Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium/Day 5

We headed to the Aquarium today.  It's one of our favorite aquariums.

Everyone loving the selfie stick.  

Everyone HAS to take a turn sitting on the frog.

 

Auntie and her twin.   Although, he doesn't look a ton like her here.  When he'smiling?  He looks just like her.

The otters are soooo cool.

The touch tank

Sting Rays

Lincoln attempting to touch the sting rays...and eat them?

 

Loggerhead turtle

These are one of MY favorites.  So cool.

 

Taking a snack break outside.

It's hooooooot.

Sigh.

Here we go.  Lincoln looks just like my dad and Auntie.

Ready to go

Playing with the faucet at Atlantic Beach

We decided to stop at the sea food shop on the way home.  I picked up grouper, salmon and shrimp.  Then we got thinking that might not be enough and we wanted scallops.  So we googled sea food shacks.  We found one on Google.  But could not find it on the street.  Come to find out, it was literally a shed in a parking lot.  It got amazing reviews.  So out I went.  The man helping me was two sheets to the wind, not joking.  He goes to one of his storage barns to get my scallops.  As he is weighing them, he drops them on the ground.  Like splatted on the asphalt, dropped on the ground.  He proceeds to calmly pick them up and hose them off, with a hose.  I'm imagining my sister wrinkling her nose and refusing to eat them (and quite frankly, I was grossed out too).  I tell him just kidding, I don't want them.  Oh you should have heard him a huffing and puffing.  Because now he had to bring them alllll the way back to the shed, unlock it and put them away.  I walked away.  My sister really wanted the scallops.  So she asks where they are...and I explain.  She shrugs her shoulders and says "Eh.  That doesn't bother me too much."  I stare at her baffled.  She says "Sean has really been working on me."  Argh.  So SHE goes back to get the scallops.  I go with, just in case he tries to hurt her.  He says "Y'all are from up North aren't you?  I can always tell."  We hung our heads in shame.

With all that being said our food was absolutely delicious.   And I've never cooked scallops before.  My sister was a little amazed.  AND?!   Adelyn and Joelle's favorite was the scallops.  Brecken's was the coconut shrimp.  Lincoln gobbled all the fish.

Lilo and I cuddled after the kids went to bed.  I keep telling Josh if she disappears, he can safely know she is home with me.

North Carolina Days 1-4

Lincoln was helping Momma getting ready to go.  He's cute.

All packed up and ready to go!  We thought it might be a good idea to put Lincoln in the way back with Adelyn.  That turned out to be a really rotten idea and we switched him in Detroit.  That's how far we made it.  Turns out it probably wouldn't have mattered since he screamed the.whole.way. but it did help when I held his hand.

Couldn't even make it out of the state before we hit a traffic jam.  Good ole Ann Arbor.

Stopping at a rest stop in Ohio to eat supper.  My sister took over driving from here.  Then I took the shift from 2-7, then my sister started driving again.

Then it started torrential down pouring.  Rach decided she didn't want to drive.  We were so close and nearly everyone had pulled off to the side of the road.  I wasn't stopping.  So we pulled over and I drove the rest of the way.

We got there and my parents asked if we were there yet.  This is the picture I sent them.

We got inside and had to bust out the selfie stick.

My dad was thrilled.

We were all in this room.  L slept in his pack n play, we had two small air mattresses and they had a queen size air mattress for two of us.  They all rotated who shared the bed with me.

The next morning we had to head straight to the pool.

 

Oh he's the cutest.

B-diddy showing off his mad skills.

After supper Marianne and I took the bebes to the park.

 

Their favorite wooden chopper

 

The North Carolina sky

Monday we spent a good portion of the day lazing around.

We found a big ole cicada chilling in the grass.

Lilo and I cuddled on the couch.

My dad took Lincoln outside.  Because he's happiest outside.

"Nurse you Papa?"  Doesn't quite work that way.

My dad may kill me for this.  I was going on and on about the awful smell.  I was asking all the kids if they farted.  They all said no.  I asked them all again and again.  Now they are getting mad.  I checked Lincoln's diaper 12 times.  Then I look over at my dad (whom I was sitting right next too) and he is just beet red, dying, trying to hold in his laughter.  Hmph.

This is how Adelyn felt about the smell.