LOVIN' The Beach!

Absolutely nothing in this world beats a week at the beach! I absolutely love it hear at Nags Head! My grandparents rented a HUGE beach house, and our whole family is here, 21 people total! Literally if I could live in my dream house, it would be this one. It's right on the beach, has a pool AND hot tub, there's a movie theater in the basement, and the interior of the house is just plain beautiful. Oh there's also the fact that every bedroom has a T.V. and DVD player. In addition to that, the house has an ELEVATOR. I've hardly used the stairs all week. So yes, we're livin' the good life. We've spent most of our time here down at the beach. There's nothing I love more than swimming in the ocean! It's just so much fun to be in the water with my family! My cousins and I also really like to go boogie boarding. We've had some hard core wipe outs as well as some cuts and scratches, but it's worth it. We always compete with each other to see who can catch the waves, and mock the ones who miss them. However, the past couple of days, there have been some thunderstorms late in the day. These storms have brought on some pretty massive waves. Today was especially intense. The waves were climbing up to four or five feet tall. A select few of us decided that we were going to brave the seas. My cousin Jonathan and I stood at the shore for like 10 minutes deliberating as to whether or not we should get in the water. When a lull in the waves came about, we decided we were going to go for it. We sprinted out into the water, only to be greeted by a massive wave that wiped us both out. We didn't even have time to catch our breath before we had to dive another one. Then there was the fact that we constantly had to fight the relentless undertoe! We were soon joined by the other die hard kids: Amy, Jenn, and Jensen. The water was terrifying, but we had so much fun once we got used to the terror!

It's also been greate to spend time with the family. I love that we all get along so well! Last night, Matthew, Jonathan, and I decided that we really wanted to go star gazing. We ignored the fact that it was 11:30 at night and walked out onto the beach with the assurance that Amy would let us back into the house. We sat on the beach for a long time just talking about everything. We did the same thing earlier in the week after Matthew, Amy, Jonathan, and I had taken a walk to explore the pier about a half mile away. Other highlights have been: a shopping trip to Manteo which has the CUTEST shops, with Mom, Becky, Jenn, Matthew, Julie, and Michael, a classic trip for ice cream at Fat Boyz (I have never tasted better soft serve ice cream in my entire life), long walks on the beach, the fact that Matthew and I got to go to dinner with the adults at a delicious seafood restaurant last night, and so many more! This has been such a relaxing and fun week! I'm so sad that tomorrow is our last full day here!