Before we get on with the rest of the vacation photos, thank you for all of your kind words through comments, emails, and FB messages about yesterday’s post. I felt the love! I had a really amazing childhood and was actually very lucky to have my dad in my life for as long as I did, given his constant struggles with health through his short but rich life.
And though you are surely getting tired of the beach pictures, a lot of why I do this blog is to have a place to keep our memories so we can look back on not only the stories but also all the pictures of our adventures as a family. So, if you want to share in this journey, please feel free! I have to warn you, there are a lot of pictures in this post!
The weather for the first two days of our trip on Hatteras Island was blistering hot. I have to admit, I cringed a bit when looking at the forecast. We had been hoping to leave the hot, heavy St. Louis air behind for a week, but arrived to much of the same weather. It was so hot that it burned the bottoms of our feet just running from the house to the water. Luckily, some storms rolled in and brought cooler, more typical beach weather. Plus, the rain didn’t last long and brought beautiful skies with it. We took a family walk before the rain one day.
Getting tired of seeing this dress yet? Every. Single. Day.
Oliver during the heat wave= miserable.
Jamie fed seagulls from our balcony one afternoon. One even ate right out of his hand! (Thanks Mary for taking these amazing pictures!)
And of course, the mandatory pictures of Milo jumping off stuff:
Our daily routine went something like this: Early rising (Emil was up by 5:30am every single day– that’s 4:30 St. Louis time!); breakfast on the balcony while watching the sunrise over the ocean; sunscreen time (I swear this took like half an hour every morning); beach; walk to the pier (the boys enjoyed pretending to play the arcade games); lunch; nap (for some); beach again; dinner; pier for ice cream; bedtime for little ones; beer and laughter for the mamas and papas (and one night Jamie and Andrew took Ben and Milo out night-beaching with sparklers!).
Obviously the pier was a major highlight of the trip. It was the only place we went other than the beach the whole week; a nice place to go for a change of scenery without having to wrangle the kids into a vehicle. It was amazing. The pier itself was weathered and zig-zaggy from all of the storms and hurricanes it had endured. Still sturdy, but crazy to think about!
View from the pier: kite-flying
Oliver asking, “Could I slip through there?” (the crack)
And of course, the main reason for the trip? The popsicles and delicious ice cream treats! 
Greta wondering if there might be any extra for her…
… and giving up on it.
My gorgeous bestie.
One of the best parts of the trip was watching Milo, Ben, Oliver, and Greta getting reacquainted. Their friendships (especially between Milo and Ben) grow and become more complex (read: literal head-butting, but mostly sweet tender moments) each time they see each other. Ben and Milo are so similar, both intense and very active and creative. To see what kind of shenanigans they got into was more than hilarious.
Documentation of the only nap Oliver took the entire trip (including the 20 hours of car time!). He passed out on the chaise lounge on the last day of the trip. My friend Allison would call him a neversleeper: 
Sleeping as only a true middle child would: hand clenched around his stash of toys so that no one else could play with them.
He looks so lovely and peaceful when he sleeps. Too bad he doesn’t do it more often.
And now, here we are home! We did the entire drive home in one shot, which included a 2-hour stint of basically stand-still traffic 6 hours into the trip during which Oliver half pooped his pants/half pooped on the side of the road. Oh, the misery. But man were we glad to be home once we collapsed at our door at 1:30am. Thanks, beach. Thanks, Mary and Jamie, Ben and Greta. We had a fantastic time and we love you!
***Next week we will get back on track, including an outfit post, a recipe, and a DIY fun activity for the littles. Thanks for sharing our trip!***
Is there such a thing as too many beach photos? I don’t think so. I don’t think so.
The photos from this trip are really beautiful, not too much harsh sun- the light is just perfect. That first one with the boat would be gorgeous blown up huge.
I keep waiting for the day Wyatt takes a nap in broad daylight so I can have one of those sweet sleeping pictures. He is so structured that he really needs to be alone in his room… but hey at least he sleeps!
Such a great trip and memory for your family (although that poop fiasco sounds disastrously hilarious).
Oh wonderful trip. Isn’t Hatteras the best. I love the long drive out there from Nags Head (although by the time you hit that part you were probably well done with driving!) with the sand on either side of the road and the ocean just a skip away. And your photos really are stunning. I agree you should blow one up huge. I keep meaning to do that with some of my photos and I haven’t gotten around to it. Thanks for taking us on your trip with you. It’s lovely to see my part of the world through your eyes. xo
a) Girrrrrrrrrrl. You worked that dress. It looks awesome on you, although I am sure you were quite sick of it.
b) Smily peeky over the shoulder Emil!! eeeee!
c) I died about the crack in the pier. That’s hilarious.
d) Your family is so awesome. I loved all these great pictures of you having fun.
The photo of the kite flying from pier…gorgeous!
The one of the 3 boys eating ice cream… Wish I could paint that one! Loved how Oliver was ‘one of the guys’ in the photo of Milo & Ben- head in hands, intently watching something??
These were fabulous, Lauren… Thank you for sharing!
Wondering how your garden faired while away??
Thanks, ladies!
And our garden did great… we have loads and loads of tomatoes, chard, kale, jalapeño peppers, and mint & basil of course! Squash and cucumbers not doing too great, but we’ll take what we get! Especially in this ridiculous heat.
Hey, Lauren! Thanks for stopping by my blog the other day! 🙂 I am in love with your little ones. So stinking cute. And their names?? I die.
p.s. hope to see you around my blog again soon!
LOVE every single pic!!
Oh my, your photos are so pretty! And your babies! Little tan and messy faces. Eep!