Well, the Healy/Oppold beach weeks may or may not be coming to an end (there will not be one in 2024), but we changed it up and went to Oak Island this year. Oak Island has a lot on the actual island, unlike Holden Beach. We were within 5 min of basically anything we needed, and the church was only 10-15 min away.

The theme of the week for our family was “sick”. I had gotten something the Friday before we left, and was kind of over it by the time we got there Saturday afternoon, but then the rest of the family got it. Started with Izzy, then Anna (those 2 had it the worst) and Joe kind of had something all week. Needless to say, the kids just weren’t themselves, but we did still manage to get them down to the beach each day. One of my favorite memories was holding Joe on the beach while he slept, and falling asleep myself. Was a good nap.

There was a putt putt course at the end of our road, which we played 2x. The first time, Joe had a major accident on the 3rd hole and pooped in his pants, which was a catastrophe as we had no wipes and he wasn’t wearing a pull up. Luckily, like I said earlier, the course was 1 min from our house, and Noni was able to bring what we needed and Joe finished the round strong. The second round, the next day, was not as enjoyable (the course was pretty packed both days), because of the “buggies” and how humid/hot it was. I made Joe finish, but we didn’t play putt putt again that week (not because he didn’t ask).

There was an alligator (Izzy named her Rosie) that lived in the “lagoon” under our boardwalk walk to the beach. There was a baby or 2 as well. That was pretty cool to see. Made me a little more nervous when the kids would walk ahead of me.

Izzy and Joe both like the big waves at the ocean and floating in there life jackets. Next year, I don’t think Izzy will need a life jacket to have fun. We didn’t do as much boogie boarding this year as I thought we would have because of the sickness, but there was still some. I’m sure in future years we will do that for hours.

I knocked off a bucket list item and went skydiving. It was an experience for sure, and Marlo went to. I can’t say it was as much of a thrill as I thought, and the whole thing felt like it was over in 5 seconds, but It was pretty cool and the videos help me remember.

Hopefully next vacation there isn’t sickness!

Categories: Diary