Holden Beach Here We Come!!

This past Sunday, we packed up the kids, gear and smiles and trekked on down to Holden Beach, North Carolina. We weren't sure if the girls would survive the 12+ hour drive so we added a stop at the Baltimore Zoo for a distraction. This zoo has a neat giraffe exhibit where you can hand feed them. Adeline is still in love with giraffes, possibly stemming from her extended stay in a giraffe isolette in the NICU, and we were very excited to give her a glimpse of a real giraffe close up. Unfortunately, the giraffes weren't into feeding but they were a hit nonetheless. Adeline who is typically scared to death in a zoo situation was trying to climb in the exhibit. I was delighted to see that she got as much enjoyment out of the her long-necked friends as I was hoping.

Here she is trying climb in

At the same time that we were happy to see Adeline exercising her brave side, Savannah decided to hop on a camel. This is pretty out of character for her which made her parents really proud. She had a great time perched between the humps.

Before we packed them up for the rest of the 12 hour ride, we had a lunch at the zoo. Lucky for the girls there was play equipment. I was thrilled to see the Belle scale the equipment. She is always a bit timid and suffers from overall weak muscles which typically prevents her from doing hard climbing. Well, climb she did and once up on top, she was able to do her favorite playground pass time. She swings out above any slide that has a bar above it. She was feeling particularly feisty today as she really caught some air.

Just for the record, we powered through and gave up our hotel reservation. We left the house at 9:00 am and arrived at the beach house at 11:00 pm. The girls were fantastic travelers which made both parents very thankful.

We have enjoyed the past three days in perfect weather and perfect company. Here is a shot of the girls saying, "Hurray, we are on vacation!"