We were suppose to go to the Outer Banks this year for our annual family vacation. Well Hurricane Irene had different plans for us. She decided to hit the banks strait on and keep us from going to Avon - they evacuated the Island and they didn't let residents return until mid-Sept. So we decided to make way to Salem, IL - where my parents live. It wasn't the beach but it was time away.
The boys had a ton of fun! Unfortunately we left our camera at home so we didn't really get to capture all the fun the boys had. They loved playing outside and running around in the large backyard. Owen became more passionate about golf, he loves hitting golf balls and putting around - I woudl think that he just likes it because of hte golf cart but he wanted to hit balls all the time.
The last week of August was brutally hot in Salem. We enjoyed a friends pool as well as the Salem pool. The Salem pool has greatly improved since I was a kid. They have revamped it to have a water slide and lots of fun activities for the kids, a bucket that fills up and dumps water every 5 minutes. Since we were so lucky to be close, we met my friend Jenny half way in Bloomington, IL and we visited the Children's Museum - talk about very cool. On another day, we also visited the Magic House which was very cool and perfect for a very hot day. We took the boys to a Cardinals game and we luckily got to see fireworks.
To help kill the heat we also visited the Salem dairy mart, where they served my favorite flavor - lemon, both nights that we went there.
The road trip was a good test to how Christmas will be driving out. Aaron got tired of being in the car but overall the boys were so good - thanks to some videos. For it being an alternative vacation it turned out pretty well. We enjoyed the time with family and down time, however we are going to the beach for two weeks!
