"'This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name:'"
Jeremiah 31:35
Friday morning Daddy, Mama, and Aunt Mae-Mae made breakfast for us! We had scrambled eggs, pigs 'n a blanket, Cinnabon coffee cake {unhealthy-but absolutely delicious}, and Daddy's specialty: omeletes! :)
Yummy!!!
We bought fresh strawberries from the store, and nothing goes better with strawberries than powdered sugar! :) So, that was our fruit Friday morning.
After breakfast, we all were wondering what we were going to do that day, so Paw-paw suggested that we take the ferry over to Ocracoke Island. Everyone agreed, so bathingsuits were put on and lunch was hastily made.
Soon we were on our way!
It took forever to get from Rodanthe to the ferry, but I didn't mind because I had a book with me! :)
When we arrived, we were just in time for the next ferry, so we got in line. We then found out that they could only fit one more car on the ferry. We took 2 cars, and we wanted to be together, so we opted for the next ferry and let another car go instead. While we waited, we took potty breaks, toured the little shop nearby and relaxed. Soon, we had to load up to get on the next ferry! (The ferries run every 30 minutes in the summer.)
Some of us had been on a ferry before but most of the younger ones had not, so they received "first time sailor" stickers.
I think this was the name of the ferry - don't ask me to pronounce it.
I'm going to guess that it is an Indian tribe name.
Cadence and Paw-paw on the ferry.
For those of you who have never been on the ferry, the cars are tightly packed (our van was the biggest vehicle there! :) together but you are free to roam around the ferry. There was some open space at the end of the ferry so most of us stayed there. The ferry also had 2 bathrooms and a lounge room.
Eden
Everyone was smiling:
Caleb
Justus
Josiah
Cadence
The thing Cadence, Josiah, and Justus are leaning up against is the "gate" that is put up at the end of the ferry, where the cars come on. That way no one can decide to take a swim while the ferry is in progress! :)
Seth
Uncle Kevin whistling away! :)
Lexi and Lydia. (That's a bit of a tongue twister!)
One beautiful family. :)
As you can see from the above picture, the sun was out and warming us all up! :) It was a really beautiful day.
The lounge room and the captain's cabin.
Justus and Hannah.
Lexi checking things out.
Justus walking around.
Josiah and Lydia.
Don't you love their expressions? :)
Here Justus is hanging on a fence-like barrier that surrounded a life boat.
Justus and Lydia checking out the deck.
Here, as you can tell, the sun was getting a little hot! :)
My precious baby sister...
...and one of my adorable cousins.
Daddy taking a nap.
Mama, Daddy, and G.G. stayed in the car during the entire ride.
Caleb, Alexis, and Seth on the deck by the lounge.
This is the last picture I took before we got off the ferry.
Once off the ferry we drove to a beach access. Since our big ol' van isn't 4x4 access we parked nearby and Paw-paw shuttled us back and forth until all of our members and most of our goods were on the beach! :)
Ocracoke was absolutely beautiful! There was a long stretch of the sand before you reached the ocean, that was lightly covered in water. And before that was a little rivulet of saltwater that varied in depth but was a perfect little pool for the little ones (they loved it!). Oh, it was so beautiful! :) The water was amazingly warm...really! When we got back home I touched the water by our house and was amazed at how cold it was compared to Ocracoke!
Sadly, I didn't take my camera with me, so I have no pictures of the Ocracoke paradise. Next time I'll bring my camera, even if I think I won't need it. On the other hand, it might be more beneficial to you if I didn't have the camera with me because there wouldn't be 140+ pictures for you to look at! :-D
Back to the post...
We had packed a snack lunch of veggies, cheese and crackers, and water but that wasn't enough. So, Paw-paw went and bought subs from a nearby store.
We arrived at Ocracoke around 12 PM and we stayed there until around 4:30. We ate, played in the water, went for walks, laid out and went to sleep, or just enjoyed the beautiful day!!!
Soon it was time to go home though because the adults were going on a special dinner date!
The "special dinner date" was originally planned for the husbands to take their wives out in honor of Mothers' Day. Well, a few things didn't work out, so everyone ended up going together. I think they were still blessed by the night out anyways! :)
All the lovely couples and my great-grandma.
(I insisted I get a picture of them before they left! :) And, Uncle Kevin, I put this picture, out of all of them, up for you! :)
Meanwhile all us kiddos were at home and preparing dinner for ourselves: Red Baron pizza! It smelled so yummy as it cooked! :)
Everyone (minus Lydia and I) eating dinner.
Lydia wasn't in the picture because she had fallen asleep. Mama had been doing something in the bathroom before they left, and Lydia was with her. When Mama peeked around to see where Lydia had gone she found her fast asleep on the bed. Let's just say that Lydia needs her afternoon naps! :)
I had to take a picture of sleeping beauty before I woke her up for dinner! :)
After dinner everyone piled onto the sofas to watch a family favorite: Finding Nemo.
Around 8:15 all the adults were back (the tale goes a certain person couldn't miss the basketball game that night...). Cadence and Justus were already in bed, and soon the other little ones were too! :)
While some people watched basketball, the others played Mexican Train.
We had played a few times before, so we decided to play it again!
Na-naw and Paw-paw thinking hard.
Hannah and Aunt Mae-Mae.
Soon, it was bedtime, so we had to end our last night together at the beach, and say goodnight. :(
Delighting in Jesus,
Kimber
