OK, back to the vacation highlights.
After we cruised out of our nation’s capital, Team Sublett rolled down the highway, bound for the beach. Ocean Isle, NC was our destination, and another bunch of Subletts were waiting (rather impatiently, judging from the text messages we were fielding.) My brother and his family hooked us all up with a great beach house on 3rd Street, which had an ocean view from the front porch. It turns out that 1st and 2nd Streets washed away in some humongous storms over the last few years. Yikes.
When we pulled in the driveway, cousin Jessica was doing the dance of joy! What a way to be greeted. Of course, the first thing we did after unloading the van was to head down to the water. We had several hours of sunlight left, and 2 girls to initiate into the fine art of wave-play. It turns out that I may have been too ambitious for my fledgling ocean newbies. Neither Annabelle nor Josie had any idea about incoming waves, and these waves were pretty serious about their business.
We rushed right into the maul, with the paler skinned Sublett kids leading the charge. I took one initiate on each arm and we made our way out into the surf. The first big wave knocked both girls down, filled their mouths and noses and ears with warm, salty water, and deposited them on the rough, shell-strewn bottom. Not exactly what I had in mind. They made a hasty retreat, and decided to watch the action from the safety of the shore. Cousin Alex was busy flying a kite with Uncle Scott (or Uncle Skype, if you ask Josie!) while Jessica had managed to snare the elusive pink and purple jellyfish. Yuck…
Over the next few days we bounced between Ocean Isle’s waves and sand and the friendly atmosphere of Myrtle Beach’s shops and restaurants. Everyone got sunburned pretty quickly (except for Josie and Annabelle!) so we needed some respite from the sun. My parents drove over to visit for a couple of days, and we had a blast. We shopped and ate and spent almost an entire day at some science center in Myrtle Beach.
Team Sublett did some team-building exercises (pics below) which included testing a bed of nails (ouch–not comfy) and a weird mind-relaxation challenge (I came back to whomp Kim!) Annabelle and I waited in line for an hour to ride some pedal-powered contraption that spun us upside down in circles. After watching several couples fail to push the vehicle over the top, I was bound and determined to make the full circle–13 times!
We had a great week of staying up late, playing in the surf, and digging in the sand. The girls all got up early the first day (6:15!) to go comb the beach for shells. Unfortunately, the sun gets up around 5, and so do all the professional shell-finders! Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes…
The highlight of the week for most of us was the first ever Sublett Family Talent Show. Kim had each of us perform, and it was hilarious. Scott and Jess sang a parody of 867-5309, Caleb told some jokes and did his famous belly-rolling stunt, Sadie sang, Annabelle shared a Bible verse she’d memorized, I sang the Randy Travis song I sang at our wedding reception (it was our 21st anniversary, btw!), Levi and Alex did a skit where Alex was behind Levi, and Levi talked while Alex made a pb&j sandwich (hilarious!) and Amanda taught us the “tush-push.” But what brought the house down was Lilly and Josie reading some original poetry. Josie recited a couple of Chinese poems, then the tag-teamed a poem they wrote that week about sisters. Lilly had everyone all misty-eyed with a poem that she wrote about Pap George (KIm’s pap).
I’m not a beach person; give me the mountains and a stream any day. But the memories we made were absolutely worth the price of a little sand in the shorts.
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