OBX 2019

Two years ago, when we had the last Gerber family reunion, we tossed out the idea of coming to NC for our next one. Now that it's actually upon us, Mark and Taylor were the only siblings who were actually up for the idea of driving across the country. So it was a small reunion. But we LOVED having them and Gigi and Grandpa and Grandma Cuca all here with us for a few days. We got a cute kinda quirky house at the Outer Banks, in Kill Devil Hills. The house worked well for us and was a good price, but it was a longer walk to the beach than I would've liked. And you had to cross a busy highway to get there.

Even though it was getting dark when we arrived,

I couldn't resist a quick trip to see the waves roll in.

And the kids inevitably get wet every time.

Our quirky blue barn house.

We stopped by the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk.

We were keeping our eye on the weather because rain was in the forecast.

In one of the most hilarious decisions of the trip, I said, 

"The storm clouds are rolling in. Let's hurry and walk to the memorial."

Can you see the spire out there in the distance?

Yep, that's where I wanted to hurry to.

Bad idea.

We got soaked.

It was hilarious.

Luckily, the storm rolled right through and 

we went to the beach that afternoon.

Marcos and Gabriel LOVED the water.

Ami was not so sure about it.

She preferred playing in the sand.

So fun to have cousins at the beach!

We wish the rest of our cousins could've joined us.

Gabriel doesn't even need a boogie board.

Mermaid Whit

Of course I made her do some dance poses for me.

Back at the beach house, we played LOTS of rummy.

And bonded over our phones

I was excited to take Mark and his family to Jockey's Ridge.

Oh, how I love those giant sand dunes!

Cutie patootie Ami

I can't remember why Andrew didn't come with us.

I think maybe he had a headache.

We were losing light, but still tried to pull off some jumping pics.

I thought this was so cute when Ami tried to join our jumping pic. :)

The next day we drove down to the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

The whole fam

Our little fam

And in the afternoon we headed back to the beach.

My happy place!

We went out for yummy seafood one of the nights.

Crab legs!

Care Bear got to try an edible flower.

It looks better than it tastes.

On the drive home the restaurant, we had lots of 

cousins in the van and jammed out to They Might Be Giants.

More rummy.

We started a new tradition for Gerber Family Reunions.

A rummy tournament!

We started out with a BIG game of rummy,

with everyone who wanted to play.

The lowest scorer at the end of the hand

was kicked out of the game.

We kept going until we had ONE winner.

And it was MEEEEEEE! Yippee!

I'll defend my title in two years. :)

We visited the Lost Colony at Roanoke Island.

In all our trips to the Outer Banks, our family had never gone.

We liked it!

There's a cute museum.

And then you can walk through some nature trails.

One of them leads you to the theater where they

perform a dramatization of the settlement of the lost colony.

Nearby, they also have some pretty gardens.

I went with my parents and Grandma Cuca.

So happy Grandma was feeling up to joining us.

We love hanging out with her!

That afternoon was rainy,

so we stopped at a laser tag and arcade place.

It was just OK. Nothing great and overpriced.

Apparently the love of coin pushing is in my genes.

The next day, it was time to check out and head our separate ways.

Mark and Taylor and their kids continued

 their road trip, heading up to DC next.

My parents left from their to head up to Palmyra

and see some church history sites.

Andrew and Brandon had left a day early to get back to work.

The girls and I took Grandma Cuca home with us.

But I told them I wanted to stop at Jockey's Ridge one last time.

Perfect kite-flying weather

We REALLY missed Celeste, Paul, Destiny and their families. But I was so happy that some of our family members could come enjoy the Carolina Beaches with us. Great memories.