Day 10--Emerald Isle, NC

Today wasn't meant to be a lazy day.  We had visions of expending all kinds of energy at the beach building sand castles, jumping in the water, boogie-boarding the waves etc.  If you know Tiffany, you know that she loves a sunny day on the beach.  But what she got was just the opposite.  A gray, rainy, stormy day.  We were on the beach having fun at noon and looked up and saw this coming:

But, we didn't let it stop us from a little bit of fun for the next 15 minutes before we chickened out and headed in.

Here's Cade shredding up some waves....

Brady got in on the action.....

 Macy wanted to prove that she could match the boys on the board....

Brady...Boogie...Boarding...Bare...Buns

Bryce got after it while Dad did his best Baywatch jog alongside....

The storm rolled in and it rained on us the entire afternoon, and I'm not talking about sprinkles.  The boys took advantage and played a couple of rousing games of Chess and "Life" with their second cousins, Carson, Megan, and Lauren.  The storm lasted through dinner time, but the good news was that when it was over, the beach was empty and we could go out again for an evening swim.  Tiffany had a good scare that night when a dolphin swam by about 20 yards past us, and seeing his fin made Tiffany yell to Brady to run in to the beach, where another swimmer looked at Tiffany and said..."It's just a dolphin".  Better safe than sorry I guess.

We woke up the next morning, and Tiffany had to make sure to get one last swim in.  Living in New Mexico, we never know when we'll see the beach again!  Tiff, Cade, and Bryce got in one last swim while Scott, Macy and Brady packed the car.  Macy and Brady's idea of helping was to watch the Cartoon Network, which, when you think about it, really was the best help they could give me in packing up.

We had to take a few pictures with Uncle David and Aunt Beverly to remember these 2 great days on Emerald Isle.  I think Tiffany knows where she wants to retire one day.  Tiffany has always had a real fondness for Dave and Bev since she was a little girl, and it was a blast to hang out with the Schock crew!

After the pictures and goodbyes, we set out for a drive through North Carolina and into Virginia.  Liberty University in Lynchburg was the destination to visit one of my closest friends, Dale Layer, and his great wife Brenda.