The Neals: the first installment of OBX

It always begins the same way.
The night before the trip: we strategize our drive.
The night before the trip: I am giddy in knowing that this is the first time Sean has ever been able to do the entire trip with me.
The night before the trip: We pray really, really earnestly that our children make the bed-to-car transfer without waking up.

3:30am: We hit the road.
3:35am: Sean and I look in the rear view mirrors only to find two very quiet kids who are unfortunately wide awake.
By 4:00am, the kids are fast asleep in their carseats, and the caravan to North Carolina is underway.

I feel I can speak on behalf of the entire family in saying that we wait for this trip from the very second the last trip ends.
Our family began vacationing in the Outer Banks when I was around 12. It's a funny sort of transition we have made over the years. At first, we rented a condo. It was great. Then, we rented a house at least 6 blocks from the beach. That was great. Then we rented a house semi-oceanfront. That was awesome. Then we rented a house last trip that was finally Oceanfront, which was awesome.

Except for the fact that the dunes completely covered our views...of the ocean.
Seriously.

So, we went back to the drawing board and searched and searched for the perfect house for this trip, and I think we might have finally found it. There is nothing like pulling up to any of these houses and getting out of the car after 12 hours and knowing that for the next week, it will be pure awesomeness. Yes, awesomeness.

The kids did amazingly well on the drive down. No, really, Sean and I were in awe. The slept in until 7:30am, we got breakfast, hopped back in the car, and before we knew it BOTH were back asleep by noon. This, in no way, ever happens with our kids. Before we knew it, the entire family was there.

I have to admit, I believe our family has this vacation down to a T, and we certainly know how to have a good time. I am happy to report nobody wet their pants from laughing too hard while on this vacation. This in and of itself is a great accomplishment.

We all squealed when we saw the view from our house. Now THAT, is oceanfront thankyouverymuch.

We unpacked the car faster than you can even imagine, changed into our bathing suits and hit the beach.

WE THOUGHT CALVIN, THE WONDER DOG WOULD EVENTUALLY GET TIRED OF THIS...
but he didn't.

WE PLAYED

WE RELAXED

*WE REALLY NEED TO HURRY AND TAKE THE OBX 2011 WT PICTURES SO SEAN AND HIS BEARD WOULD STOP MAKING THE CHILDREN CRY.*

WE TRUSTED THAT THE 4 OLDEST COUSINS WOULD ACTUALLY GO TO SLEEP IN THE SAME ROOM AT A REASONABLE HOUR :)

WE LOOOOOVED HAVING A KID TABLE

WE WERE THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINED BY THE BABY COUSINS!

2011 TANK WAR TOURNAMENT

Let me say this without sounding like a sore loser...but can I PLEASE someday have a tank that makes it past the first round???
As you can see, we take this very seriously, probing the tanks in their aftermath state to see which person will move on to the next round.