The Dancing Duo

                                     
 Yes, Dance Days are back again and this duo is back to dancing! On Tuesday, Bekah and Rachel began another year of dance at The Studio. Here they were headed out to dance class and they were certainly excited!

 They are both dancing on the same day, Tuesdays, this year, in the same classroom, one class right after the other and this year, they both have the same teacher, Ms. Audrey!

Rachel and Bekah after their classes with their new teacher, Ms. Audrey

Bekah was in the same classroom as she has been for the last two years for class. Now she has moved up from the Creative Movement class to Intro. to Dance. She will be learning both ballet and tap this year. She also had several of the same dance friends in class with her again too.

 Practicing their passe'

 Learning with Ms. Audrey

 

 Wearing the fluffy tutus. Bekah did a great job with her first class of Intro. to Dance!

 And so it begins...Bethany was so little during dance last year that she was content to watch all that was going on while I held her. This year she is wanting to see exactly what her sisters are doing and be right there watching them dance, and probably crawl in there with them if I would let her! I have a feeling we will have a trio of beautiful ballerinas coming up in the future. I think she may love dance as much as her sisters!

 Rachel's class was up next just after Bekah's.

 Rachel had several of the same dance friends in her class this year as well.

 She is now in Ballet I and is very excited about this class.

 Rachel also got a quick picture with Ms. Jessica to start the dance year.

 

Our friends, Mrs. Melissa and Mr. Randy, gave our girls their own ballet dancer dolls a while ago. The girls have been all about all things dance this week. They have even taken their ballet dolls with them all week, even to dance!

We are excited about another dance at The Studio with lots of fun and learning too! I can't believe Bekah is already beginning her 3rd year of dance and Rachel is starting her 4th year! Bekah and Rachel, we are very proud of you and we love you both very much!

Outer Banks 2015, Part 2

We set out on Highway 12 toward Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the lighthouse there after our time in Nags Head and Corolla.

Brent and I had both been to the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras before but this was the first time for the girls this far down the Outer Banks.

The first evening after we arrived at Cape Hatteras, Brent decided he wanted to get a picture of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from the beach instead of right at the lighthouse. So we headed down to one of the local beach accesses and went out on the beach. There were maybe a dozen people on the beach, most of them opposite of the direction we were walking, and toward the direction we were walking lots and lots of shells!

The big girls both found whole conch shells.

We also got several fun family pictures with the lighthouse too.

            

After dark, we headed back out to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for Brent to get some night photography in and for us to view the Perseids Meteor shower under a very dark sky. Here is Brent's Milky Way image over Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The picture on the right is the girls and I about 30 feet from the lighthouse after we watched the meteor shower. Yep, it was really dark.

The next day we went out to Cape Point, which is the easternmost point of the Outer Banks. I learned something new about going to the beach around the Outer Banks-apparently, a very popular way to go to the beach around Cape Hatteras is to have a four-wheel drive and drive to your spot on the beach. However, we had the minivan and not the Buick so we walked all the way out to Cape Point. Well, almost to the tip of Cape Point. We walked most of the way and found a rope line across the beach that said "NO TRAFFIC" including pedestrians. If you get a chance, google the "American Oystercatcher." Apparently, there was a baby American Oystercatcher chick was learning to fly along the Point and it was closed to all walking and driving. If you look behind Bethany and I, you can see a part of the Point in the background. Maybe another trip, we will make it all the way to Cape Point!

The girls had fun playing in the water and the little one enjoyed eating goldfish crackers on the beach.

There were also "Sand Angels" made

and sand castles made

We also got a picture of each one with their age on the beach

Bethany wanted to crawl instead of get her picture made!

Next we took the ferry to Ocrackoke for the southernmost part of our trip. Rachel loved the ferry. Bekah and Bethany slept through their first ferry ride from Hatteras to Ocracoke.

Brent got some more photography in and we got our family picture at the Ocracoke Lighthouse.

Everyone stayed awake for the return ferry trip and loved the ferry ride.

As we headed back up Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the return trip home. we stopped at one of the accesses along Highway 12. There looked like there had been a few people walking along the beach there but there was a great tidal pool for the big girls and TONS of scallop shells.

Brent and Bethany walked one direction and looked for shells and the big girls and I looked at another section. The bucket I am holding is completely filled with scallop shells of all colors and sizes. We found more scallop shells besides just this one bucket.

Here is the littlest beachcomber. She is not quite walking yet but she sure could crawl across that sand quickly.

We also stopped by Bodie Island Lighthouse on the way back. Brent had taken this sunrise picture earlier in the week while the girls and I were still asleep!

I really wanted a family picture of us while we were at the beach. Let me tell you, it is not an easy task to get 5 people and 3 of them under 7 to look at a camera on a tripod all at one time, but after several (many...) tries, we got a family picture!

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, August 2015

   We saw 4 Lighthouses in 4 days, a meteor shower and the Milky Way over Cape Hatteras, almost made it to the easternmost point of North Carolina, rode a ferry twice, ate some great seafood, Brent got some excellent images and we had some great family time together. We are thankful for the family time together and gearing up for the busyness of this upcoming fall!