Father's Day Beach Fun

We were blessed to have Phil home for Father's Day and showed him our love and affection by having him wear this super cool "Daddysaurus Rex" t-shirt and drink from a "Yoda best, Daddy!" coffee mug. :) Etsy is pretty great for unique gifts, I must say. Honestly, he is one awesome dad (and husband), and we're so thankful he's ours! We also made sure to tell Grandpa and Papaw "Happy Father's Day," and we wish they lived closer for us to take them out to celebrate, too. We owe them one when they come to visit next!

 

 For something special, we took our first trip to Atlantic Beach for the day. While it was a little further to get to than we planned, it was a great public beach, and it was nice to explore a new place. There were little ice cream shops and restaurants, decent bathrooms, and a lifeguard every where you looked.

 The kids really loved it, and they played better at the beach than they ever have. They are finally to the age where they can have fun both in and out of the water, play together or entertain themselves with the beach toys, and don't need to leave early because they need a nap. We've arrived. ;) Although I typically don't get out much past my waist unless it's on the paddle board, we all went out a little deeper (with the kids in their life vests) and had fun jumping into/over the waves. 

  What happens when I try to get a good picture of the both of them...plenty of funny outtakes! 

 I think Phil did all the work on their sandcastle...

 Claire's retrieving sand, one shovel full at a time...

 Avery's content just to supervise :)

 Sand angels!

She found her baby Wimbledon sun hat from Val and insisted on wearing it! It's just a tiny bit too small, I'm afraid.

It was a beautiful day! We were especially excited to see quite a few dolphins swimming just off shore. It's so neat how they like to be so close to people. It was also comforting, as they help to keep sharks away! We were there for almost 5 hours (we put on a lot of sunscreen and reapplied, don't worry), and then headed home. On the way back, we tried a new to us place called Dank Burrito in Morehead City. They used to be a food truck, and their food is like Qdoba but much more unique, both the food and the atmosphere. I had a cajun mahi burrito, and Phil had a jerk chicken one, while the kids had quesadilla kids' meals. The place is covered in graffiti art, which was pretty cool and helped us to fit right in in our straight-from-the-beach casual wear. ;) We already can't wait to head back to the beach- the kids have been asking nearly every day! It was a very happy Father's Day around here!