sun, sun, everywhere!

I'm still at the beach. Except not.
It's been sunny and hot! That's excellent beach weather. We keep going to Oregon Inlet 'cause the water there is warmer and the water is shallower for longer. It's a twenty minute drive, but soooo worth it.

But I'm not there today because I have a rash. :( It started on my chest just below my collarbone--that was on Wednesday evening--but now is on more of my torso-down to my stomach--and my arms. I don't know if it's the sun or the ocean, but it's definitely not the sunblock. I use that stuff all the time for softball. Whatever the case, it's a double boo. So now everyone else is at Oregon Inlet, and I'm at the cottage chilling, blogging, doing laundry and getting ready to start another book.

Speaking of books, I finished this one:

I liked it. It was really interesting, and I enjoyed all of the math, music, science and deciphering in it. The end wasn't what I expected, but it was right on. I now see why Brooke drew chess pieces after reading it. I kind of want to draw a knight, myself! It isn't a fast read, but it's definitely a good one.




So, some beach hilights...
it rained on Tuesday, and while we sat in the ridiculous traffic heading from Duck to Kitty Hawk I took this. We didn't want to spend the entire day inside, so we drove up to Corolla to go on the beach there. That evening was karaoke. Tres fun. Maybe later I'll put up the pictures of Otto making out with the pirate--maybe.

Wednesday was SUNNY! I took that first picture at Oregon Inlet. That day was just gorgeous. We spent ~6 hours at the beach, and I spent ~5.5 of those under the umbrella. I looked for shells and swam in the ocean a little too. The water was SO CLEAR, and the temperature was perfect. Cool and refreshing. And we saw dolphins! They were too far away for a picture though. Oh, and there were some people on the beach with horsies!





Otto and I ate dinner at the Rundown Cafe. I had some Asian noodle thingy with mahi in it, and Otto had coconut shrimp. And we had some deee-lish tuna bites. But the best part of the meal is shown to the left--the Shark Attack drink. It came with a plastic shark filled with grenadine to add to the lemonade and vodka. I had a second one--just for the toy, honest!-and now we each have our very own shark. Toofie and Teefie. Don't ask. Just go with it. These little plastic sharks have given us all sorts of ideas--perhaps you'll see them soon at a party near you! Seriously, though this place was awesome. $8-$14 entrees with yummy drinks, good beer AND an ocean view from their outside deck. Fun fun fun, let me tell you.

On Thursday morning Otto and I went to see the Wright Brothers Memorial. It was quite impressive, and we see why they dubbed that fourth flight a success. It was neat to know that right there, in that very spot, the beginnings of an incredible technological breakthrough occurred. Wow-o. This is the memorial. It's on top of a rather sizable hill, and it was hot outside. My rash didn't like it.

After that we went back to Oregon Inlet w/ lots of beer in tow. sssssh! It was crazy windy! I could barely use my umbrella! So, we did what any rational engineer would do--used the plastic thingies from the eight pack of propel as a support, along with a racheting strap. Eventually I decided to sit in the shade at the back of Rubie, 'cause it didn't look like the umbrella would be holding much longer--but imagine what it could have done if we hadn't strapped it!

We went to Kitty Hawk Kites today, and I bought a little tiny kite, but I won't be flying it for awhile. Silly sun. I find it a wee bit ironic that at the place where I'm least likely to be allergic to something--ocean air has almost zero allergens--I can still manage it. yeesh!