Topsail Island, North Carolina

We left for N.C. on May 29th. Spent the night about 1/2 way. It took 12 hours, with stops & all. We stayed in a vacation home of a friend of Rob & James. The owner is Colonel Jim Hammond. The Colonel is a retired Marine & the house has a good bit of Marine references in the decor. He lives in Indian Hill (Cincinnati), but stays down in this home a good bit. The guys have done work for him for years & he gives us a free week every year if we want it. This is the 3rd time we have gone down.
The first 2 times it was a totally different house on the same property. They had a hurricane come through so they had to tear down the old house & build new! It is Gorgeous! It has 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths (a master suite), laundry, huge family room, dining room, & very large kitchen. We loved it! The island is about 20 minutes South of Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. We saw Marine helicopters, fighters & the new helicopter that can become a prop plane, flying over several times a day. Colonel said that lots of times they would do "Babe Watches" in the helicopters. :-)
James, Cynthia & Rob's parents went down on the Sat. before we went down.
We had a great time playing in the sand, walking on the beach, relaxing on the 2 huge decks in rockers or chairs, Eating on the upper deck or inside at the large (Amish style) table, Rob went surf fishing & caught quite a bit, built a fort, dug quite a few "swimming holes" for the kids, shopping, etc...
Duston busted himself in the eye with a plastic pipe, you will see it in one of the pictures. We all got a good bit of sun to start off our summer. ;-) Dusti & Kiana loved when Daddy caught fish. He caught several sharks. We had to wake them up the morning he caught the big one, so they could come see him. I was up on the deck & managed to capture the whole thing on video! (Snaps for an awesome wife. :-)
We are very relaxed & rejuvenated! Thanks Colonel for the Beautiful Home to stay in!