We are back from our annual trip to Topsail Island, NC. We discovered this area from a wedding 3 years ago. The island primarily has private beach homes, which means mostly private beaches. Our children love the sand and the surf. This is one of those vacations where we check our watches at the door and try and leave the cell phones inside. What a difference this makes! The vacation seems to last longer. We tell the kids, eat what you want to eat when you want to eat and go to bed when you want to go to bed and get up when you want to get up. The first time I told them this, their eyes darted back and forth at each other as if to say, “I think Dad finally lost it.” To us this is what a vacation is for, to indulge a bit in food and sleep. A great way to reinvigorate your spirit. The beach has a way of filtering the busyness of life and your mind can really wonder about. We value the bonding effect of vacations and always try and remember that we are creating memories for our children. There is something about taking a walk with your son or daughter and just spending time talking about different things. My daughter asked me where all the “hot” guys were at. What! Oh no. Where did my little girl go? My first thought was to say, “there are no hot guys anywhere so stop looking”. Nice try Dad. These kinds of vacations are also good for my Wife and I to reconnect and take those same walks on the beach. It wasn’t so bad either watching her get a nice tan!
We visited the sea turtle hospital. This is a non-profit hospital obviously for sea turtles. Most of the turtles were injured from boat props while others had infections. They keep them just long enough to nurse them back to good health and then off they go. One thing we like to do is to collect fossilized sharks teeth. This is one of the few areas in the nation to find these sharks teeth. The teeth are over 50 million years old! Our son Kyle and his friend Brock Frazer went fishing and caught a few. Another favorite activity we enjoy is riding the waves. Kyle and Brock have become quite proficient at skim boarding. Something I tried once and about busted by backside. I’ll just watch.
A movie was being shot right down the way from us. Richard Gere and Diane Lane were on location for this movie based on a book written by Nicolas Sparks. All of his novels apparently take place in North Carolina.
Our long time friends Troy and Leslie Frazer along with their son Brock, joined us this year. It was also great spending time with them.
Our last night, we traditionally get our family photos captured on the beach. We took our last walk down the beach to soak it all in once more. Barefoot and walking partly in the surf. All the kids were singing songs, laughing and trying to catch the crabs that were scurrying about. I walked with my Wife Jennifer and we were hand in hand. Walking back the sun had nearly set and off in the distance I could see the flashes from cameras. The flashes were like a finale at a fireworks show indicating the end. The end until next year and then we will add more to our scrapbook of perpetual memories.
We are anxious to get back to filming and editing. We have another engagement shoot we are doing this time with Kevin Monahan photography. We will be at the Indianapolis Museum of Art filming the engagement shoot. Stay tuned for the video. Kevin and Alicia are good friends and amazing photographers. One of the best.
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