For four summers now, we have been attempting to vacation with my sister and her family. Each year the idea has gotten pushed to the next summer due to COVID and a pregnancy. Last year as we were thinking 2022 may be the year, I realized it was my parent’s 50th Anniversary and there was no way we could vacation together without my parents also joining us. I asked my parents if they would be interested in doing a beach vacation with all of us to celebrate their 50th to which they jumped on the idea.
It took a bit of searching before finding a great house on the sound in Duck, NC. Lauren, Gabriel, Noah, and Elias flew in from London on a Thursday and by Saturday morning we were all packed in our two cars and headed to the beach.
Family. Sandy. Delicious. Exhilarating. Bakery. Extraordinary. Water. Amazing. Grateful.
These were the single words that each of us chose the last night around the dinner table to sum up our vacation.
Duck was the perfect spot for our family. We were within walking distance of the boardwalk, the beach, the Four Seasons clubhouse, local independent food markets, outdoor produce stands, restaurants, and hundreds of stores.
The weather was quite rainy some days, probably the rainiest beach vacation I have ever had, but it was far from a washout, and we still made it to the beach a total of four times, which is how many times I anticipated we would go being that we were staying on the sound.
We made some delicious dinners at home…from pasta night to steak night to a burger and dog night.
We enjoyed a couple beautiful sunsets on the non-rainy and non-cloudy days.
We had a family talent show where we laughed so hard we gave ourselves a core workout.
We drove to Nags Head and peacefully enjoyed a calm morning at Jeanettes’ Pier.
We played paddle board, collected shells, played in the sand, and swam in the ocean.
The girls battled out their pool skills, both on the billiards table and in the swimming pool.
We indulged in a few bottles of wine and brewskis, including an afternoon beer flight at Growlers.
We purchased and ate an insane amount of bagels, cookies, scones, donuts, and cake from a local bakery Tullio’s where our family may have been the best customers of the week.
As if that wasn’t enough sugar, we indulged in ice cream from Big Bucks twice and ate saltwater taffy.
The house itself was great, very clean and well maintained, a fully stocked kitchen, a great floor plan, and spacious rooms. All beds were comfortable except for (yes, you guessed it) mine and Justin’s. The mattress was fine but ironically the very pretty bed frame squeaked every time sometime turned a fourth of an inch. By day four, I couldn’t take it anymore and bunked with Avery in a quite comfortable twin bed.
There were lots of cousin cuddles, grandma hugs, and most of all love, joy, and fun celebrating a huge milestone and what my parents “I do” commitment 50 years ago created.
