Another great week at camp

We are back from another great week at Roxbury. It is hands down one of the highlights of the summer every year (for us and the kids!). We had gorgeous weather and they got to spend SO much time with their cousins and camp friends riding bike, fishing, playing on the playground, swimming at the swimming hole, going to kids' church, and of course.....at their favorite place: the SNACK BAR! Crazy kids! 

Hot dogs at the camp bonfire!

Daddy's big catch for the week 

On one of the nights, we opted to sit in the little gazebo for evening church and boy, it's good we did. We had an absolute torrential downpour right in the middle of the service. It was so bad we couldn't hear and we weren't quite sure how we were going to get back to the cabin. The kids braved the rain and ran all the way back to the cabin to get us umbrellas. They were soaking wet but they thought it was the funniest thing. 

We're so thankful for camp and a cabin that holds so many memories for our family. Can't wait 'til next year! 

Rest of vacation

The rest of our vacation was so fun. We did hit some hiccups here and there on the property since everything and everyone was so new (we did end up getting some money back for our troubles which was nice). Throughout the rest of the week, we did a LOT of boating and stand up paddleboarding (which we all did successfully), candy bar BINGO (which Addison won!), lots of swimming, and fishing. 

One night we "cleaned up" and went to the wood-fired pizza place at the resort. Another we headed to Lake Lure for dinner at a really delicious lakeside restaurant. And, one of the nights, there was a foam party in the GaGa pit, which the kids through was just the coolest.

All in all, we had an awesome time together. The kids enjoyed every second of it and were oblivious to any of the little things that went "wrong" during our stay. We never had a moment we didn't have something we could do and having the place nearly to ourselves was just an added bonus!

More vacation!

Every morning on vacation was very similar...Carter and Seth went out behind our cabin to fish and me and Addison made breakfast and then called them in. It was majorly hot and humid there and Addison and I enjoyed the morning A/C. HA! :) 

After breakfast every day, we headed to the pool complex. Because the resort was so new, it was only at about 10-15% capacity, which was AMAZING! We literally had the place to ourselves (or with maybe 1-2 other families) every day. The kids could canon ball to their heart's content, grab ice cream at the cafe with no line, and run around like little crazies.

Sometimes, when we needed a break from the sun, we would head to the arts and craft building, where we, again, were often the only ones there. The kids did lots of fun crafts through the week. Here they were doing sand art! 

After dinner, we took a golf cart ride up to the top of the resort. WOW...the view was so, so gorgeous! Then, we hit up gem mining, one of the things the kids were just dying to do there since the second we booked it. Both were super excited with all the treasures they found, too!

We decided to go fishing as a family later in the evening when it was cooling down. And look who caught her first fish ever. She was SO excited!

First day of vacation!

We had a lot of fun on our vacation in Bostic, NC! We decided to try out the new Yogi Bear Resort -- which literally just opened like two weeks ago. We stayed in Virginia, about an hour away from the resort, so that we could arrive earlier today and enjoy one of the days here before we checked into our cabin. 

We found out about a week before our stay that there was an issue with the water park and it would be closed during our stay for repairs. Needless to say, we were not very happy about that. But, they did give us free boat rentals as much as we wanted to for the week AND set up a whole bunch of inflatable water slides near the lake. Today, we got here around 11 and the water park was still open for a bit, so the kids got to play!

We got lunch at the cafe by the pool and checked out the resort a little bit. When it was time to check in, we got our golf cart (which turned out to be absolutely necessary on such a big and mountainous property) and headed to our cabin. Our cabin was so beautiful (and brand new!) -- two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, bathroom and all the comforts of home (like air conditioning, TV, etc.).

We decided to make most of our meals ourselves for the trip because Bostic is not really near anything, and the resort only had one restaurant at the time we went (the other one was not open yet). We made lots of things ahead of time so we didn't really need to do any "cooking" while we were there. After dinner, we headed to do mini golfing on the resort and take a spin on our golf cart to keep checking things out!

A week at Roxbury!

For the first week of August, you know where you can find us: at Gram's cabin at Roxbury. Seth was away on a missions trip in Alaska so I had to be off work anyway to be with the kids. So, we did what we always do...we headed over to camp. Michelle and the kids were there, too, so the kids had plenty to do with all the cousins! Addison slept with me in the bed and Carter wanted a bed on the floor, so that worked out well in our tiny bedroom. 

The kids filled their days with kids church, fishing, bike riding, going to the snack shop (over and over and over), taking walks, and doing allll sorts of outdoor things. It's the best part of camp: no internet or signal and they are fully content to play outside from sunrise to dark (just like when I was a kid!). 

On one of the days, they set up this huge waterslide and the little kids get to use it. Our kids LOVED it. They also do a kids' carnival one day, which is so fun for them. I didn't grab any pictures because they are old enough to go on their own! 

We had so much fun at camp but we were so glad to see Seth when he got back from Alaska. Kids + away from home + missing the dog and husband + constantly dirty kids = nice to see your house at the end of the week. See ya next year, Roxbury!

OBX: Day 7

The kids got their tie dye back today! Look how BEAUTIFUL they turned out?! The adults were wishing they had done them, too, once they saw how cool they turned out. 

By this day, I (Danielle) was not really feeling great, and was coming down with some sort of head cold. Between a headache and not being able to breathe, today was a super easy day with a little bit of the beach and mostly pool time for me (and some of the kids! They loved the pool!). 

For dinner, we headed down to Manteo on Roanoke Island to Blue Water Grill. It was so beautiful on the water and my dinner LOOKED amazing. I say looked because I could not taste it at all with my head congestion. Ugh. But we had a great last dinner as a family and then headed to downtown Manteo to walk around and shop a little. 

We enjoyed one final night at the condo and having ice cream before we all packed up and headed home the next day!

OBX: Day 6

I may have my days a little bit out of whack here, but one of the days near the end of our trip we did tie dye shirts, which was definitely a family favorite. It was literally beside our condo so the commute there was nice and short. After a quick lesson on design styles and the art of color combos, the kids got to work! 

We spent time at the beach and in the pool, like we did the other days, but we decided to head up to Duck for dinner in the evening. The first restaurant we tried had a 2 hour wait already by 5 p.m. so we opted for the Red Sky Cafe. It was good and allowed us to get to the shops in Duck with plenty of time to see the sunset and explore a bit. The kids especially loved the candy store and the beautiful scenery allowed us to get some great photos!