Waiting for Dorian

Note to self:  when booking a vacation in the Outer Banks during hurricane season, invest in trip insurance.

We've taken plenty of beach vacations with family, and even a few by ourselves, but a beach vacation with a few friends and a whole bunch of strangers?  That's a new adventure for us. 


As is waiting for a mandatory evacuation of the island to clear before we can go, wondering all the while if our rental house will even be there when it lifts. 

When a race car randomly shows up in your backyard....

Labor Day weekend saw the completion of Jason's Memorial Day project.  Our backyard now has a babbling brook running through the sand pit. 

The Outer Banks trip was meant to be the other bookend to our summer--Hilton Head being the first, at the beginning of summer.  

We did squeeze in a full four weeks of school first, though, including these dioramas depicting various habitats.

Lizzy's meadow.

Porcupines.

Ada's forest.

But thanks to Hurricane Dorian, Sunday found us in a holding pattern, rather than happily on our way.  Not until later that day did they announce that the public would be allowed onto the island Monday morning at 8:00.  

Did that mean our house was still standing?  No, not necessarily.  But with four antsy kids--and two antsy parents who had already taken the week off and packed a week's worth of food--we decided to hit the road in the wee hours, come what may.  Beach or bust, baby.