Topsail Island, Emerald Isle and PIRATES

Jacob climbs on everything now. I have to tip the chairs over so he can't climb on the table. Looks like a little man now and loves to play duck duck goose with Nicole and Michael. It is hilarious to watch Nicole and Michael play a 2 person game of 'duck, duck, goose.'He is such a sweetheart!I found some more pictures Nicole took on my phone. Isn't this a treasure? She is a budding photographer! Like the mischievous look on Michael's face? I can't count all the ways he uses that endless energy! The beach at Topsail (pronounced Top-sull) was perfect as always. A predictable heaven! This was the first family vacation we took since the goat farm trip over two years ago. Jacob loved the open space and nobody fussed at all the entire time!Nicole and Michael played together digging and splashing for hours.Michael was very focused on filling up a bucket of water to the brim and carrying it to Nicole, who promptly dumped it on her sand castle and sent him back for more water. He is so strong and you could see his muscles really working to carry the bucket. A lady watching the ocean nearby came over to us after about 20 minutes of this never-ending labor and commented on his hard work.Nicole liked pretending this was quicksand!!! :-)Jacob picked up shells and sand; only once did he try and eat the sand but he spit it out right away! It was nice to have trip without that worry :-)Open spaces and a non-crowded beach just work magic on our family. So peaceful and relaxing!Jacob and I took a walk way past the pier and back. Jacob kept getting distracted by a shell way far away and then on the way there would start running toward a bird and then look back to make sure I was there. So cute!We had an oceanfront room and balcony (and the full moon was amazing at night-right out our window hanging low and reflecting off of the ocean!), these are the steps from our hotel "The Jolly Roger" to the beach. SIDE STORY: Nicole loved it especially. When we were driving home, she told us we were lost and we said, 'no we're getting there.' Once we pulled into our neighborhood and she started recognizing houses she started crying and saying, 'we don't live here, we don't live here!' Apparently, she thought we had moved to the beach. It took a lot of convincing that daddy's job, going to church, our clothes and food and everything were all HERE not at the beach and that it is too expensive to live at the hotel. She didn't care for anything, but the cost finally made her say 'okay we can live here.'Jacob trying on my sunglasses.

Our absolute favorite part of this whole trip was the boat ride we took on the Belle of Topsail. It was a special pirate ride where they have a very realistic-looking pirate ship sail up to the old fashioned steamer you're on and the captain is taken hostage for treasure. They have water cannons you shoot at the pirates as they make a few passes at the boat before the board and tie up the captain. The pirates act out this whole scene and finally they find the treasure and share the booty (beaded mardi-gras type necklaces) with the kids. This is Nicole's face when I pointed out to her the pirate ship off in the distance. A mixture of fear and excitement...they kids LOVED this!!! The only part Nicole wasn't too keen on was when they pulled a sword on the captain (I think she thought he was really going to get hurt) so I took her to the front of the ship until the captain was tied up and then she was fine.

At the water cannons waiting to fire on the pirates! This was my favorite part. Even Jim was boasting how he got the pirate captain in the eye!I had prepped the kids for what to say to the pirates and when they boarded my kids were yelling 'arrrrrrr' at the top of their lungs.The pirate ship making a pass!They're going to board us!Michael practicing his aim. The wind was blowing 15-2omph and a lot of the water ended up right back on us!Nicole anticipating the next pass of the pirate ship!Watching the pirate captain emerge from his cabin!The kids loved their pirate treasure and every time they saw anything remotely related to pirates (flags, toys, etc) I would hear "PIRATES PIRATES!"We ate at Surf City Crab one night...it was okay, but Jim and I aren't huge fans of the fried seafood since the taste of the seafood gets a bit lost in the frying. We went to Island Diner for ice cream cones after dinner and enjoyed the hot summer sun, dripping ice cream cones and talking about the fun time we had with the pirates.I love how my kids don't know what these machines do so they are perfectly happy to pretend riding them instead of begging for quarters :-)

After spending Friday all day and Saturday morning in Topsail, we drove to Emerald Isle to visit the aquarium and see the island. It was much more commercialized and a lot bigger of an island but still nothing like California. I'd have to say I'm still a Topsail kind of girl. I like the small diners and beach houses with tiny hotels.

The view from the top of the bridge onto Emerald Isle!

We visited the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium there and the kids went wild with excitement at all of the fish, sharks, turtles, you name it. I thought they were tired from a morning at the beach, but they were literally bouncing off the walls here! I was snapping a picture of them looking at the turtles (with a prominent 'do not touch turtles they bite' sign nearby) and of course by the time it took the kids were almost touching the turtles.

Nicole kissing her frog prince.

Riding the sea turtle! The kids loved the turtles almost as much as the sharks. We ended up getting them these darling stuffed animals and they were hugging them all the way home and are sleeping with them every night. Such fun memories!Cool fish wishing pond at the entrance.This sand sculpture was amazing! It was called something like the 'sharks revenge' and was crafted by hand. It was outside too! I imagine when it rains they cover it up. The ship was huge and there was so much detail!Mr. Michael CrabMs. Nicole CrabNicole's picture of a fish. We watched divers go into this 360,000 gallon tank with over 800 fish with 6 sharks (not all friendly nurse sharks either!) and there was a diver talking to us while two other divers held these mallet-type sticks out to help "direct" the sharks and keep them from circling the diver speaking to us. She mentioned the sharks didn't deserve their bad rep. But then I was watching her being protected from these circling sharks and was not quite convinced.Jacob on the croc! Not too happy about it...

Okay, so here's some video. I got a little bit of the pirate adventure on the end. Hope you enjoy! www.delbifamily.blogspot.com