Grace: September 2008

We are back from our annual co-family vacation to the Outer Banks, NC. As always, the trip was highly anticipated and lived up to all the hype! I swear, Grace had been counting down to this trip since last October!

This year, we decided to shake things up a bit though. First, we (meaning BRANDON) decided that driving to the Outer Banks - a mere 16 hours from sunny F.L.A. - with ALL of our stuff was the thing to do. Although I wish I had pictures of the outside of our car packed high with kayak and bicycles, coolers and swimming noodles, here is a shot of Grace on the inside:

We also decided to stay in a new house on a different part of Hatteras Island than we have stayed in years past. On the one hand, the new house was going to be closer by about an hour - which, with a 16 hour drive ahead of us, a closer house by any amount of time was appealing. Plus, this house appeared to be equipped with a few little extras - pirate ship playground, a couple of extra bedrooms and an elevator (yes, it was awesome!). So, although I am generally pretty anti-change, I hesitantly agreed to the switch.

Behold, the new beach house...

It truly was a fantastic house and we each felt so lucky to get to enjoy it for a nice long week.

That being said, thankfully at least some things about this vacation week never change.

Of course, we had the pleasure of the company of four fabulous, fun and funny friends to share every moment - every trip to the beach, every dip in the pool, every (every, every) cocktail and delicious meal. Trust me, we three know just how lucky we are!