Day 159 (6/8/11) - Exploring the Outer Banks

Today we decided to take a break from the beach and explore the Outer Banks.  Since the boys wake up before the roosters as well as anyone else in our beach house, we took them for an early morning walk on the beach.  It's an amazing thing, somehow when you're at the beach, that hour of the day doesn't seem so painful!  It was wonderful to have the beach to ourselves, watching the sun rise, collecting sea shells, and giggling at Guinness prancing in the shallow water.

We spent the rest of the morning shopping in Duck.  The ladies had a blast, but the guys seemed a little bored!  At least we all could agree on North Carolina-style barbecue for lunch!

Next, we visited the Wright Brothers Museum to learn about the first flight.  Unfortunately, smoke from raging wildfires made the air quality too poor to walk the hill to the memorial.

Since the kids were getting a little restless, we stopped at a playground in Manteo for them to run off some energy.

We had promised Ryan a game of miniature golf, but the smokey conditions made it impossible.  Fortunately, by the time we got back to Corolla, the smoke had cleared.  So, we took him go-kart racing again and he and Daddy faced off on the bumper cars.