And we're home

So, the best laid plans of mice and men, I guess. As you know, on the second day of our wonderful spring break trip, I tripped (no pun intended) over the cord of my computer and boke the monitor. Therefore, the lack of updates. Now, I'm keenly aware that you don't care enough about my last week to want a moment by moment breakdown of the trip, but I've got nothing else to talk about and I'm really not ready to think about a lesson plan for my kids tomorrow, so I'll give you the thumbnail look at my week in Kitty Hawk:

Sunday

Jennifer and I spent most of the morning waiting for our luggage to show up, although we did so clothed (gosh, some of you really can't take a joke about nudity). By the time the luggage showed, I wasn't eager to go out, so we lounged around our pretty vacation home. This was when we learned of the one major drawback to the home:

The neighbors brought this beautiful canine on their vacation, however they decided to keep him out almost constantly. His barking was incessant, to say the least.

Monday

Today, we had the opportunity to be all nostalgic, driving around to familiar haunts. I showed Jennifer the department store where I always bought a toy on the way into town (although now it is a furniture store, darn progress). We also went to the Sea Foam motel and the trailer park where my parents kept a trailer in Rodanthe. We spent a lot of time on this day picking up shells on the beach. Finally, we stopped at the Bodie Island Lighthouse, which was really cool when I was a kid. Unfortunately, a lot of the kid friendly stuff had been removed, although my math geek of a wife found some interesting examples of conic sections, so it worked for her.

Tuesday

Today was the greatest day! It was a themed day around flight, starting with us accidentally visiting a new "frontiers of flight" memorial located where I thought the entrance to the dunes were (for the record, you should always trust your wife with a map over your 15-plus year old recollection when it comes to driving directions). Once we found the dunes, we flew a cheapy kite for several hours. I have no clue why this is fun, but it is incredibly fun and relaxing, especially on a Tuesday when you would normally be dealing with bored teenagers. We finished the day by visiting the Wright Brothers memorial, which was a strenuous climb if nothing else.

Wednesday

You shouldn't underestimate your own recuperative power. After the climb up the dunes and the Wright Brothers Memorial yesterday, Jennifer and I preemptively decided that today would be a day to relax and regain our strength, but we woke up feeling just fine. I finally got around to doing some grading while Jennifer tried in vain to find something crafty to do on her own. For dinner, we ate at Mako Mike's, which was only okay for food, but had a great environment, including the picture on the wall that you see above.

Thursday

Today we went to Roanoke island, which was not as mind-numbingly boring as one would suppose. LaRae asked if one could really see a colony that billed itself as lost, and the answer to that is apparently, "no". Below you will see a picture of Jennifer standing in what remains of the Lost Colony. Far more exciting was Festival Park, which included a replica of the Elizabeth II ship on which early settlers came to America. The park attendents did the always lame "I was born in 1542, so your world seems very strange to me," gimmick, but they were not as obnoxious about it as they could have been.

Friday

Today was all about getting souveniers and packing up. It was busy, but nothing blogworthy. Here is a picture of our cat Booger to make up for the fact that I have nothing interesting to say:

Saturday

Time to head home! There is a lot to go through on this day, probably enough for a separate blog entry. We stopped at Hardee's for breakfast and learned that the North Carolina public school system needs to do a better job of teaching basic math skills. We saw the Hampton Coliseum, the site of my high school graduation and, more importantly, my first live wrestling event. We spent several quality hours at the Newport News-Williamsburg "international" airport learning that our transportation headaches were fairly minor. We also had time to do a little nostalgic sightseeing, visiting my high school and this, my childhood home:




Yeah, it's pretty now, but imagine it without the flowers or swing, and instead with sunflower yellow siding everywhere that you see white. Oh yeah, baby, that's home.

Actually, here is home, and I'm thankful to be back.