OBX has done it again.

After another intense week at Innovate, our customer conference, I was thrilled to come home to a vacation. I got home on Thursday, spent Friday unpacking, laundering, and repacking. Saturday I presented on social listening at the UN Women's conference in downtown Raleigh, and immediately got in the car to head to OBX afterwards.

This year, Jenna, Jon, and Vivian came for the first 3 nights. They got here first and were already settled in when we arrived. We went to Black Pelican for dinner, where Ade somehow remembered to order the special punch which she had a year ago, and I didn't even remember until she ordered it. Ade and Vivian had a blast playing together. Ade enjoyed stuffing baby puffs into Vivian's mouth, as well as eating them herself.

She showed Jon each and every small toy she brought with her. When we went to the beach she was delighted that Jon dug up the crab holes and caught the little buggers in her bucket. Sunday we had breakfast at Stack Em High and lunch at Captn Franks, and shopped the little stores. The girls had their rest time, Jenna and I did a little beach Walmart shopping for supplies, and then we went out to the beach shops. Vivian decided to nap in the car in the parking lot, so we went to the hammock store where they made Ade a custom bracelet. Then we all met at Mama Kwan's. Lol. Damn! (You had to be there.)

The first few nights I went to bed by 9, catching up on all of the sleep I missed while at Innovate. For example, I only got 3 hours of sleep Wednesday night. What?!?!?

Monday we hit the beach again after some Duck donuts and Vivian took a nap on me. I practiced my ninja skills to slowly lower my body to a sitting, then reclining position under the beach umbrella and kept her sleeping. People always joke you don't need to work out when you have a toddler because you get so much exercise chasing them around, but I contend infants are far more intensive strength training. We went into Duck for a little Mexican food and waterfront shopping. After afternoon siestas (the only day Ade actually napped), we hung around and played and went to Awful Arthur's for a seafood dinner. The boys went to a bar to watch the Bruins, and Jenna and I texted each other from our respective beach house areas like we would have from home. Jenna was stuck in their apartment in the house because it only had an exterior entrance and she didn't feel comfortable locking her baby in and coming upstairs to hang out. None of us could blame her, but it kind of stunk in the evenings.

Tuesday they headed out, and it felt sort of empty. We went back into Duck and shopped the other plazas. We had Sooey BBQ for lunch. Ade got a game called Diggity Dog that she ADORES, and wants us to play nonstop. I read on the deck during rest time, and we spent some time at the beach before we had a delicious dinner at Tortuga Lie.

Wednesday we drove to Pea Island and Bodie lighthouse. We had our second Captn Franks lunch. After rest time, back to Duck for a festival. A clown made Ade a balloon unicorn, and we watched a juggler. She got a glitter tattoo, and enjoyed story time. We had dinner at the beach house - Thai takeout for me and Ryan and leftover grilled cheese for Ade. Chill evening. Ade spent a lot of time being an amazingly prolific artist during the trip, and before bed would happily draw and draw and draw. That night I graded papers and Ryan watched the Bruins win the Stanley Cup.

Thursday Ryan went on a kayak trip in the morning. Ade and I had girls time. We went to the beach where I played some cool tunes from my phone, and Ade wrote the entire alphabet in the sand with a stick. Then we went to lunch together at Rundown Cafe, got ice cream at Ritas and came back for down time. We went to the outlets briefly, and then Basnights for dinner, where all of the fish is so fresh they put the name of the fisherman who caught the fish right on the menu! Ade ate substantial portions of my tilefish instead of her own chicken fingers.

Today we went to Festival Park in Manteo, which was really cool. It has an Indian and settler village, and a ship you can board. We made it through right before a giant storm unleashed. The whole week has been odd weather-wise because there is a tremendous forest fire burning off the Alligator River, and depending which way the wind is blowing it is really smoky and awful air quality. The temperatures have only been in the high 70s and low 80s which is actually pretty pleasant. Warm enough for the beach, but not constantly sweaty hot. We had lunch at Barefoot Bernie's. We hit the beach for the last play time after we rested at the beach house a bit. Dinner was pizza, and then a few more beach stores before Ade turned into Picasso again for the evening.

Now, here I sit, at the dining table, wine glass in hand, staring out the book picture window at the ocean, reflecting on how thankful I am. Tomorrow we head home, and although it is always nice to go back home, especially after I've been gone for effectively 2 weeks at this point, I never want to leave the simplicity that we can only achieve on beach vacations. It is so lightweight here. The other day when Vivian was sleeping snuggled up on me, and Ade was playing with her Aunt Jenna while Ryan and Jon stood talking and looking out at the ocean, I really thought, this is all you can ask for. So long, OBX, and thanks for all the fish (until next year).