We had to leave Ocracoke!

We're in a hotel room near Norfolk, Virginia. We had a long day of travelling, but an interesting day. After transferring all the bags and toys and gear from the second floor living area of our house to the van (acquiring numerous mosquito bites in process) we took off. We stopped for one last "good-bye" on a beautiful and deserted beach.

Then it was a quick ferry ride (40 minutes compared to the 2+ hours to get to the island). We stopped at a few light-houses plus a great grocery store for lunch (if on Hatteras Island, go to Village Grocery store). I liked it so much I had to run back in to buy a canvas grocery bag and a bottle of wine.

We also stopped at the Wright Brother's Memorial. It was really interesting to see the distances that they flew during those first few flights. 852 feet sure doesn't sound like a long way, until you see it. I can just imagine the fear and excitement generated by those flights. And the determination to keep trying to despite all the trials and doubts.

We thought we were being quite smart... after these several stops, we gave Jameson and bottle and took off for the final two hours of driving. Expecting him to drink his bottle and then settle in for a nap. I was driving and kept waiting and waiting for him to settle down. The fussing was difficult to listen to. But I kept thinking he would settle down. So did Stefan. Should we stop? Should we keep going? Should we turn the music up? Put the window down? Cover him, for the 10th time, with his blanket?

Finally it stopped. And then Alex chirped up, "He wanted a pretzel." And sure enough, he was nibbling the pretzel Alex gave him. After about 10 more pretzels, he settled down to sleep. Doh! Good for Alex! He figured him out.

Now Jameson is asleep in his crib inside a closet (nice deep closets at this hotel!) and the other two are watching TV. Time to catch up on blogging!

Oh---one more Ocracoke memory. On Saturday morning, after Jameson went down for a nap, I wanted to go to the coffee shop to get online. Alex wanted to come, so I made him promise that he would let me have enough time to get online. As luck would have it, the internet was down. (I did discover from another frustrated internet user that our reality company has free wireless internet, so I made the family eat lunch in the van while I happily go online. You know you're addicted when...) Anyhow, Alex had been asking all week to play chess at the coffee shop. There was a table with a chess-board tiled in to the top. We played two games, both of which I let him win, and had a great time. The line for coffee grew and shrunk a couple of times during our game, and many parents were impressed at the fact that we were playing (a few grandparents too!). Thanks to Stefan introducing him to chess, I was getting all sorts of kudos and warm fussies from strangers in the shop.