Ollie woke up with some sniffles today. Slightly itchy throat last night. Hoping it doesn't amount to much. Meems seemed okay and was up early doing some painting. Jonathan and I were awoken last night around 1am by the partying at "tent city" a couple sites over where a few families had booked sites and combined all their tents into one or two sites and all the cars in the other. They were here for a good time, not a long time! We kind of had some sympathy for them as they tried to cook breakfast in the wind that was also whipping their tents around. Not a great weekend for beachgoers and tent campers... but a GREAT day for kiteboarders!
We were up around 7:15am... weather overcast and windy. Perfect for a kiting day. Jonathan made pancakes for us all and by 9am we were headed to the same beach we went to yesterday morning at Pea Island. By 11:45 we were on the beach watching the little sandpipers dash about in the waves. It looked a little daunting on the ocean, and the beach was super windy so we managed to tuck ourselves into a bit of a wind shadow at the top of the beach near the dunes. We angled our chairs and used the beach blanket as a kind of windbreaker as best we could. The kids knew that today was not a "beach day" in the sense of playing on the beach, but a day for daddy to kite and us to have fun with our small trainer kite, and explore the shallows and jump around from the dunes.
Jonathan got out on his board two separate times... decked out in his old ragged wetsuit (kept his new one at home for colder waters) and new kite. I am learning the ropes so to speak with how to launch kites (this one was a 9m)... they are BIG for those not familiar. The waves were choppy and daunting, but he got out there. I admire his "go-get-em" attitude, especially under not-ideal conditions. The kids played happily in the dunes and along the beach. They were especially amused by jumping off the 8-10ft sand dune cliffs into the steep sand banks and convinced me to give it a go on what they labelled the "beginner level" platform. Once was enough for me, haha.
photo of Skelly dressed up and ready to drive the rig.
After a grand time at the beach and daddy getting his fill of kiting in the choppy ocean, we helped him pack up his kite. By then quite a handful of kiters had arrived at the beach to do a down-winder... they all looked like experienced locals off for a jaunt. They had a person that appeared to collect any stuff left on the beach and would likely drive down wind to meet them, as they all kited out on the ocean and kept heading south down the beach line with no intention of trying to stay upwind and return to the same spot to land. Always cool to see the beautiful coloured kites in the air. We drove back up towards the KOA and I remembered to snap a couple pics of the strange abandoned old amusement/water park on the outerbanks strip that we drove past each time we went to and from the campground. The kiting place that Jonathan and his brother, Mike, had looked up a few years ago to check out was also gone.
Back at the campground, we parked at our site and the kiddos took some money to go to the cafe and buy some fries and hushpuppies. We had heard from our friend, Becky, about hushpuppies and had to try some. They are deep fried dough balls. These ones were nothing to write home about (or is that what I'm doing now? hmmmmm). Anyhow, neat to try them.
We went to hit the hot tub only to find out that the hot tub was not only NOT HOT, but it was actually cold. Brrrrrr! Jonathan went to ask about it at the office and they replied with guilty faces that they had put the cold water on to fill it and forgot to turn it off! oops. We did sit in it for awhile only because we had gotten in before it was too late not to, and then it was too cold for us to get out of it in the cool breeze! Very disappointing. Decided it would take too long to heat up and we'd have to abandon ship on that one until later.
Jonathan went across the road a little later to check the kiting conditions across on the western side of the road and saw that some people were setting up to kite. This is the side where the lessons took place because it was nice and shallow (waist deep) for a long ways and no choppy waves to contend with. He decided to give it a go for a nice calm kite session this afternoon, so we walked over with him and "helped" him get set up (Oliver helps pump the kite and Amelia sits on the edge so it doesn't take off). There was a small boat ramp there that was convenient for launching and Jonathan checked it out. I had shorts on and was to walk out a small way (to my knees) and launch the kite for him. I removed my phone etc from all pockets before I went out as I knew I'd likely get wet. What I didn't expect was that I'd step off the boat launch zone (pushed by the strength of the kite) and end up in swampy goo that threatened to steal the birkenstocks off my feet! I was soaked up to the waist as I sank in the swampy mire, but managed to keep my shoes on AND launch the kite successfully, haha.
What a superb kiting session that was for Jonathan. So beautiful out there... 13 other kiters on the water, sun shining through light clouds, no crashing waves, and if anyone did come off their board or crash their kite, it was waist deep to just walk and fix things. Super cool. You could feel their happy energy and it filled our buckets to know Daddy was having a great time out there. xo
Kids and I hung out on the "beach" grassy area and played and watched Jonathan and the others kiting. We explored the pier that went out into the water. By 4:45pm we decided that he may be out there for quite awhile longer and we'd go back across the road to the RV and I'd set an alarm to return in 30min. We caught his eye and waved and signaled that we were going back. It wasn't long before we got back to the RV that Jonathan contacted us on our walkie-talkie that he was done! He thought we had left the beach fairly soon after he went out because he couldn't see us, and that when we waved we had actually returned to come get him so he came in! oops! Anyhow, he packed up no problem and came back.
this KOA has a bouncy pillow you can have fun on. Kids like it only if there are no other kids on it.
Jonathan and I sat by our little campfire to stay warm and chat and try to plan the coming days. Kids were in the rig making silly skeleton (Skelly) videos and entertaining themselves.
Jonathan decided to give the hot tub another go, hoping it was actually hot by then. The kids and I followed awhile after and brought him a beer. We met two nice guys from North Dakota (age 21&25) in the hot tub and had some good chats about mountain biking/snowboarding, etc.
When we were walking back to the rig, we saw the KOA "GlowTrain" go by... a little train of "barrels on wheels" full of families holding foamy light up glow sticks. They are pulled by a truck that's playing fun music. Super fun vibe. Meems was keen to hustle back to the rig and get dressed and we'd try to make it on the next ride around. Oliver wasn't keen to go with his sniffle, and maybe also feeling a little like it was for little kids, not 10 year olds. Meems and I hustled back and got on the next ride. Very fun and such a nice vibe and good energy. They towed that train (about 10 pairs of "barrels") around until every kid had their fill of it. Meems and I brought out "to keep" glow wands back and told Ollie he'd like it.
Filled out tummies with a yummy spaghetti dinner then chilled for the last bit of the evening. Jonathan and Amelia snuggled on the back bed and fell asleep together. Ollie had some nice facetime with his friend, Vincent, back home before we all retired to our own beds.
No comments:
Post a Comment