Outer Banks

We made a spur of the moment decision to drive up to the Outer Banks in North Carolina  after our week in Hilton Head. We had been planning to go somewhere else and spent the whole week discussing options- should we just stay in HHI for a few extra days, go to a new beach further south, or should we just head home? The weather forecast for HHI was not great so we eliminated that as an option on Friday, but we literally didn't decide where to go until we were driving off the island. I was checking weather reports the whole way out of town and we decided to take a right and hit I-95N as we came up to the exit. It felt good to have a little bit of spontaneity in our lives at that moment. Sure, we spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of going somewhere else so it wasn't completely out of left field that we decided to go somewhere. But it felt a bit like the old "us" to make a split second decision to go to somewhere new. 

As I mentioned, we discussed the pros and cons a lot before ultimately deciding to continue our vacation. 

Pros-

-we can have a little more time together  with just our party of five before I head back to work. Yes, we're together all day at home but being at home means chores and regular day-to-day things and less baby holding and snuggling. 

-the car is already packed: a HUGE pro since traveling with three infants involves lots of stuff 

-the kids have been great this whole week, which motivates us to want to keep going

-we could explore a new place and get the boys accustomed to traveling, something that is important to both Will and me since we want to continue to travel with our gang. 

Cons-

-we didn't have a place in mind, so we were wondering (even on our drive out of HHI) if we were trying too hard to go somewhere else just to go somewhere else

-the kids have been great all week, which means they inevitably will decide they're over traveling as soon as we get to a new place 

-this new place will be the 3rd new place they've been in in the last week. They may be hitting their limit in terms of being in new environments

-vacations with triplets are not exactly relaxing...would Will and I be up for adding a few extra days to our trip?

-would the weather of our intended location make it worth it to go? There was no sense going to a new spot if we were going to be stuck inside the whole time. 

In the end, we did decide to head to the Outer Banks and we're happy with our decision. The babies continued to amaze us with their flexibility and tolerance for being in  new places. The drive took longer than anticipated because parts of I-95 were closed from the flooding the week prior. But thanks to modern technology I was able to research and book a vacation house for us while we were driving so we had a "home" to arrive to when we got to town.  A huge relief since the idea of hotel searching once we got to the island was not appealing. I think renting cottages/cabins/houses are the way to go when traveling with triplets, at least at this stage of their lives. For about the same price as a hotel we get so much more space to spread out with all their gear, plus a kitchen where we can properly wash and sanitize their bottles, and a fridge to keep extra milk on hand. 

We spent more time driving around the Outer Banks than I had expected. We didn't have a huge agenda planned but we did hit the big items on our list- we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial, where we got National Park passports for all the boys. We look forward to adding lots of stamps to their books in the coming years! We went north up to Corolla to see the Carrituck lighthouse, and drove south down to Buxton to see the Cape Hattaras lighthouse. All in all we got to see 3 of the 4 lighthouses on the island, though we didn't go to the top of any of them for obvious reasons. We enjoyed driving up and down the coast and looking at the extremely large homes right on the beach. 

We would love to bring the boys back to the Outer Banks in a few years- there were so many fun things to do! It'd be fun to rent a big old house on the beach and spend a week playing on the dunes, climbing to the top of all the lighthouses, driving on to the beach for a day of tailgating right on the water, making a fire and having s'mores on the beach, taking a tour to see the wild horses, and exploring more of the little towns and shops. 

It was a lonnggggg drive home on Tuesday but the kids handled the drive with ease. We spent all day yesterday getting back on schedule. I think the boys are excited to back on home turf. We're so grateful to have laid back guys. This long trip gives us confidence that we can continue to keep exploring and look forward to planning more trips. Maybe we'll try flying next...but I have a feeling our cars are going to get the majority of our miles in the coming years. 

Sunrise from our front porch- the house across the street was gorgeous!

Going incognito by wearing Griffin- people assume we have twins and I'm wearing one of them

Top of the Wright Brothers Memorial

Carratuck Lighthouse in Corolla

I just love the houses!

Table for five- a typical set up when we go out to eat

 Bodie Lighthouse

They were digging the sand off the road!

Cape Hattaras lighthouse

We left the pack-n-plays in the car for this stretch of the trip. Have I mentioned how much we love our rock and plays??

Again with the matching, mom?

Nothing but water between us and Europe!

Apparently vacation takes a lot out of mom, too. I sleep easily these days!