OBX Day Two: The House of Global Warming

Not sure how this post is going to go because I'm absolutely exhausted from Zumba (which I still hate because it took the yoga time slot...but have to admit it's fun). But I rearranged the items on my desk and in my bedroom, so that my internet and power cords reached to my bed, so I'm lounging and typing.

You may already be aware that I a greener than normal person (in fact, I was a member of the office's "Green Team"). I do cringe every time I'm forced to use something made of styrofoam, but never before did something cause me to immediately research how to purchase carbon offsets as I did when I got home from vacation.

All twenty-one of us were staying in this cute pink three story house (picture above) that was right on the beach. But the waste of materials, electricity and water made me want to scream. Every walk through the house (for whatever reason) led me to switch off lights, TV's and water that had been left on. Instead of turning up the thermostat (which was set at 65), they would just open the outside door. My mom had brought plastic cups and labeled them with everyone's name so that they could be used over and over. Too bad that whoever did the grocery shopping bought all individual size bottles and cans (which of course we didn't have recycling for) and did I mention that they used paper plates for EVERYTHING. Even the spaghetti dinner...let's face it spaghetti is just not a paper plate type of food. AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Sunday morning I woke up early. Made myself some whole wheat toast with peanut butter and headed to the beach. I gave my mom specific instructions to not send any kids. I actually fell asleep on the beach until my dad came down and yelled "who's that girl with the big head?" and woke me up. Thanks, dad. Later Savon suggested I not sleep on the beach because "bugs could crawl on you and stuff."

I didn't realize how much skill is needed for proper ocean enjoyment. My cousin Sierra was terrified of the ocean, but after some observation, I realized it was because she would jump too early, forward into the wave and scream which caused her to land in the middle of the wave with her mouth open. Well of course she doesn't like the ocean. She was getting a mouth full of ocean water every five seconds. Which Molly reminded her that "Whales have babies in this water." Thanks, Molly.

The other thing that the kids didn't know how to do is ride a wave (either with or without a board). So this led to about 7 kids crowded around me with boogie boards so that I could cue them exactly when to start paddling. Some of them got it and some of them didn't. Aubrey had problems and pouted pretty much the entire time because she sucked. She eventually got it then.

We had lunch and then had more beach time. Dinner was on our own (thank God!), so my dad, mom, gramma and I went to one of our favorite restaurants from when we came every year when I was a kid: Owen's. I had forgotten about the cheese spread and crackers that they brought out, but didn't forget the hush puppies. I LOVE HUSH PUPPIES (or as my family refers to them "hushers". And of course we teased my mom because one year she actually wrapped up a bunch of hush puppies in a napkin and snuck them out in her purse. I had pecan crusted scallops (I LOVE SCALLOPS) and they came with this pecan Jack Daniels sauce that tasted like pecan pie filling (only better because there was Jack Daniels in it). After dinner we went shopping or something and probably watched some TV (I don't know...I don't really remember),

FLASHBACK ALERT: So thinking of Owen's reminded me of one time when I was in high school and Danielle came to the Outer Banks with us. We were at Owen's (because we went there every year). She ordered a Double Devil Chocolate Sundae for dessert. When the sundae came out it was so big that everyone's eyes in the dining room followed it to the table to see who exactly had ordered such a thing. After eating about a quarter of it, Danielle was full, but my dad egged her, so she continued eating to the point that her spoon was actually shaking because of how full she was....I don't remember if she ended up finishing it or not...danielle?