i’m not gonna lie. after our michigan trip, i wasn’t super excited to load us all back up in the car for another family vacation. but this one was a much shorter commute and would hopefully be a bit more laid back. you know. beaches and all.
so we loaded up the posse, including ruby this time, and made our way to an airbnb in oak island. can you feel the excitement??
we got in pretty late and settled in, but in the morning, packed up our gear and headed off to the beach.
our airbnb was about a half mile walk to the beach, if i remember correctly, but with a really annoying and slightly stressful road crossing that we did not particularly enjoy.
the first day is always the best. the beach is a novelty. everyone is excited. the excessive application of sunblock has worn us down yet. the sand in everything. the unpacking and spreading out gear and showering upon our return. happy faces all around. ruby included.
between our airbnb and the beach access there happened to be an ice cream shop. so. of course we stopped.
(it was expensive, you know that i picked up a bunch of ice cream for the airbnb for the rest of the trip). speaking of the airbnb, it was a cute little two bedroom with a pullout couch and a fenced yard, which was nice for ruby, except that she was afraid of the loud barking neighbor dogs and refused to go out there.
we were still in good spirits on day two. ruby turned out to be less of a fan of the ocean than we thought. she thought she had to rescue us and was clearly stressed out when the kids were far out in the waves. she kept grabbing at her leash in an attempt to pull us out to safety.
after two days, it was time to mix things up a bit.