Pizza. Everyone was happy!
Friday night: Jennifer & Matt served the ever popular Mexican night. Ginger ale margaritas (served with salt on the rim) were popular with the adults and kids. Chips and salsa and make your own burritos with hamburger, chicken, black beans, Mexican rice, guacamole, homemade pico de gallo (extra yummy), tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, and cheese. Blueberry crunch with ice cream for dessert.
Saturday night: Back to the shack - Crab Shack for more seafood (and chicken tenders for Anna Gracen; Wooten ordered the same dinner he had on Tuesday night. Christian decided to try the shrimp and loved them).

Ronnie, Colleen and I took our bicycles down to the beach. Ronnie rides much faster than Colleen and I (Lance Armstrong style), so he did solo rides Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Monday I rode solo to the point of the island and back "home" (20 miles). Tuesday, Colleen and I rode to Fort Macon (30 miles round trip). Wednesday I did a solo trip to both ends of the island (map here) - 50 miles. I took Thursday off. Colleen and I rode to the point and back. We rode part of the way on the bicycle trail which was adventurous - lots of curves and hills. Several times we could be heard yelling "Weeee". I have now ridden 1000 miles since we bought my bicycle at the end of April. Wooo Hooo!!

Some of our favorite moments/memories:

• Telling Eli to "show us happy" and seeing him turn his head and say "Happy".
• Playing Outburst and the intense competition.
• How good Jennifer is at Taboo.
• Candy fruit slices
• Tom hunting for seashells.
• All of us hearing the elevator and knowing that Ronnie was the one in it.
• Me bribing the kids to go down the big, tunnel slides at the water park.
• How Josh was always the last one to get up in the mornings.
• The way Eli says "tomato".
• Christian taught Eli the word "mine" and how to use it.
• The awesome waitress at Crab Shack (between the time we were there Tuesday and Saturday she became a grandmother to a healthy baby boy).
• Jennifer recognizing a distant cousin at Crab Shack.
• Tom, Anna Gracen, Christian and I seeing our church friend, Lou, at the Food Lion at Emerald Isle.
• Betty and Bill seeing Lou's son, Mark and granddaughter, Brook at Food Lion.
• Colleen seeing Brook and her friend riding their bicycles in Emerald Isle.
• Colleen and I seeing two Bambi's on our Friday ride to the point.
• MeMa taking the kids to get ice cream at Dairy Queen.
• Fruity drinks (the way Jacob wanted to make sure he had the recipe right)
• Jacob talking with a gum ball in his mouth - made me laugh - the funny thing is I totally understood what he was saying.
• Shark week (on TV and on the beach)
• The night I cooked dinner - hanging out with Rebecca while I cooked. Me throwing cheese all over the kitchen (by accident).
• The never ending supply of red solo cups. Did they multiply?
• Colleen's friend, Robin (from PA), and her nephew, Will, coming over to visit and hang out at the beach with us.
• Realizing that the house we stayed in two years ago was just a few houses down from the one we stayed in this year.
• All the laughing!