Wilmington Weekend

Wilmington has been on my bucket list of places to visit since moving to NC, and now that Phil's home, we decided to take a weekend to go check it out. Our first stop was Sneads Ferry to visit with our friends and to see their beautiful home on the water. We also got to take their boat out for a bit, and even though it was a chilly day, we all had a great time!

We could get used to this!

Though not sure what to think about all the wind!

This photo won't make the Christmas card, but it has us all in it (and Chris in the background)! 

We threw down the anchor for some fishing (Avery insisted). He didn't catch anything with the big red plastic fish as bait, but he had fun trying. We could even look at the boat's computer screen to see when fish were swimming below us, which Avery thought was really cool. 

Back on dry land, Avery continued playing with Brady's fishing pole and was casting like a pro. Grandpa would be proud!

Claire loves Ms. Bethany!! :) and Brady, too! 

Our first stop in Wilmington was downtown. We didn't realize that there was an Ironman competition being held there the same weekend, so traffic was kind of crazy, but we managed to park and make our way to the river walk area. First on the agenda was ice cream. We were on vacation, after all. After the kids made a huge mess (why we agreed to cones with tons of sprinkles, I'm not sure), we hopped on a horse-drawn carriage ride to see more of the city. 

There were a lot of really pretty old homes to look at along the way. Though the kids were less than impressed, I would have loved to have been able to take a walking tour of the historic area or even a ghost tour...maybe when we're empty nesters?? 

With kids you don't do ghost tours, however. You wait in a long line and pay for balloon creations that won't last a week instead. ;) The kids LOVED the balloon guy though (well, the balloons...the guy was a little out there), so it was totally worth it. Avery even said later that getting his Leonardo balloon was the best part of the trip.

We had a hard time walking down the street with this guy and his sword.  Claire got a ballerina that was really cute, too, but it didn't have backpack straps, so she was a little disappointed. 

Ironman participants and spectators had all the downtown restaurants packed so we headed out towards our hotel and found a pretty authentic mexican Qdoba type place to try. The kids ate, and it wasn't too expensive, so it was a win despite its lack of ambiance. 

It was a long night in the hotel of first trying to find a suitable cartoon for the kids to watch on tv (they didn't have a dvd player for the movie we had rented) and then eventually splitting them up (Claire sharing a bed with Daddy and Mommy with Avery) before we all fell asleep. Breakfast was equally as stressful the next morning because they didn't have enough tables and chairs, and we weren't very trusting of the kids to sit and not spill on the nice lobby furniture. The kids were so excited and wound up that it made things even more crazy. Needless to say, Phil and I were fairly grouchy as we made our way to the aquarium after checkout. 

The aquarium at Fort Fisher was on the small side, but it was really good for small kids...just big enough to have a lot to see but not so big to be overwhelming or take too long to get through. The kids didn't do a great job of staying with us, though, and Phil and I were too worn out and frustrated from having to chase them down the whole time to fully appreciate everything that was there. Sigh.

I did love these jelly fish though!

Avery found some really neat colorful frogs. Do you see them??

The kids holding a meeting with the white alligator... creepy. 

They liked this fake turtle much more than the real one!

Peekaboo!

Our last stop was to see the beach. It was much to cold to get in the water, but we were so close, we felt we need to take a little time to explore our new coastline. It's not the same as Pensacola, but it is certainly beautiful in its own right. 

While the kids drove us a little crazy, it was nice to get away together for the weekend and explore some of the area around us. We are looking forward to heading back this way many more times while here in NC, especially in warmer weather.