last day at the beach

The fun had to come to an end and we had to say our goodbyes, but these Weisse Guys stayed until the bitter end.

We stayed until as late as possible on Sunday which meant we got the most time there, but also had to clean up and desperately try to eat up all the left over food. Then in order to avoid the traffic to get off the island we stayed with Brian and Shelly and their boys and headed over to Roanoke Island.  Actually, first we stopped at one of the more famous lighthouses on the Outer Banks.  Unfortunately, it is not only one that you are not allowed to climb, but it was also under construction and we couldn't even get a good picture out of the stop. We tried to sell it as slightly educational after a chat with a park tanger about sealife, etc, but I am pretty sure the kids were bored and disappointed.  

It helped that we found this much smaller lighthouse at the end of a pier.

We could go inside, but not up.  Believe me that little rope was difficult to keep these boys from climbing right up there to see the light.

Our next mission was to find a "Pirate Ship."  We knew there was one in Manteo, but we hadn't really looked into the details of the matter, so after the lighthouse debacle I started to get nervous.  Fortunately, we came across two.  The first one was fun too look at, but was some sort of expensive treasure hunt that we were not about to pay for.  The second was a replica of the Elizabeth II at the Outer Banks History Center.  

It was a little pricey to get into the Park, but we couldn't let the boys down, so the dads took the older boys, while the moms stayed back with Gus.  

They thought it was really cool, so it seemed to be worth the trip and the money.

Jimmy didn't really want to try out the historical weapons and machinery, but he watched Ben and Owen, which is just as fun, right?

We had a good lunch together and then our last stop before the car ride home was an ice cream shop.

(Brilliant for a kid who gets car sick, I know, but really we figured no matter what we fed him, it was going to come up... I won't elaborate on the fun details of traffic and puke on the trip back to DC.)

Jimmy loved these boys so much that he was almost in tears when it was time to leave.  He asked when we would get to see them again which, of course, I had no answer for. The good news is that they have planned a trip to Phoenix over their spring break, so it won't be that long after all.  YAY!