liam at fourteen

Liam requested a laser tag adventure with his two best friends, Drew and Nathan, for his birthday this year. After some back-and-forth and scheduling challenges with the other moms, we finally worked out a plan for me to pick them up this morning and hit the laser tag place in South Bend early, before it got too crowded. I called the place last week to verify their hours and ask whether we needed a reservation (no), so everything should have been in place for a great birthday celebration ... except that when we got to the laser tag place, it was locked up tight and nobody was answering the phone. We waited for about half an hour (entertaining ourselves in the dollar store next door) but there was still no sign of life, so we made a hasty backup plan.

Off we drove across town to the trampoline park, only to find out that one of the boys had an expired permission authorization. So then we had to get in touch with his mom and get her to go online to sign the waiver ... but eventually it was all systems go, and three teenagers spent 90 minutes bouncing and flipping, playing dodge ball and basketball, and diving into a pit filled with foam. After that, I took them to Chipotle for lunch and then Krispy Kreme for dessert before heading back to Plymouth. Funny enough, both Drew and Nathan got him the same thing for his birthday: tins of Pringles, an inside joke from their field trip to Washington, DC.

I feel like this little misadventure encapsulates the past year for Liam (and for all of us) pretty well, and that it's an important lesson for him to remember: Sometimes things don't go the way you planned, and that's OK. As long as you can roll with the changes, you can usually make something just as good, if not better.

At 14, our Liam has gotten pretty good at rolling with the changes. He's weathered the big move and all the uncertainty that came with it, and he's more than ready to make the change from junior high to high school. He really does seem to just take everything in stride (something I could do much better at myself).

Liam's spending his summer playing tennis in the city league in preparation for trying out for the tennis team once school starts. He's been hanging out with his friends and cousins, playing video games, walking Pluto, and just generally enjoying this lazy time before things start to get more serious for him. He's grown so much physically this past year, shooting up to be taller than both of his parents, and the doctor says he's still got a fair bit of growing to do, so who knows how far he will end up towering over us in the end.

Of course, all that growth isn't one-directional, at least not emotionally. Liam is generally pretty easygoing with me, but still very grumpy and impatient with his brothers, and I can sort of feel him teetering on that teenage edge of starting to think that Mike and I don't know anything about anything, and even if we do know some things, we certainly don't understand HIM. You know what I mean. It's a phase everyone has to go through (I certainly did!), but I'm not eager for it to come into bloom, and I can't wait until he gets through it and can just see us as people, decent and well-intentioned but flawed like everyone else.

In the meantime, here's to Liam. Liam the tall, the strong, the adventurous, the confident. Liam who works hard and gets frustrated but then figures out a way around his obstacles. Liam who can adapt to whatever life throws at him. Liam who is so, so loved.

the pictures are here!

Our pictures from Ocracoke got here today! I think they turned out great, goofy sunblinded faces and all. Check us out:

no place like

Well, we're home.

We had arranged for a photo shoot Friday morning, so we met our photographer at the National Park Service campground and took the trail to the beach around 8:00. It was SO HOT. Hotter than it's been all week. We had to pose with our faces in the sun for part of it, so it will be interesting to see how the pictures turn out. I'm actually pretty impressed that we found a photographer at all! I had been looking online for months but couldn't find anyone on Ocracoke, and the photographers based on other islands or the mainland charged a hefty fee for travel (or didn't travel at all). Then one day I got the bright idea to send a message to the island newspaper to see if the staff there could recommend anyone ... and that's how I got connected with Crystal, who is the photographer for the paper. Having followed the paper online since the first time we visited, I was already familiar with her work, so I was really happy when she agreed to take our pictures. It was a great photo shoot. She had the boys climbing dunes, racing along the water, and doing all sorts of fun stuff. I can't wait to see what we end up with!

After the pictures, we went back to the house and cleaned up and started doing laundry and loading up the car. Then we looked at the ferry schedule and decided we didn't want to sit around waiting for laundry to finish, so we loaded the wet stuff into a garbage bag and shoved it in the van. We left the house at 12:45, made a quick stop at the rental office to turn in our keys, and made it to the ferry terminal in time for the 1:05 ferry back to Hatteras. From there, we drove ... pretty much forever. Mike drove all day and into the night, and around 4 or 5 this morning, he woke me up because he was too tired to keep going. So I woke up, got some coffee (thank heavens for 24-hour Starbucks along the tollways!), and got us the rest of the way home. We pulled in around 8:30 this morning ... which is when we would have been leaving Ocracoke if we had stayed for the full length of our reservation. We're feeling pretty pleased with ourselves right now though, because Saturday morning departures mean long lines for the ferry and a mad scramble as everyone tries to leave the island at the same time. (Most of the rentals are Saturday to Saturday.) Anyway, we all fell into bed for a while, then the boys and I headed over to my grandpa's house for my cousin Brady's (high school) graduation open house. There's still a lot of unpacking to do, but it's good to be back home.

all around the island

This morning we finally got the glorious sunrise we've been waiting for! Liam and Henry were there with me to see it, along with about a million ghost crabs.

After everyone was awake and sufficiently caffeinated, we decided to ride our bikes around the island. We stopped at the lighthouse, then headed for Springer's Point nature preserve. It was HOT, but the trail was mostly shaded, and the views at the end are just gorgeous. The boys did a ton of climbing on all the trees, and they were even happy to pose for pictures ... at least until they got too hot, at which time they all started grumbling and demanding to go back to our rental house. Not to worry —  it was nothing lunch from Eduardo's taco stand couldn't fix. Yummmmm!

another sunrise thwarted

As is my habit, I've been up every morning to watch the sunrise from the beach with at least one of the boys. This morning we all got up and went, hoping for the best since it's been so cloudy every day this week. Alas, it was definitely not to be today, either. Oh, well! We'll have another chance tomorrow.

divide and conquer

We had some debate over whether we wanted to return to Portsmouth Island or not this trip. Since we were a family divided, we decided to split up for the day. Mike took Max and Henry to Portsmouth, and Liam and I spent the day together.

First thing this morning, Liam and I took Pluto down to the beach to see the sunrise. It was pretty cloudy, so no glorious sunrise, but we found some shells (including a beautiful snail shell that was still occupied, so we returned it to the ocean), and Liam and Pluto got to spend plenty of time racing up and down the beach, chasing ghost crabs and each other.

We headed down to the docks around 10 to drop the travelers off, and we took a picture in the same place as both other times we've been here. The boys barely fit in that little boat anymore! (For reference, here they are in 2013 and in 2015.) After that, we had a nice chat with the boat's captain, who was pretty excited when he realized we had been there before and wanted to talk about the things that had changed. Especially interesting: In 2013, we loved seeing all the pelicans on Beacon Island on the way back to Ocracoke, but a hurricane ruined their habitat, so there were no pelicans there in 2015. But great news! The pelicans are back now and as cool as ever.

So Mike, Max, and Henry spent the day shelling, seeing cool birds (this green heron was there to greet them before they even got on the boat!), and swimming. Meanwhile, Liam and I took a long, meandering bike ride, stopping for some souvenirs and even getting ice cream. Eventually, Liam asked if we could go back home for a siesta. I can't remember the last time he got tired before me! So then we spent a couple hours with me working and him laying on the couch with his trusty dog on the floor by his side until it was time to go pick everyone else up.

The report from Portsmouth: Lots of olives, a couple scotch bonnets, a conch, and a ton of sanderlings, egrets, and pelicans. Also a lot of sun, swimming, and a complete decimation of all the snacks they brought with them. I'd call that an unqualified success!

Bonus: Somehow these guys weren't too tired to go with us to take a sunset walk with Pluto too!

island time

Yesterday was our first full day on Ocracoke, and we spent it exactly the way you would think we should.

This morning, Mike decided to take a hike to a place we haven't explored yet, South Point. To get there, you hike about 4 miles down a dirt road (or you can take an off-road vehicle, but we're not really into the whole "driving on the beach" thing). Liam and Henry and Pluto went with him, but Max wanted to stay behind, and I had some work to catch up on, so we hung out at the house. Did I mention that our rental is right next door to Ocracoke Coffee Co.? I may never be convinced to leave.

Anyway, we got reports from the hike. Liam found a turtle. Henry found a scotch bonnet (the state shell of North Carolina). Then Liam found a bigger turtle (with barnacles!). When we were in Shenandoah, we made up this silly game where we assigned points for sightings of wildlife, so today Liam got 20 turtle points and Henry got 10 scotch bonnet points (yes, I know shells aren't actually alive, but the point thing makes them laugh, so what the heck). 

They also saw some interesting birds, including a red-winged blackbird (which we have a lot of at home) and a black skimmer (which we definitely don't).

After a few hours, tho, Max and I were starting to wonder if our family would ever come back. And around that time, I got a text from Mike saying they needed an extraction. So Max and I went about halfway down the dirt road (as far as the van could safely travel) and met them. It was good timing too, since the biting flies had decided to make an appearance. They ran the last few yards to the van, swatting all around them and laughing because (as you know) no Fort vacation is complete without a horde of insects at some point. 

oh the road, we have missed you

On a hot summer day a little over a year ago, I was doing what I always do during times of stress: thinking about traveling. And of course my thoughts turned to Ocracoke, that perfect vacation happy place. And when Mike got home that night, I told him I had found a dog-friendly rental house in the same area we stayed in before. I expected him to smile indulgently, as he always does when I wistfully present him with a vacation idea (believe me, if we actually took all the vacations I've planned and researched, we would never have time for work!), but instead, he asked me to show him the house I found, and he sat down at my computer, studied all the pictures, then turned to me and said, "OK, let's do this." Further astonishing me, he then immediately picked up the phone, called the rental office, and reserved the second week of June 2018. He must have been under some kind of spell, but I wasn't about to stop him, question him, or voice any objection whatsoever.

Fast-forward a year, and here we are, two weeks in our new house and heading out on a nice long drive, this time with boys who take up a lot more space, plus a dog who likes to lounge wherever he damned well pleases. To break up the trip, we decided to stop at Shenandoah National Park for a couple of nights on the way down. If you listen to me and to Mike, it was pretty great: lots of sights, lots of bears and deer and even a rattlesnake (!!), and far away from work obligations. If you listen to the boys, it was only OK because the lodge (IN THE FREAKING NATIONAL PARK) lacked wifi. Ugh, wifi. The blessing and curse of modern life.

Anyway, two nights in Shenandoah. The first night we didn't do much other than get settled in (though we did have a nice trip down part of Skyline Drive to get to the lodge), but then the next day we took a hike down to a waterfall. Along the way, we stopped at some of the overlooks, and at one of them, I was trying to take a decent picture with all three boys looking (which didn't work out) when Mike called my name. I looked up just in time to see a bear crossing the road just behind the van. Good thing we didn't leave the room like a minute later or we would have had an uncomfortably close encounter with it!

The South River Falls trail was billed as moderate, but apparently I will never, ever, ever learn that "moderate" means "easy for Captain America, but for you? get ready to be in pain." Yeah, it was steep going down and steep coming back up. And we had to cross streams and scramble in some places. And I was in pain. BUT we got to add another national parks hike and another waterfall (full disclosure: the waterfall was not stunning, nor is it really that visible in pictures, oh well) to our list, so we win! On the way back up, I spotted a big rock and asked the boys to pose for a picture. They went to comply but soon noticed a lizard in a crevice in the rock, so excitement was high. It got even higher when one of them looked off to the side and spotted a rattlesnake only a few feet away. Not to worry, the snake was on a ledge that was down from where we were, so we were never in any danger. And eventually we made it back up the trail and back to the car and to the room, where I took a shower and a long nap to recover.

We had dinner at the lodge, which was a mixed experience because they were curiously out of everything we wanted to order (Out of pasta? Really, Shenandoah?). However, I did manage to have a cup of she crab soup that was amazing. I should have just ordered a vat of that instead of falafel (the falafel turned out to be a mistake, which is saying a lot because I like falafel!). We did some more exploring along Skyline Drive, and then it was time to turn in for the night, get some sleep, and strike out early in the morning for Ocracoke.

We actually made really good time getting here, and for the first time didn't get stuck in a single traffic jam ... unless you count the one in the Food Lion because everybody on the entire Outer Banks was stocking up with groceries for the week. Anyway, we're here and checked in, and we're ready to enjoy a whole week of the island life. Ahhhhh Ocracoke!