A Time To Work, and a Time to go on Vacation

Last week we headed into uncharted territory . . . our first ever family vacation!

Our destination was New Bern, NC, a beautiful, historic city located at the convergence point of 2 different rivers. We were about one hour from the Crystal Coast, 3 hours north of Myrtle Beach and 3 hrs. south of the Outer Banks. On the map, the star marks the location of New Bern, and the narrow strip of land off the coast, marked "Emerald Isle" is where we took several day trips - to the beach, aquarium, and Fort Macon.

To be honest, we had no idea what to expect, and were a bit fearful about how the kiddos would do on the 12-hour drive. At the last minute, we decided to leave on Thursday night around 11, instead of Friday morning as we'd planned. Genius! The kiddos slept OK - not great - but did just fine and were awake for only about 5 hours of the trip. Since they hadn't gotten a ton of sleep, we all crashed on Friday night around 8:00! (Danny had only slept for about an hour, and I'd gotten about 3-4 hours.) It was totally worth it.

Since the weather was somewhat rainy over the weekend, we stayed around our condo, used the pool & workout room, and visited a nearby fossil museum. Despite the nauseatingly evolutionary flavor of the museum, we all enjoyed the displays of huge shark teeth and other fossils discovered along the North Carolina coast. The kiddos particularly enjoyed the dig outside the museum, where we spent several hours and unearthed aver 100 small shark teeth.

I'd packed each of the kiddos their own "activity box", with books, coloring/ drawing supplies, and various other activities. This kept them so occupied, they didn't even end up watching most of the movies we'd brought. Their boxes served us especially well during all the day trips we took.

The hands-on paleontological dig outside the Aurora Fossil Museum


Our first 7 shark teeth! (which the wind blew back into the dig, never to be seen by us again)


We spent one day at Emerald Isle, which felt almost like our own private beach!




We walked to the end of this fishing pier, and saw a shark circling at the end of it. One fisherman told us it was an 8-to 10-footer.

The North Carolina aquarium was absolutely one of the most kid-friendly places we've ever gone. The kiddos got to witness a "live dive" - a diver spoke to them and answered questions from inside the shark / sea turtle tank. They also held a baby sea turtle, fed rainbow trout, "petted" stingrays, and saw hundreds of sea creatures, all from North Carolina's rivers & coast.


Fort Macon - a strategic stronghold taken by the north in the Civil war. The whole thing is underground and from a distance just looks like a mound of grass. It's surrounded on 3 sides by the Atlantic Ocean.



How Mr. Moo seemed to spend a great deal of our trip. Nearly every day he managed to fall into the water. One day he slipped in a giant puddle. Another day he fell into the pond behind our condo and thoroughly soaked himself. He spent a lot of time shirtless.


The "home away from home." Thank goodness for the kitchen! We ate all but 3 or 4 of our meals in, or packed them in the cooler. If not for the kitchen, this trip wouldn't have been possible.


Our accommodations included a fold-out bed, a loft and a king-size bed.


Mr. Moo got the large closet. It may seem like child abuse, but seriously - all 4 of them fought over who got to sleep there! He loved it so much that every day, at least several times, he had to take Danny or me back there to show us his "special room." He was so proud of it.


Fun with perspective. "Bern" is the Swiss word for "bear" (the city was settled by the Swiss & Germans 299 years ago), so there are lots of cool bear carvings throughout the historic district of New Bern. This particular bear was about 12 feet tall.


The "Cow Cafe" - a highlight for the kiddos. Everything was cow themed, including the large play room at the back of the cafe, where we all had homemade ice cream.


We visited the Fireman's Museum one morning and learned that in 1922, 2 huge fires wiped out about 1/3 of new Bern and left hundreds homeless. Our tour guide was VERY excited about the city's history, and we were the only customers that morning, so we got an earful!!


View from the highway, which spanned several miles of river.


The historic Tryon Palace, which reminded us of Colonial Williamsburg on a smaller scale. Everyone was in period dress - the time period prior to the Revoluntionary War.


Just one of many perimeter gardens


I found out an interesting fact: I make applesauce the same way they made it over 200 years ago! Who knew? I guess I need to find some new applesauce technology.


The way Mr. Moo spent most of our day at the palace - in meltdown mode. I thought it was brilliant, though, that they have 2 separate tour guides: one for normal people, and one for families with small children! We got our own personalized, accelerated tour through the palace, and the other guests were actually able to enjoy their tour.


Taken at a park where we ate dinner one evening


Just one of many "historic landmark" houses throughout New Bern. We spent a whole afternoon just walking the city streets.


So, thanks to the good friends who made this trip possible, we enjoyed one of the best weeks we've ever had as a family. But, as nice as it was to spend a week away, we were glad to come back home again (although I think Moo missed his closet). And we can now tell you more than you ever wanted to know about New Bern, North Carolina!