Wilmington, NC

We arrived in Wilmington Saturday afternoon.  To keep with the trend, we headed "downtown" to get a flavor of the area.

After looking at some shops in the downtown area we found this picturesque lake in the middle of a neighborhood.  I love the pictures Tristan was able to capture of the spanish moss.  There was a sign posted near the entrance that warned visitors from harassing the alligators.  

Our little charmer at it again!  So happy after so long in the car.  She really wanted to get her hands on my camera.

Sunday morning we attended sacrament meeting for the ward in Wilmington.  There was a great mix of families with older kids, young kids, and some older folks.  We enjoyed having a bit of spirituality before heading to see the beach.  Wilmington Beach was SO crowded.  We drove through the island (took an hour) and couldn't find parking so we headed north once again through Hampstead to Topsail beach.  It took about 45 minutes to get there, but it was totally worth it when we immediately found parking and headed to sand and waves.  The day was perfect for being at the beach.  I mean perfect.  The water felt great, though Amalyn wasn't too sure at first.  But I guess a slightly grumpy baby can be expected when it's naptime.  I had a hard time picking favorites, so here are all of her cute expressions:

She didn't like the feel of the sand much, and was unsure of the water.  We stuck with it and she did come around a little bit, but by then we'd put the camera away.  Tristan took me into the waves to face my fear of the undertow.  The power of the Ocean has always scared me, but if we do decide to live near the beach, I need to kick that.  This trip went a long way to easing my fear.  The waves are so fun to play in.  Amalyn finally fell asleep.

I love that the girl's swimsuits matched!  Same brand but different colors of the same dots pattern.

Tristan and Brendan really got into construction mode and had almost as much fun in the sand as Aislynn did (once she figured out it wasn't for eating).

After some playing in the sand the boys headed back to the water and Danelle went to more private quarters to feed Aislynn.  I was sitting on the blanket alone enjoying the day.  I watched the tide come closer and closer.  Suddenly a wave washed up and began pulling our towels into the ocean!  I didn't have much time, or much hands as I was giving Amalyn a bottle.  I was trying to take everything further up the beach while still feeding Amalyn (I didn't want to put the bottle down and get it sandy) when a group of "frat guys" as Tristan calls them, came to my rescue and moved everything for me.  Tristan looked up the beach and came out of the water to see what the guys were doing with his wife.  We thanked them for their help in rescuing our stuff from getting soaked or swept away and pack up for our drive to Raleigh.