David and I knew a family vacation of any kind would be hard this summer with Everley being under 3 months old. So contemplated if we would try to do anything, but we both agreed we needed a vacation. I quickly realized that July 4 was on a Saturday, I knew that this meant David would have the fir day before off as well. We discussed him taking off Thursday, July 3rd, so that he would have a long 4 day weekend.
He was able to take the day off, so we threw different ideas around on where to go. Less then 4-5 hours is what we were thinking. Though I desperately wanted to go to the beach and I knew that David wanted to see how well Tensley was able to swim now. We agreed on Wilmington, NC. David had never been before, so he was excited to go and explore. I had been twice to Wilmington when I was in high school, I was a HUGE..I mean HUGE One Tree Hill Fan. So we did the tours, were extras, and attended the charity games. Some of my favorite memories with my mom are our trips to Wilmington.
We stayed at the Hilton Riverwalk Hotel. I loved that it was right on the river and the river walk. We had front row seats for fireworks on the 4th (they set them off on a barge on on the other side of the river). The river walk was nice, we walked all the down and back a couple nights finding dinner places, desert, and little shops. The only dislike was the hotel was originally built in 1970, so it was a little small and in some areas outdated. Though the staff is really sweet and helpful in so many ways. They even offered to let me use the staff refrigerator or the restaurant refrigerators if I needed to store any breastmilk for Miss Everley. Luckily we were able to get our own refrigerator put into our room on Thursday afternoon. Wahoo!!
We choose to leave on Wednesday evening, David came home early from work and we hit the road. I will say that it is easier to travel at night with kiddos in my opinion, especially with a new baby in the car. We left at 5:45pm, had to stop once for gas at about 7ish and then again for dinner/snack at around 9 (at this point Everley was ready for bedtime feeding), we arrived at around 11:3ish. So a very nice and easy drive for us, Everley slept pretty much the entire trip and Tensley fell asleep close to 7:30 (she tried to fall asleep earlier, however David and I were quick to talk to her or turn the music up to keep her awake)
We unloaded the car and hit the beach. Tensley was quick to make a beach bestie, Brooks. They played in the sand together and we even braved the ocean a bit. Yep, thats right I took Tensley out to swim and stood in waste deep waters knowing that almost 50 miles north of us there was a shark attack the night before! #Parentingdoneright? #Crazyparents
By 1pm we were ready to go back to our hotel and get something to eat. By then Everley was over the beach. We took a small dome tent with us thinking it would keep her cool and out of the shade. Lesson learned friends, it did not keep her cool. By putting the sun shield on the top, it covered the mesh. Meaning no breeze was coming into the tent. Lets say it got rather warm in the tent. She enjoyed being naked and have ice wrapped up in her blanket to stay cool.
 |
| Our travel bassinet is found here! I'd highly recommend this to any momma of a baby. |
Friday morning we took our time trying to figure out what we wanted to do. David and I both loved the movie Safe Haven (the book is excellent!) and I told him it was filmed in Southport about 40 minutes away. So we packed up the girls and headed down to see the little cute town. Let me say this I am so so so glad that we did. When we arrived we found that Southport is the location for the North Carolina State Fourth of July Festival! They were having events early, so we truly got to spend time exploring the time and enjoying the different art vendors, crafts, shops, food, and the views. We both fell in love with this small town and are wanting to go back the next chance we get. I might have even picked up a real estate book on our way out; vacation home or new residents? Maybe I will just convince my grams to move there. :)
I walked into one of the local shops with Tensley, when one of the employees asked if she wanted to get her photo taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus. I said yes she would and asked if I could go get my husband and Everley. Once I found David, we all came inside and got the girls all ready to take their photos. Tensley was so excited and concerned that Santa was at the beach. He assured her he was just on vacation with Mrs. Claus. After the photos, Tensley was able to pick 3 things out of the treasure chest and Mrs. Claus gave me a card. On one side had their picture and the other had a signing that stated; "I promise to try my hardest to be good and do my best, for I know sometimes I might mess up but I will constantly try to do the right thing," there was a blank line at the bottom for the child to sign their name and the date. I really liked this idea!
Saturday we choose to back to the beach in the morning for a couple of hours. Tensley said she would only be happy about going if we got to see Brooks. We told her we would park on the same street again, but we made no promises that we would see him. Once we had parked and were walking to the beach access, we heard Brooks mom from their house. She told us in just about 30 minutes they would be out at the beach, so Tensley was excited to be there.
She was even kind of us to let us borrow on of their umbrellas (ours broke on Thursday), putting Everley in her travel bassinet under the umbrella was a complete success. She loved the breeze, the shade, and slept a decent amount of the time we were out there. It wasn't until a few days ago that I stopped finding pieces of sand in her hair, even after washing it at the beach.
 |
| Tensley can be found here and Everley's suit can be found here. |
After we left the beach, we went back to our hotel rinsed the sand off and hit the pool. David and Tensley played for the first little bit, while I lounged and kept Everley out of the sun while she slept!
Then we switched and I got to play with her for a little bit, while David enjoyed a little bit of lounge time. We both enjoyed one on one time with Tensley in the pool, plus David was really impressed with how much Tensley had improved in her swimming from last year.
Around 4:30 we went back up to our room to freshen up for dinner and then get great seats for the firework show at 9pm.
We really wanted to try out the Front Street Brewery (though we had a feeling it wouldn't be super kid friendly) however there was almost a 2 hour wait. I quickly nixed that idea because I knew Tensley would never make it 2 hours waiting on dinner, plus it would be hard to find somewhere to sit for fireworks on the riverwalk. We walked up to front street anyway, at first we only saw Subway. We knew it would be quick and something we would all enjoyed, but both a little disappointed this would be our last meal in Wilmington. Well low and behold a local Mexican restaurant (I couldn't find the name online), it was similar to a Chipotle. Though let me be honest, I thought this place was better then Chipotle, yes I said it there is something better then Chipotle.
Once we finished eating we walked back down to the riverwalk right in front of our hotel. Took family photos and set up shop on were we would sit for the fireworks. David really wanted us to sit in the pool area, but I thought it would be too cruel to sit there and not let Tensley get in the pool. Instead we stayed at the riverwalk, got our beach chairs out of the car, and waiting for the show. Tensley met another friend and played the entire time and even got ice cream. Everley feel asleep right before the fireworks started and stayed asleep for about half of them in David's lap. When she started to get fussy we switched kids, thankful I was able to get Everley settled so I could finish watching them. Poor girl didn't like the loud noises, she even tried to cover her own ears but couldn't find her ears. ;)
 |
| Tensley romper is last years, similar one here. Beverley's skirt here. My shorts are last years from Francesca's. |
 |
| Sweet Sisters |
Let me say that the Wilmington firework show was AMAZING. I love seeing fireworks over the water, but this show was just simply amazing. They had such a great variety in their show and an amazing finale! If I had it my way we would go Wilmington every year on July 4th to see the firework show and visit Southport as well, even if we only had 48 hours. Yes I know I'm crazy, but I just really love that area.
No comments :
Post a Comment