Who needs AC when you are at the Beach?

Actually, we do...especially if you are vacationing in the South. After all, there is a reason there is a strong correlation between population growth in the South and the widespread use of air conditioning. Let's start from the beginning.

We headed off to the beautiful (and oil-free) beaches of the Outer Banks for our annual Memorial Week vacation to lovely Duck, NC. Anna was extremely excited as we packed the car - chatting about building sand castles, flying her Dora kite, and going fishing. When we arrived, she saw the swimming pool and did not want to do any of the previously mentioned items. In fact, we could barely get her out of the swimming pool without some sort of bribery or small stand-off. She loves the water and was swimming by herself, with the aid of a life jacket.

Anna had a great week. In addition to the pool, there were several kids her age there for her to play with. Unfortunately, she seemed to be mostly drawn to the boys - particularly 4-year old Mase. Mase was particularly impressive with his shark bathing suit and Superman swimvest. He and Anna had quite the conversation about the shark exhibit at the North Carolina aquarium. Mase also informed Anna that there was an Anna in his class, but she looked different. In addition to Mase, Anna played with some other boys at the playground (at one point we heard her exclaim - "I'm a nice girl" to one of the boys....a line we hope that she will continue to use as she gets older). It should be noted that Anna is still referring to herself as Emily. Mom is still Rosie and Dad is still Tobey. While this is a bit disconcerting to her parents, it came in handy at the pool as there was no one else yelling "Hey Rosie" or "Hey Tobey." If she would have yelled "Hey Mom" several people would have come running.

Anna had a good time fishing on the beach with her Dad and can cast 20-30 yards on her own. Of course she lost interest in fishing when two more boys and their sister came out to catch sand crabs as the sun went down. Anthony the 4-year old invited Anna to join (that was after he mentioned that he still wears pull-ups to bed). Joe, suspicious of Anthony's intentions, joined in to supervise and was assigned the duty of carrying the bucket of crabs. Apparently Joe was not carrying the bucket fast enough as noted when Anthony turned to him and said "you don't go very fast."

We did manage to get a road trip in to the North Carolina aquarium. We also got Anna to the beach for one morning to build a sandcastle (actually, Joe built a rather elaborate sandcastle and Anna decorated). In between, there were some trips to the local bookstore and ice cream stand to watch the sunset along with many great seafood dinners.

The highlight of the week for Joe was his big fishing catch - a red drum. Anyone who has ever gone fishing with Joe knows that it is really about the relaxation not the catching of fish. This is probably why Joe decided to stop at the fish market prior to going fishing to ensure the family had dinner for the evening and he could have a relaxing afternoon of fishing. Not this trip as Joe did not have an opportunity to relax but instead real in his fish. It was a delicious dinner and we had interesting dinner conversation with Anna who told us how Dad cut the head off the fish.

Now for the AC. While Anna had a great time, Joe and Theresa spent a large segment of the week trying to get AC fixed at the beach rental. After moving all of our gear for the week up 3 flights of stairs to our lovely top floor condo with ocean views, we found that the AC did not work (along with the hot water and the screen door). That was Sunday and it was hot at the beach. On Monday, the repairman came and determined that he needed a part that would take a few days. Fortunately, we were relocated to the condo immediately below us, which was recently remodeled and in excellent shape. After we unpacked everything again, we heard a loud noise coming from the floor of the master bedroom that rattled the walls. It sounded like a pump and ran for a minute or two each hour. Needless to say, we could not sleep. Then we discovered that the AC was not working in this unit either. On Wednesday, the rental office installed window air conditioners. On Thursday the pump was repaired. On Saturday, an entirely new air conditioning unit was installed. On Sunday, we left.

As with most of our trips, it was memorable. In the meantime, we need to investigate a new rental company for next year.