Outer Banks a Few Days Shy of 9 Months..

A few months back Adam got orders to PCS(move) to Alaska. So we have been trying to enjoy the beach life as much as possible before we leave here. We have already been to Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle, and Kure Beach. One place I REALLY wanted to go was Outer Banks. It was a further drive compared to the other beaches but one I REALLY wanted to make. So as soon as Adam got it approved I started planning the trip. My biggest fear with this trip was that I'd go into labor while I was there. I know I wouldn't be exactly 36 weeks just yet but I didn't want to go into labor and then be out all that money, the kids not get to enjoy the weekend I had planned, and have to make the 4 hour drive back while in labor! Thankfully surrobaby stayed put.

Friday morning we packed up the van and headed out. We made a few stops along the way but got there perfect timing. The drive really wasn't that bad. I was nervous about traffic but thankfully we didn't hit any. By the time we got to outer banks it was almost time for us to check in to our hotel. We decided to stop at a souvenir shop before the hotel because I have to buy a fridge magnet, Brett and Brynna needed kites to fly whenever we went to the sand dunes, and Brett needed a new boogie board.  Once we got to the hotel we unloaded the car and headed to the beach! The first day at the beach was extremely windy. The kids still enjoyed it but

man that wind was
crazy! And it hurt when the sand would hit you. So after a few hours we called it a day and headed back to the room. We all got showered, got the kites ready, and headed to Jockey's Ridge State Park. If any of y'all decide to go see the dunes I recommend going in the evening. I could not imagine going during the day, the sand gets HOT and when we went it felt amazing. Even with being huge pregnant and doing lots of walking and the sun being out I wasn't miserably hot and wasn't sweating. I actually really enjoyed it. Plus watching the sun set while on the dunes was gorgeous. Once we left the Dunes we stopped somewhere for a quick bite to eat before dinner. It was already late and we were all tired so we just found a place and pulled up.. The food was good but not $80 for 4 people amazingly good. It was expensive and the kids didn't even eat most of their food. So we decided we'd go buy a few groceries since our room had a stove, oven, microwave, and fridge.

 

 

 

Saturday morning we woke up and went to Duck Donuts for breakfast. A few people recommended this place so it was on my list of things to do. Who can say no to donuts? Not this pregnant woman and definitely not my kiddos. We get there and the line is out the door.. We were seriously standing outside waiting for donuts! WHO DOES THAT? Well it was worth the wait. The line went quick. And waiting on our donuts took no time at all.. The donuts are fresh and made right in front of you so that was neat. The kids picked chocolate donuts with sprinkles, I got a peanut butter donut with a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant, and Adam got a chocolate donut and a strawberry donut along with a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant. The bread part of the donut tasted like a funnel cake and they were delicious! REALLY SWEET! But still delicious! I couldn't eat them as much as I could eat Ennis(our home town in Texas has amazing donuts) donuts but they were still really good and I'm glad we waited. A little tip if you make the stop at Duck Donuts with kids, take a change of clothes and wipes. Thankfully we had paper towels and water in our car to clean the kids off with and we made a paper towel bib to protect their clothes so we didn't

 

After breakfast we went to The Bodie Island Lighthouse we weren't able to do the climb like I wanted to because Brynna is to short but it was still really neat to see. Plus they only do tours, you can't climb the light house on your own you have to go with a group of people and we happened to get there right when the tour was starting so it was too late for Adam and Brett to go. We hung around for a bit, took some pictures, and went to the pier they had. Brett saw a bunch of crabs and thought it was the coolest thing ever! He was upset though because he didn't see any snakes. They had a few signs that warned you to stay on the sidewalks or the paths because they have snakes all over. So he expected to see a snake. I told him I'd throw him in the tall grass and he can go find one but he wasn't too fond of that idea.





If it wasn't for Brett none of us would have seen this fish.
We waited around a bit and it finally got up and started
swimming.  

After the light house we went to the Aquarium and the kids acted like it was Christmas morning haha. The aquarium we went to on Roanoke Island also had a Dinosaur part that we saw once we were done with the aquarium part. Brett LOVES fish! He is crazy about all the different types of fish and it was funny because he would see things that we didn't see and point them out to us. We got to see an alligator, the otters put on a show for everyone, a huge tortoise, and lots of neat fish. Brett and I touched live sting rays which was really neat,


this is a cell phone photo so it's
not great quality

Adam and Brynna were a little scared and wouldn't touch one. We also saw the divers in the shark tanks. Brett and Brynna wanted to stay for the whole show so we waited until the end and Brett got to ask the divers, "Where do you get your animals from". At the end of the show they said they were going to feed the fish but not the sharks and the kids decided they wanted to go see the dinosaur part instead of seeing the fish being fed. The dinosaur part was okay but we expected a little more. After the aquarium we headed home so we could have dinner and then went for a little night time swim. Well Adam and the kids did. I decided to just hang out on the sand and get my feet wet.

Adam fell asleep on the beach.

Sunday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and headed to the beach. It was an all day beach day/fathers day for us. Which I am pretty sure Adam enjoyed. Brett made friends and played with them the whole time we were there and Brynna just hung out in the sand and made sand castles. She also played with Brett some but preferred to do her own thing. I got in the water some but man beach water is COLD! I prefer to eat ice and work on my tan while watching the kids enjoy the beach :) About 5:30 we headed back to our room and got ready to go out to eat and enjoy our last night there. I finally got to get the kids in cute clothes and take them out to have some cute pictures taken at the beach. Normally I have a hard time getting Brett to take decent pictures but for some reason this time it was turd Brynna that didn't want to cooperate during pictures. Every time someone offered to take a group picture of the 4 of us some reason or another she was not happy about something. And sure enough whenever I started to take cute pictures of the two of them this is how it turned out...

I ended up getting some cute ones also so in the

Look at that cankle!

end it all worked out. While we were taking pictures a woman walked over and offered to take one of the 4 of us and one of just Adam and I. Even though after I saw the pictures I decided I should have worn my hair up instead of using stupid sea salt spray I am still glad we got even more photos of the 4 of us while at the beach. I continued taking a few pictures of the kids and as I squat down to take a picture I start to wonder if my water broke. Their was a wetness in my underwear. Did my water just start leaking or did my bladder give out? I JUST peed 10 minutes ago how in the world could I have peed on myself? I continue taking pictures and whatever it is continues leaking. After pictures we run back by the room and I changed underwear and grabbed an extra pair just in case. Well my water didn't end up breaking so I guess my bladder decided to give out on me -___-. For dinner I found a neat little place called Pamlico Jacks. Our waitress was horrible but the view, food, and place was really nice. And dinner was only about $60 for the 4 of us and that was with a dessert and Adam got 2 beers. After dinner we headed right next door and played some putt putt before we headed home and CRASHED!! Well I actually got a foot rub before bed. My right foot, ankle, and leg was so swollen. The foot rub was a little painful but the next morning my right foot felt so much better.

Monday morning we woke up and packed the van up to head back home. We ate McDonalds for breakfast(I have been craving their Sausage McGriddles or whatever their called) and then we went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. The memorial was pretty neat but it was so hot and so spread out. A lot of the stuff they closed down and it just didn't have much so we decided to call it quits and head home. The drive home also wasn't that bad thankfully. We made it home around 5-6pm and then we had a little bit of cleaning to do(well Adam did most of the cleaning I just sat in a chair and propped my feet up) before the furniture people came and dropped off our new furniture(last week Adam and I finally caved and bought new living room and bedroom furniture.. Now that we have it I have no idea why we waited SO LONG haha!)

Here are a few more pictures from our beach trip..

Primitive Camping While Pregnant..

This weekend Adam had a long weekend and I knew I wanted to go to the beach. We only live 2-3 hours from the beach and pretty soon we will be having a BIG change of scenery so I want to enjoy the beach life as much as possible. So I had to decide WHICH beach. We have so many beaches to choose from. I knew I didn't want to go to Myrtle, nothing against myrtle beaches BUT we have already been to Myrtle 4 times and I wanted to experience a different beach. So I ended up picking the Wilmington area. A lot of people recommended some places to stay and one of them was a camp ground. Now I know what your thinking. I was thinking the same thing. Camping at 32 1/2 weeks pregnant....... ARE YOU CRAZY? Ummm... Maybe.. Just a little. BUT I kept looking for hotels just in case I found one for a decent price. Every day I kept going back to the camp grounds and looking more into camping. Brett has been begging to go camping so I thought it'd be perfect to do camping and the beach at the same time. So I brought it up to Adam and we decided to do the camping and beach. And we planned our weekend at Fort Fisher camping grounds and Kure Beach.

I did LOTS of research and I mean LOTS!! What to eat while camping because if we were going camping we were doing it right. What to take to cook and drink. Fun camping activities. And things to do in the area so that away Monday on our way home we could stop at a few places and enjoy more of the area. I also called my dad to get his camping advice. He gave me lots of good tips and advice about primitive camping. My MAIN issue with the whole camping thing was no electricity and the toilets being far away.. When I say far away what I mean is it's not 5 steps from my bed. I'm 8 months pregnant I get up NUMEROUS times a night to pee.. And I am not an outdoors person that can just "pop-a-squat" when I need to pee. Even if I was how in the world do you do that at 8 months pregnant???? I'd probably end up falling over and landing in my pee or peeing on myself and waking everyone up. Can you imagine looking out your tent to this really pregnant woman, shorts to ankle, rolling back and fourth, scream and crying, in her pee!! Yea that's what I imagine when I think about popping a squat pregnant or not pregnant.

Thursday we went and bought the camping items we needed that we didn't have. Friday we(I) spent cleaning and getting all our stuff together while Adam went fishing with a friend. Friday evening Adam packed up the van while I ran to the store and grabbed some last minute items. Saturday morning Adam did the color run with some of the guys he works with and by noon we were off.. We were all so excited and I was a bit nervous. All I kept thinking about was no electricity.... No close toilets.. Oh what joy. BUT I found out some friends of ours were also going to the same camping area as us and was excited about that. The reason I was bummed about the no electricity was because I needed a plug to blow up our air mattress.. I was NOT sleeping on the ground with just a few blankets. I am a stomach sleeper. Yes at 8 months pregnant I STILL sleep on my stomach. It is the only way I can sleep. I don't sleep completely on my stomach. It's a weird sideways stomach position. No it doesn't hurt me or the baby. It is the only way I can sleep. BUT I cannot sleep that way on hard ground because it's extremely painful. I also can't sleep on my back because I feel like I'm being suffocated from the inside when I do, and sleeping on my side hurts my back.


Saturday when we got there we set up camp and got everything organized as best as possible. Then I was on a mission to find an outlet to blow up my air mattress. I found one in the locker rooms but was trying to see if I could find one closer. Surprisingly right next to my tent was this metal box that looked like it could be for an outlet so I asked Adam to open it and check. Sure enough IT WAS! I have never been so happy to find a plug before :) After we got everything set up the adults played corn hole while the kids played soccer. For dinner that night Adam made some delicious burgers. Then we waited for the sun to go down and headed to the beach to look for crabs.  I think we were to the point of giving up and they finally found some..

Sunday morning I woke up around 4:30am... It may have been earlier it may have been a bit later but I know it was before 5am and I know it was before the sun came up. The reason I woke up was because I had to pee.. I tried anything and everything to fall back asleep because I was NOT walking to the restroom by myself and getting attacked by a deer or kidnapped! I even had a moment of weakness and considered popping a squat but just couldn't bring myself to even try.. So I laid in the bed with my eyes closed and NOTHING! I honestly have no idea how I didn't pee myself. When the sun finally came up I got out of my tent and walked to the restroom to pee.. Little did I know I actually was about to have the runs. AWESOME!! Camping at 8 months pregnant, no close restrooms, a weak bladder, and NOW I HAVE THE RUNS!! Last time I went camping was EXACTLY 3 years prior and guess what, I had the runs then too.. BUT I pretty much OD'ed on pepto on the way to our campsite and it helped a lot. BUT guess what you cannot take while pregnant?? PEPTO! Thankfully it wasn't too bad but that morning I ended up clogging the toilet!! SERIOUSLY! I am in this disgusting restroom just laughing at myself wondering WHY DID I THINK CAMPING WAS A GOOD IDEA??? And then a knock on the door!! I just clogged 1 of 2 toilets for the tent camping area we were in. AND whoever was knocking on the door would see my face and know I CLOGGED THE TOILET!! NOOOO!!!! Then I saw the plunger. I tried everything possible to unclog that toilet and it did not work. I am the worst when it comes to plunging a toilet. I have no idea what I'd do if the kids flooded the toilet while Adam was gone. Thankfully though everything went down except for a few pieces of toilet paper. I walk out and its the lady camping next to us with her 2 little boys. Hopefully since she has kids of her own she understands you cant always control it. Before this pregnancy I NEVER went number 2 in public but this pregnancy has done things to me that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy haha.

I head back to our tent and everyone slowly starts to wake up and I decided to start on breakfast. I made eggs mixed with sausage on the grill :) The group of people we knew that we were camping by were heading back home today but we were spending the day at the beach and spending the night one more night. So they packed up and we all had to wait until 9am whenever reception opened. Once reception opened they headed home and we headed to the beach.

We get to the beach and find a perfect spot. Close enough to the beach but not too close. Or so we thought. Everyone puts sunscreen on and the kids go running to the water. We have been to the beach 4 times and they love playing in the water. They know not to go too far but to still enjoy it. This beach was NOTHING like what they have experienced before. The waves were rough and the current was strong. They were slamming people down and taking

them under. Brynna was SITTING on the sand. The water came up and flipped her over. I brought both kids up and explained that they could play in the water BUT they did not need to go in too deep. Or they'd have to sit out because the water was a little more dangerous this time. Did they listen. Nope. So we decided to just sit and watch and sure enough they learned quick. Brynna gave us a little scare and I took off running!! She didn't realize that even though she wasn't that deep the waves were high and it pushed her down, she did some turns and flips under water and I grabbed her out of the water. After that I made her play in the sand right beside us. While at the beach both kids had to pee.. What do you do when you need to pee at the beach?? YOU PEE IN THE OCEAN! All the animals do it so why can't we? Neither kid understood that EVERYONE pees in the ocean. Brynna kept trying to but the waves would push her over before she could get it to come out. I thought the kids were going to let their bladders burst instead of peeing in the ocean. But FINALLY they both peed in the ocean and turns out so did the little boy next to us and the little girl that Brett and Brynna were playing in the sand with. Yea she peed in the ocean too. And they ALL announced it to the world. Finally we decided to head back to the camp site take showers, do some fishing, and start dinner.

 

My main complaint about the whole camp site out of everything was the lack of showers and lack of restrooms. They had a community shower by our camping area and it had 2 shower heads but only 1 worked.. Thankfully we got their first and didn't have to wait but by the time we got out their were 2 people waiting and by the time we left the locker room their were 6 people waiting. After showers we headed to the fishing pier and Adam did some fishing. The kids and I headed back before Adam and we started to get all the dinner stuff ready. We had chili dogs with baked beans for dinner and it was so good! After dinner we started to pack up so that in the morning we wouldn't have too much to pack. Then we made s'mores and headed off to bed. For the first time in a LONG time I didn't get up in the middle of the night to pee!! It was amazing!

 

Monday morning we had muffins and donuts while we finished packing up the car and then headed off.. We decided to skip the beach that day and took the kids to a Children's Museum and they had a BLAST! I think they liked the museum better than the beach.. It really was such a fun and cute place. We spent about 2 hours at the museum and then stopped at Nick's Diner in Wilmington for lunch. After lunch we walked down the street a couple blocks and got ice cream at Kilwin's. The line at Kilwin's was long but it went fast and was worth the wait.





My left ankle isn't too swollen here but
my right one was swollen

After that it was time to head home. Within 10 minutes both kids were out and stayed asleep for about 75% of the drive. On the drive home my feet felt a little weird. I take a look down and they were HUGE! I could not believe how swollen my ankles/cankles were. With my previous 2 pregnancies I never had cankles BUT I also wasn't due mid summer. Apparently heat=swelling. So YAY! I get to enjoy the cankles this pregnancy. The swelling has gone down a lot and I have a little shape but they aren't my NORMAL ankles! Finally we got back to Fayetteville and had to run a few errands before we could go home for good. But once we got home we unpacked, showered, and called it a night! We were exhausted! I don't know how I woke up this morning and I have no idea how I didn't take a nap today but we had a GREAT weekend and honestly I really enjoyed camping. We will probably go back before we move. Which means I will be camping again while pregnant. But hopefully we figured out my stomach issues and this time I will just have to deal with the late night peeing :)